History and fiction collide onstage

Their paths most probably never crossed in life.

An Italian Jesuit intent on opening China to the wider world; a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) playwright who imagined love enduring beyond death; a pirate queen who commanded a fleet rivaling navies; and a young scholar who would become the first Chinese graduate of an American university.

Yet on a balmy evening earlier this month, these figures — Alessandro Valignano, Tang Xianzu, Zheng Yi Sao and Yung Wing — appeared together onstage along the edge of Nam Van Lake in Macao.

They were joined by two more figures who further blurred the boundaries of history and imagination: the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci and Du Liniang, the defiant heroine of The Peony Pavilion, who pursues love with a resolve that transcends death.

Brought together across time, space and even fiction, the six characters met in Letters Through Time — an original musical comedy and one of the flagship programs of the 3rd Macao International Comedy Festival. The production follows a post office worker who magically encounters these historical and fictional figures while sorting centuries-old letters, weaving their stories into a shared narrative.

For the cast, the experience is as demanding as it is unusual. Tom Fenton, a British actor who played Valignano — the role rotated among different performers for day and evening shows — told China Daily that the part required weeks of rehearsal, but he found himself relating to the character, whom he described as someone who "came across a lot of cultural misunderstandings".

That sense of cultural encounter is rooted in history. As a key figure in the spread of Catholicism in China, Valignano arrived in Macao in 1578 and established St. Paul's College to train missionaries in local languages and cultures. He later mentored Ricci, who entered Beijing's Forbidden City in 1601 and became a crucial bridge between China and the West.

The production's format further reinforces this idea of exchange. Unlike a conventional stage play, Letters Through Time requires constant interaction with the audience, pushing actors to respond quickly and improvise. The evening performance on April 11 drew high-profile attendees, including Michelle Yeoh — the first Asian to win an Oscar for Best Actress — as well as comedians Shen Teng, Ma Li, Ai Lun and Chang Yuan.