ALTHOUGH she was ill during the interview, enthusiasm still sparkled the eyes of renowned female director Chen Xinyi as she spoke about dramas and Chinese traditional operas.

Years drop away from the 65-year-old Chen Xinyi whenever she delves into the study of drama or discusses the subject with her young students.

A critic once said that it was fortunate Shanghai had Chen Xinyi, the creative force behind a multitude of performances staged in the city since her retirement. She moved to Shanghai from Beijing five years ago.

In 2004 alone, Chen engineered three major productions in Shanghai- the Western opera "Betting with Life", the all-star drama "Thunderstorm", and the Peking opera "Mei Lanfang".

To date Chen has directed more than 60 works covering such different genres as modern drama, Western opera, musical, children's drama. She has also worked on the scores for various Chinese traditional operas from different localities.

When asked how she had come to love Chinese traditional operas, Chen said: "I was not at all a Chinese traditional opera fan when I entered the then Northwestern Opera Experimental School at the age of 13."

Chen was convinced by a classmate to apply for the school. Her original dream was to be a film star and the classmate told her she could perform in films after entering the school.

Chen's enthusiasm for film came from the numerous movies she had seen in her childhood. Her father was a senior Kuomintang official and his subordinates always sent him free film tickets. Little Chen was the one who used most of these tickets.

"What my friend said was true, the school did shoot some films featuring northwestern folk songs. However, immediately after I was admitted - on the second day in fact - I already planned to quit," she added.

She had learned that the school taught qinqiang (a traditional opera popular in Shaanxi Province that featured high-pitched notes) rather than film acting, and Chen found it hard to learn the singing technique.

She admitted that she was definitely not a good qinqiang actress and thought of the experience as very frustrating.

"However, the experience proved to be helpful when later I directed some traditional operas."

Chen pointed out that although she was not an expert at performing qinqiang, the first time she went with her school to perform for farmers in the remote areas of Shaanxi Province she began to understand the magic of traditional operas.

"The performance included a lot of variety, such as singing songs, dancing, and singing qinqiang. The farmers immediately became quiet when qinqiang was performed and they were absorbed in it."

Chen added that from that experience, she came to know the importance of traditional operas but didn't really fall in love with them.

When her school headmaster, Ma Jianling, staged "Cruising on the West Lake" (a traditional opera that depicts an official's concubine Li Huiniang).

"I was struck by the beautiful actress who dressed in a pure white costume and her beautiful movements, the beautiful stage design emphasizing the emptiness of the path to the dead, and the sadly beautiful music."

From that moment, Chen came to love Chinese traditional operas.

The "cultural revolution" (1966-76) stopped Chen's tenacious pursuit of the art and brought her much suffering.

Then, in 1978, at the age of 40, she sat for the college entrance examination and become a student at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing.

Besides those of her mentor Xu Xiaozhong's, Chen picked up the other two sets of textbooks for herself - covering the works performed by Mei Lanfang and Shakespeare's plays.

Chen considers Mei Lanfang an epoch-making artist in the field of traditional Chinese opera.

As a little child in her father's arms, Chen had seen Mei's performance and was stunned by his beauty on the stage.

When she was still at experimental school, Chen had the luck to listen to Mei's lectures and she was so excited that she didn't even dare breathe in front of the Peking opera maestro.

"From Mei Lanfang, I know the mesmerizing power of poetic drama (which has no clear plot line but imparts the emotions of the characters directly to the audience through the actor's craft). This is the essence of Chinese traditional operas, which are not realistic but mostly abstract."

Chen used poetic drama to restore several critical periods of Mei Lanfang's life on stage.

As for Shakespeare's works, Chen believes that the distinguished playwright captured the defects of human beings, which are universal and timeless, such as Othello's false confidence and Hamlet's indecisiveness.

Chen believes a director should present the audience with a quality production by combining the best from different genres, whether traditional Chinese or Western.