To mark Chinese New Year, the Premier League has commissioned an original performance of a play that celebrates local culture through a traditional Chinese art form.
The performance, delivered by 20 performers from the Beijing Shadow Play Arts Troupe, was created using intricate characters and sets made from leather to tell a story behind a screen.
The characters in the play are Premier League players Edinson Cavani, James Rodriguez, Jordan Henderson, Christian Pulisic and Son Heung-min.
It starts with Henderson approaching the PL Trophy, but the lights then go out briefly and Chinese text appears, "Our parting is brief, we will be together forever", as a nod to the pause in the 2019/20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It resumes re-enacting great goals scored after the restart and with Henderson lifting the Trophy for Liverpool before more goals from the current campaign are represented.
The spinning of the players in the video replicates the moves that take place in traditional Shadow Play productions, showing a level of skill and magic that these players also display on the pitch.
Shadow Play productions are mainly comedic so, because it is the Year of the Ox, the video ends with a Cavani shot hitting an Ox, who then chases after the players.
The concept and production of the video was delivered by the Premier League’s dedicated team in China via Red Lantern Digital Media.
