The eight-hour-long stage drama "And Quiet Flows the Don," which is based on the Nobel-winning literature classic of the same name, hit Beijing's Tianqiao Theater Friday night, and won applause from an audience of 1,000 people.

Set in the time between the First World War and the national war of the Soviet Union, the epic art piece tells how the Cossacks live their life, struggle doggedly, and find true love.

Although it’s a tragic epic, what stuns the audience is the attitude towards life of the Cossacks. They have vigorous youth, and use wild and reckless singing, laughter, shouts, even engage in fights to express their pain, inner struggles, and perseverance.

All members of the cast are director Grigory Kozlov’s students. They were from the same class and were trained the entire five years of college for this drama, making the performance as natural as daily life.

The settings are also exceptional. Dry grass and wooden boards as houses and carriages and a small pool at the front as Don River outline a common farming community. The setting barely changes throughout the performance, while the use of projection and light help to highlight a change of scenes.

The show came after the drama debut in Harbin this April and will stage in Shanghai next Tuesday.