Ron Cerabona

The Peasant Prince: The True Story of Mao's Last Dancer. Adapted by Eva Di Cesare, Sandra Eldridge and Tim McGarry from the book by Li Cunxin. Directed by Tim McGarry. Monkey Baa Theatre Company. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, Saturday, June 4, 11am and 2pm. canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 62752700.

Li Cunxin told his remarkable life story in a bestselling memoir, Mao's Last Dancer that was adapted into a feature film. Li also wrote a children's book, The Peasant Prince, which told the same tale in a simpler form, with illustrations by Anne Spudvilas. Now that story has been adapted to another medium, the stage, by Monkey Baa Theatre Company.

Born in poverty in 1961 in China, Li was one of seven brothers. At the age of 11 he was selected to attend the Beijing Dance Academy, where he trained for seven years. At the age of 18 he received a scholarship to study at the Houston Ballet Summer School after studying with its artistic director, Ben Stevenson, and decided to defect to the West. He began a relationship with an American dancer and a new career in the US, but was cut off from his family in China for seven years. Eventually, he moved to Australia and yet another stage in his life began.

Co-scripter and director Tim McGarry says the play follows Li's life from his childhood of gruelling dance training – long hours of arduous practice – to his difficult decision to defect and his eventual reunion with his family when they came to see him dance in the US.

While The Peasant Prince is a play – with actors and dialogue – given the subject matter, there was obviously going to be a significant movement component.

"In terms of movement we brought in a movement director, Danielle Micich, the artistic director of Force Majeur Dance Company."

McGarry and Micich worked together to devise stylised dance moves that represented ballet without being quite as complicated. They were still demanding, though and McGarry was faced with a choice in casting the lead role: did he look for a dancer who could act or an actor who could dance?

He decided on the latter and ended up with "an actor who was capable of dancing", John Gomez Goodway, born in the Philippines with some Chinese heritage and who had martial arts experience.

"All four actors are Asian-Australian – the other three actors play multiple roles."

McGarry is co-founder of Monkey Baa Theatre Company, which has been running since the late 1990s. It is focused on creating theatre for young people aged between 3 and 18, producing works aimed at different age groups and touring to rural and regional areas. The Peasant Prince is aimed at children aged between 6 and 12 and came about when McGarry was doing a workshop at Home Hill State School in far north Queensland in 2013.

"I said, 'Think of your favourite picture book you've read this year and prepare one scene.' "

One of the groups acted out the scene in which Li was picked to be dancer from The Peasant Prince, which was the first time McGarry had heard of it.

He was able to obtain the rights from Li who became involved in the production – "he saw every draft of the script ... and did some movement". McGarry says Li was "over the moon" about the resulting production that premiered in Sydney in April before going on an Australian tour that runs until September.

"I realised it would be a great story to tell," he says. He thought it would make a piece of theatre that was both "sophisticated and challenging" for young people as well as "inspiring" and "a story they could relate to".