BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) -- British playwright Peter Shaffer's "Equus" is to be staged in Beijing on June 25, its first official performance in Chinese mainland.

The production at Beijing People's Art Theatre will combine the aesthetics of traditional Chinese opera and Bertolt Brecht's distancing effect, according to the director Ban Zan.

"Equus" was originally staged at the National Theatre in London in 1973. Then it set a record high of 1,200 performances on Broadway, and won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1975.

"Equus" (Latin for "horse") is the story of a youth who commits violent acts against horses, and reveals the vulnerability in his heart and his strained relations with the outside world.

"It's a play about psycho-social problems, which meets the aesthetic expectation of people today," said Ban.?