Theatre, Manchester, where it ran until 7 July. The Festival also ran a programme of educational workshops in local schools, in partnership with Manchester's Chinese Arts Centre. In the programme, local children were introduced to the tale of Journey to the West, and learnt about various aspects of Chinese culture, music and dance, including mask-making, puppet-making, T'ai chi and Kung Fu. It was subsequently staged at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris between 26 September – 13 October 2007 and at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC in May 2008. A further run was planned for the Berlin Staatsoper in July 2008, but instead took place at the London Royal Opera House. The show also ran at the O2 arena in London, ending on 4 January 2009. A residency for the show in China during 2009 was considered. Monkey: Journey to the West opened the 2013 Lincoln Center Festival in July. Synopsis Scene 1: Birth of Monkey and His Quest for Immortality Monkey hatches from a stone egg and makes his home in the forest. Over time, he becomes obsessed with seeking immortality, and travels the world to find a teacher. He finds Subodhi in the Mountain of Heart and Mind, who gives him the name Sun Wu Kong — the Monkey with the Realisation of Emptiness. Scene 2: Crystal Palace of the Eastern Sea and the Iron Rod Monkey dives into the Eastern Sea and comes across the Crystal Palace of the Old Dragon King, where he requests to be given a weapon. He is given a magical iron rod, and the Old Dragon King is also cowed into giving him his helmet, armour and shoes. Scene 3: Heavenly Peach Banquet Monkey travels to heaven to demand recognition of his newfound power. There he finds seven fairies preparing a banquet for the birthday of the Queen Mother of Heaven. Incensed that he has not been invited, he begins to eat the Queen Mother's magical heavenly peaches, and fights off each of her divine guests who try to prevent this. The Queen Mother then calls upon Buddha to deal with Monkey. Scene 4: Buddha's Great Palm Buddha presents Monkey with the challenge of escaping his palm. Monkey is unable to do so, and so he is imprisoned by Buddha. Scene 5: The Pilgrims Five hundred years later, Guan Yin chooses Tripitaka to go on a mission to bring back