The drama "Something Inside" has not been discussed as widely as other popular performances, but it did attract a large number of young people to the Mini Theatre of Beijing People's Art Theatre.
The play is perhaps not so important in the works of director Lin Zhaohua, who is known for innovative plays such as "The Three Sisters - Waiting for Godot," "Wild Men" and "Old Stories Retold."
But "Something Inside" does provide something in great demand on the Beijing, or even the China stage: the depiction of the inner world of today's younger generation.
It is something to treasure among recent drama productions in Beijing. They include "Caligula," a Roman emperor who ruled from AD 37 to 41; "Cai Wenji," a Chinese woman writer and musician from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD); "King Richard III," the King of England between 1452 and 1485; "Mr. Lu Xun," a famous Chinese writer who lived from 1881 to 1936; and "Wild Wave", about Chinese poet Tian Han, who lived from 1898 to 1968.
It is rare that today's audiences find plays about their own lives.
"The First Intimate Contact" was perhaps the only play about contemporary life so far this year in Beijing - but it is too romantic to represent the complicated world of contemporary Chinese people, who are living at a time when everything is changing fast.
To make a play representative of the life of today's young working class, 65-year-old Lin Zhaohua co-directs "Something Inside" with his son Lin Xiyue, who is also an actor in the play.
"Something Inside" happens during one weekend in the life of four people. It explores the end of a couple's emotional life together and the change brought about by another couple and the emergence of a new life.
A 33-year-old man is facing a crisis. He quits his boring job and devotes himself to writing, but finds he has less talent than he thought. His girlfriend, who has been with him for three years, finds out that he has been unfaithful to her through reading his diary. He wants to leave her, but he cannot afford to rent an apartment.
The man's younger brother has a stable life with his wife. The brother gives up his interest in painting and chooses to live a practical life. He works hard to earn enough money to buy an apartment and a car and to free his wife from her office job. One day, his wife announces she is pregnant and the couple face an unexpected choice.
One weekend, the two couples meet each other, and all find themselves wondering if they have made the right choices in life.
"All the characters are trying to solve their problems," said scriptwriter Wang Xiaoli. "None of them is happy, yet none is unfortunate."
In several scenes, the activities of the protagonists take place in front of the shadows of some figures on a folding screen. The images on the screen, projected from behind it, seem to present a subtext through their repetitive actions. Maybe this gives a true picture of the domestic lives of many people today.
In the play, the younger brother could be taken as an example of success. A company boss, he doesn't worry about money. But he is so busy working that he has no time to think about his life. Only in a conversation with his brother does he remember that he once dreamed of becoming an artist.
His older brother could be considered the loser. He has no job, no money, and loses his girlfriend. The only writing he is good at is what he sets down in his diary. He sees the alienation of life but is too weak to change.
Everyone in the play is a loser. They either surrender to life or fight it and lose. As contemporary people have more and more choices they become more and more bewildered.
"A play can't change people or their lives," says Wang. "What is life like? You have to ask.
(China Daily 05/22/2001)
