| Love's dark side: Money and betrayal | |
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| Feb 15, 2008 01:57 |   |
| guestnest | Love is an everlasting topic around the world. In the circle of the current Chinese culture and art, love has become one important cental theme. Recently, two plays well illustrate contemporary Chinese young people's attitudes towards marriage and love. Love is not always bright. It has dark sides. |
| Feb 15, 2008 01:59 | #1 |
| GUESTNEST | A review from Shanghai Daily: In a fast-changing society, people wonder if true love still exists: When you can get anything with money, can you also buy love? This is debated in the play "13 Million Single Bathtubs" underway at the Shanghai Drama Arts Theater. It depicts the very realistic - or rather, materialistic - point of view that China's young generation takes toward their relationships. The number "13 million" has no special significance but indicates there are many many singles. Like many young people in Beijing, Lemon, a 26-year-old white-collar worker who comes from a small city, works very hard to survive in the metropolis. She and her poet lover, Strawberry, are deeply in love but are too poor to get married. When Lemon meets Xu Baixiao, Strawberry's old friend who heads a business empire, she doesn't think twice. Lemon relentlessly pursues him. In the end, she manages to marry Xu although it's crystal clear to her that he is selfish, pretentious and unlovable. All she needs are money and a better life. Love, on the other hand, can be sacrificed. The play's message: The sad fact of China's young generation is that all their dreams seemingly can be measured by material things. On their wish list are nothing but LV bags, the latest gadgets, designer clothes and newest video games. It is also very difficult to teach a only child how to love another person as much as he or she loves himself or herself. At the end of the day, everyone feels so lonely, just like the three main characters in the play. According to director Xu Sixian, people nowadays have less and less time to face themselves - the bathroom is the last oasis and refuge where they can relax and think. "A bathtub is like one's little pool in the desert, namely an industrial city like Beijing that is filled with dusts," he says. |
| Feb 15, 2008 02:00 | #2 |
| GUESTNEST | To create a desert-like environment, Xu paves the stage with 1.6 tons of grain that looks like sand. In the center lies a plain, rusty bathtub in which all three characters take a meditative "dip" from time to time. The cast features three graduates of Beijing's Central Academy of Drama: Huan Liwan plays Lemon, Hao Tian is Strawberry and Chen Xu takes on Xu Baixiao. Meanwhile, the theater is preparing to stage a new round of renowned British playwright Patrick Marber's award-winning production "Closer," about another dark side of our relationships - betrayal. The Chinese version of the play was first produced in 2005 and became a box-office hit. The English-language original has been performed in more than 100 cities and in more than 30 languages since its debut in London in 1997. The play set in 1990s London explores the complicated relationships between two couples: photographer Anna and her husband, dermatologist Larry; obituary-writing journalist Dan and his girlfriend, stripper-dancer Alice. It was made into a much-acclaimed film directed by Mike Nichols, starring Julia Roberts as Anna, Jude Law as Dan, Natalie Portman as Alice and Clive Owen as Larry. "I have never read a play so many times," says director Lei Guohua. "It tells a rich, symbolic story that gives me a lot of room to recreate. "Nowadays people are becoming more and more protective of themselves and suspicious of others," she continues. "However, in the end, they only find themselves much lonelier and easier to be hurt." The stage and costumes will feature just two colors, black and white, to create a feeling of distance. Lei coaches the actors to perform in a "strong, passionate" way to showcase the dramatic sides of love. There are also only four characters in "Closer" but every role is major. They will be played by four young actors from the Shanghai Drama Arts Center - Xu Shengnan, Xie Chengying, Wangyang Meizi and Zhao Haitao. |
| Feb 16, 2008 01:42 | #3 |
 | What a sad play. Money is a great, great thing to have but never for once thought that it could buy love. Gotta hand it to her though. It’s a big sacrifice she made. I don’t think I can sacrifice that much for money. |
| Feb 17, 2008 10:03 | #4 |
| What is love? The reviewers initial paragraphs didn't define it so do they have meaning? But later the reviewer wrote 'It is also very difficult to teach a ... child how to love another person as much as he or she loves himself or herself'. Now perhaps we are getting somewhere. Isn't love about what we can do for someone else not what we can get from it? But unfortumately the reviewer then writes ' At the end of the day, everyone feels so lonely,...'. Oh dear, we are back to what is in it for me. I am a great supporter of the views written in a book 'The Road Less Travelled' by Scott Peck where the idea of love being what we give not what we take is explored (it is light reading, not academic) |
| Feb 17, 2008 21:29 | #5 |
| If love can be bought, then love is commercialized. It is pathetic that in a highly commercialized society, you can buy almost everything, but most of them would be fake and impure. It seems that money rusts pure stuff. |
| Feb 18, 2008 22:15 | #6 |
| "The play's message: The sad fact of China's young generation is that all their dreams seemingly can be measured by material things. On their wish list are nothing but LV bags, the latest gadgets, designer clothes and newest video games. It is also very difficult to teach a only child how to love another person as much as he or she loves himself or herself. At the end of the day, everyone feels so lonely, just like the three main characters in the play. " The films sounds "down to earth". Wheras, I am still confused about why did China transform into such a society. Who can be blamed? |
| Feb 19, 2008 18:46 | #7 |
| "Who can be blamed?" It is an individual decision. In America, we are bombarded by advertisements of new cars and jewelry. It’s up to the individual if they want to buy them or not. Some people change cars every 2 years, some people don’t. We also get a lot of unsolicited pre-approved credit cards. It is the individual’s choice to accept them or not. |
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