Rhinoceros in Love

China's best-known avant-garde theatrical director, Meng Jinhui and his most well-known production, Rhinoceros in Love will make its debut in Australia in coming September this year as one of the important projects of Year of Chinese Culture in Australia.

It tells about love that goes beyond the conventional realms of romance. An allegory of human spirits, rather than a real love story.Rhinoceros caretaker Ma Lu is crazy about a girl called Mingming. Ma has done everything to win her heart, but is overwhelmed by deep desperation. One night, Ma, mad and stubborn as a rhinocero, kidnaps Mingming in the name of love.This contemporary, energetic and iconic production dusted with dark romance would unveil the extent to which we would call an extreme.

The play largely employs symbolism, metaphors, satire, as well as songs and a “waterfall” stage spectacular, breaking a decades-old tradition of Chinese drama dominated by simple performances. Despite early criticism, the drama was an immediate success artistically and commercially, and is considered a milestone in the development of Chinese experimental drama. Its director Meng Jinghui is also regarded as the most distinguished representative in this area.

Since being staged in Beijing in 1999, the avant-garde small theater work Rhinoceros in Love has been performed hundreds of times and watched by hundreds of thousands of people, becoming a“Bible of Love” for numerous Chinese youths.Three versions of the show were released in the decade that followed, which helped cement its fandom and set a benchmark for small-scale plays.The ace director has also initiated a five million yuan (US$715,555) renovation project for the Honeycomb Theater,installing high-end equipment for special on-stage effects.The play was then staged in the Honeycomb and remained popular among young audiences for years long.For the latest version of this play(the fourth,2008), Meng changed the crew of actors. The fact is as Meng said, the young new faces have indeed made the play "younger and even more attractive."

"We are going to continue to play... and I want to continue my pursuit in theatrical esthetics," "Society has changed, but the strong feelings within our heart are like a fire that never extinguishes" Meng said.