ЛЯО ЇМЕЙ. ЗАКОХАНИЙ НОСОРІГ

Abstract

The play “Rhinoceros in Love” by playwright Liao Yimei is considered a classic of modern Chinese theater. Written and first staged in 1999 by her husband Meng Jinghui, one of the most influential directors of experimental theater, this artistic work has already withstood nearly 2,500 productions, attracting an audience of over a million viewers. It is a story of the unrequited love of zookeeper Malu for his neighbor Mingming. The stubbornness and reclusiveness of the young man resemble the character of the rhinoceros Tula, whom he cares for. At times, the behavior of the young man resembles that of an animal: with his poor eyesight, he recognizes people by their scent, and he associates Mingming with the scent of lemon chewing gum. In his extensive monologues, Malu often reflects on the absence of romantic love in modern life, as described in classical Chinese literature. Despite his toxic infatuation with another, Mingming reciprocates Malu’s feelings, but their relationship is impulsive, destructive, and therefore short-lived. Blinded by passionate love, the young man kidnaps the girl and is willing to lay the sky and stars at her feet, but beyond promises, he has nothing. In despair, he kills his only friend – the rhinoceros Tula – and sacrifices for Mingming what he has – the heart of the killed rhinoceros and himself. Liao Yimei managed to capture in the play the existential anxiety of the young generation at the turn of the millennium, expressed in uncertainty, doubts, and the desire to find their identity. As most critics rightly note, the play «Rhinoceros in Love» has become a kind of “Bible of Love”, as the passionate, impulsive, reckless, and sometimes instinctive relationship between Malu and Mingming is exactly what is lacking in romantic relationships among contemporary Chinese youth in the era of globalization and urbanization. Liao Yimei deliberately overloaded the play with hyperboles, satire, and grotesque elements to ironically depict people’s lives in the new era, where clear rules of consumerism prevail, and love can be standardized by training courses. The stage architecture of the play impresses with its unusualness, as it combines elements of Eugène Ionesco’s theater of the absurd, fragments of Bertolt Brecht’s epic theater, and traditional Chinese theater, which is manifested in an absolutely unrealistic time and historical context, dramatic inconsistency, extensive declamation of monologues and dialogues towards the audience, song inserts with an evaluative function, and practical absence of scenery.