In the summer of 1999, Rhinoceros in Love started an upsurge of experimental theatre in Beijing, and was honored with the epithet “the bible of love for the young generation”. While other performances suffered as part of the entertainment industry's stagnation due to the outbreak of SARS in 2003, Rhinoceros in Love was performed in Beijing and Shanghai and achieved great success.

 

 

In 2004, Rhinoceros in Love was performed over 100 hundred times throughout the year and created a miracle in contemporary Chinese experimental theatre circle.

 

In 2008, Honeycomb Theatre was built in Beijing to perform a new version of Rhinoceros in Love.

 

In 2014, the production team returned to the NCPA stage with Rhinoceros in Love.

 

Rhinoceros in Love is an allegory of the human spirit, rather than a real love story. It tells a story about a man who is in love with a woman for whom he does everything he can.

 

 

Mingming, a beautiful girl full of secrets, completely alters the course of the life of a young man named Ma Lu, at the very moment that she caught Ma's eye, he fell deeply in love with her. She has a heart of stone and is indifferent to Ma's flowers, promises, and physical intimacy. Ma Lu has done all he can but is overwhelmed by deeper desperation by an unexpected prize which he had hoped to help him win Mingming's heart.

 

To help him, the salesman Toothbrush finds two young girls, Honghong and Lili, to pretend to be Ma's admirers in an attempt to make Mingming jealous. Unfortunately, Ma Lu's madness ensures his love instructor's theory is a complete failure. One night, Ma Lu, as crazy and stubborn as a rhinoceros, kidnaps Mingming in the name of love...

 

 

MENG Jinghui founded the Beijing Youth Theatre Festival in 2008 and has served as artistic director since then. He is the director of the National Theatre of China. As a famous Chinese stage director, Meng Jinghui puts his creativity and diversified artistic style into full play in this performance.

 

He has directed many works, including Think of Worldly Pleasure, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Rhinoceros in Love, Head without Tail, Amber, In Illusion, Romantic Meeting, The Life Attitude of Two Dogs, Labyrinth and Magic Mountain.

 

Meng has also cultivated a large number of drama fans to bring new energy into the new diversification of Chinese dramatic arts. His film Chicken Poets was awarded the Hong Kong International Film Festival's FIPRESCI Critics Award and the Special Youth Jury Award of the Locarno International Film Festival.

 

 

Liao Yimei is a Chinese scriptwriter and author. After graduating from the Central Academy of Drama of China, she now serves as a scriptwriter of the National Theatre of China. Her drama Rhinoceros in Love premiered at the Central Experimental Drama Theatre in 1999, and its second performance was performed by the National Theatre of China in 2003 and 2004.

 

Her drama works Magic Mountain (premiered by Beijing Children's Art Theatre Co. Ltd in 2005) and Aventure (premiered by National Theatre of China in 2007) are both very popular.

 

Her film work Life and Death Plunder won the gold award at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, U.S.A.; Fly Like a Chicken Feather won the Film Critics Award at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and also won Special Award of Youth Jury at the Locarno International Film Festival; A Review of Dancing with You won the Gold Award at the Women's Film Festival in the U.S.A. She also authored the novels Pessimist’s Bouquet, Magic Mountain and a script collection titled Amber & Rhinoceros in Love.