BWW Reviews: I'M THE MAN Speaks Out for The New Lost Generation

When you were a kid, did you ever imagined that you were the little girl called Alice, who fell through a rabbit hole and found herself in a magical world, a world so extraordinary, so exciting and so full of surprises? We used to dream about the future, waiting impatiently for the day we grow up and can run off to explore the world. We never imagined, not even for once, that we might be stuck in a tough and boring place called real world. But where are we now? I, for one, am not in the Wonderland, and I suppose you are not either. Neither are Hao, Kang and Wang Zidong, who are the three main characters in the play "I'm the man".

I'm the man, which opened last night in Trojan House Theater as a participant of "Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong Youth Theater Festival", was wrote by Mr. Gao Junyao, directed by Mr. Liao Junkan and produced by Fantasy Theater. The play is about three old buddies who went different ways after graduating from high school, and now meet again when they are all about thirty years old. The trio teased and laughed at each other, and in the meantime, revealed their failures and frustrations in their lifes.

"I'm the man" is about three men, one is in the red and has been chased around by loaners, one lost his eight-year girlfriend to someone she only met for one afternoon, and one is a successful businessman but is about lose his marriage and his children. However, it's not just a story about men. As an audience, I may not face a divorce paper, nor recently had a breakup, my bank balance may not be as bad as Kang's, and I am not even the same gender as the three men on stage, but I'm equally lost, equally frustrated and equally powerless, trapping in this real life, can't go back, yet can't go forward.

Later that night, an audience member proposed to the director that the show should talk more about the reason behind this new lost generation than the stories of them. I, as someone belongs to this generation, have to disagree with this gentleman. For a generation who are already lost, the reason may not matter anymore. We simply need to know that, in this puzzled and struggling life, we are not alone. And last night, we were not. Last night, in a theater full of people like us, we dreamed of the same wonderland, we looked for the same rabbit hole, and we all wondered, even if we found it, would we be brave enough and take the leap?

I'm the man

Book by Mr. Gao Junyao, directed by Mr. Liao Junkan, presented by Fantasy Theater. At Trojan House Theater, Beijing, from June 18th to June 20th.

Photo Credit: Frecdrick Liu

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