For the love of Lao She

The play will be staged on Friday and Saturday at the Capital Theater in Beijing.

The Quest for Love of Lao Li is the title given to a 1948 English translation of the book by Chinese-American writer and translator Helena Kuo. Fang likes the title, describing it as "romantic" and "poetic".

The novel revolves around staff members at the government's finance office. The job seems to be stable and decent, but they all have problems at home.

Lao She's language is full of humor and vividly portrays the down-to-earth characters.

In Fang's adaptation, two male actors, Guo Xiao and Fang himself, play the roles of a dozen characters.

The lead character is Lao Li, a well-educated middle-aged man, who is unhappy with his arranged marriage. For Lao Li, his wife, who is from the countryside, is uneducated. She speaks loudly and doesn't read books. When he tries to read his favorite novel to his wife, his wife doesn't respond at all. He desperately wants to be free from the marriage but he doesn't have the courage to get a divorce.

Another main character is Brother Zhang, Lao Li's colleague, who, on the surface, seems to have a very good relationship with all kinds of people, and believes "there is no problem that cannot be solved". In Zhang's eyes, marriage is not about two people having any common language. Marriage endures as long as the husband makes money and the wife manages the housework at home. However, when his son is taken to prison, Zhang's marriage also hits the rocks.