Cross talks and flush toilets, both on the stage

This time director Lin Zhaohua's surprise was to bring his audience cross talks taken from the 70s, 80s and 90s in every scene shifting. Setting the cross talks in different times not only established the background chronologically but also suggested beginnings. In the last act the director filled the stage with flush toilets, although this was a total departure from realistic style. Maybe this ending reflects the original idea of the writer, seeking to tear up the fantasy and confront reality.

Black humor outlines the reality

The toilets used on stage are not as abstract as might be expected. From the brick-made ones in 70s, to the pay toilets of the 80s to the five star toilets of the 90s, the stage props are as real as possible. The toilet's evolutionary process represented great social changes exquisitely and realistically. The settings for different time periods are recognizable, and the only thing that did not change is a side stage tree, the one and the only witness of the evolution.

Toilet is black humor comedy. It involves plenty of slang or rude terms you hear frequently in Beijing. These idioms or slang vividly present us the ironic style of the Beijing local language. Even the topics people talk about waiting for the toilet also reflect social and cultural changes over three decades.

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