The stage play, Toilet, performed by the National Theatre Company of China, met its audience in the Israeli city Tel Aviv on August 11th.

The performance was part of the Chinese Culture Festival in Israel, which was held to celebrate the 15th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Israel. The first performance in Tel Aviv ended in a resounding applause. One of them said the play showed the audience the great changes in China within these years, and it was very interesting.

The Toilet is performed by professional play actors. It displays the great changes in Beijing in the 70s to the 90s of the 20th century, using the development of the public toilet, from simple brick-made latrines to five star washrooms. The performance in Israel was the show's first abroad.

Toilet is the last play of the Trilogy of Dignity by its playwright Guo Shixing. It describes the living conditions of a group of people of three different ages and reflects the changing times and culture. The Toilet was first put on stage in 2004 by the director Lin Zhaohua and was called The Squatted Tea House (by Lao She). However, for its involvement in personal privacy issues and its ironic and cynical lines, it aroused controversy, and thereafter was seldom performed.

This year is "The Year of China in Israel" and the Cameri Theatre in Israel especially named the play Toilet and invited the play actors there to perform. They believed that the Toilet was a typical contemporary Chinese play. The assistant to the president of the National Theatre Company of China told us, the president of the Cameri Theatre had been fond of it since he watched it three years ago. He had requested them to perform it in Israel three times, but the first two attempts were cancelled due to budget constraints. Now the playwright and the original actors are on the way to Isreal, for two shows in Tel Aviv in the middle of August.

The Toilet: Flush the society with language

The toilet received a warm welcome for its first performance in China. This kind of taboo was finally presented on stage and the response was laughter and applause from thousands in the audience. Perhaps because of his past career as a reporter, Guo Shixing's writing style has always differed from other realistic writers. On the other hand, the director of the play, Lin Zhaohua, always surprises his audience with ingenious lines. As a result, this play, although it involves no big events, suspense or romance and only worldly things related to the toilet, is definitely worth exploring.

 More......