Lao She, probably the most important Chinese literary figure this century, has always been remembered as a man of tragedies. His masterpieces - The Teahouse and The Rickshaw Boy - are both tales of utter despondency. Meanwhile, his life - spent mostly in the clutches of a country savaged by warfare and political upheaval - mirrored the grim landscapes these stories conjured up, ending in suicide amid violent persecution during the Cultural Revolution.
Given the reputation Lao has in the minds of the masses, melancholy is inevitable in any event staged to mark the 100th anniversary of the novelist. By choosing a lesser-known satire as their tribute, the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre may raise the eyebrows of many a Lao She aficionado.
'Most people only knew the serious side of him - it is difficult for them to get in touch with the comedies he wrote,' said Ho Wai-lung, director of the company's upcoming rendition of Grand Opening Of A Medical Clinic, a short story Lao wrote at the beginning of the 1930s. 'It might only be several pages long, but the way it caricatures the weakness in humanity is more than accurate - and very biting, too.' One of the many short, sharp satires he wrote during a seven-year teaching tenure in Shandong province, Grand Opening Of A Medical Clinic - first published in the Haste collection in 1934 - described how three swindlers managed to pass themselves off as medical experts in their bogus hospital, an ironically named 'Hospital for the Masses'.
The nonchalant manner in which Lao told his story - a detached account of how the trio set up their business, sweet-talked people into having injections of tea, and extorted helpless patients in the middle of operations - portrayed the gullible patients as the black sheep in the scenario. It denounced the blind faith people had in charlatans, a widespread trait during a time when China began to embrace modernity and its effects.
What attracted Ho towards Grand Opening was the universality and timelessness of the morals behind the piece. Indeed, Lao's original steered clear of stating the time and place in which the story unfolded.
'It just exposed the hypocrisy entrenched in human beings, how they only have room for advice that they are comfortable with,' Ho said.