Play with a public appeal

The outbreak of the pandemic has forced some to withdraw from the show, but for those who have stayed on, the new and different experiences are there to share.

In 2013, when the first production of One Fine Day was presented at the Fringe Festival in Beijing, the play won wide praise from China's theater scene.

"Each actor in this play was so ordinary and yet so beautiful, so frank and real, so peaceful and with such great rhythm," says Meng Jinghui, a leading artist of China's avant-garde theater.

He praises the production as "a most handsome modern dance, a symphony of voices, and a lost journal you picked up on the metro train".

In the past nine years, the production has involved more than 100 narrators of ages ranging from 16 to 91.

Li, the director, says he views One Fine Day as an aesthetic experiment.

"We have created a set of rules that remain consistent, and invited different narrators to tell different stories. We have accumulated more than 160 stories so far," he says. "What's special about this play is that it keeps answering the question: What is the relationship between theater, or art, and our real contemporary life. For me, this play is a unique and beautiful process. It is an irreplaceable experience because it is about real people and real life. It has greatly nourished me as a creator."

Li says he wanted to provide an opportunity for people to step onto the stage, a place that once belonged exclusively to professional actors and stars. Not many people understood his concept in the beginning. In 2016, when One Fine Day was presented at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, no more than 200 people attended each of the two shows held, and most of them were art industry professionals.

"This time at Young Theater, we can have up to 1,000 people. It will be a proper mainstream show," he says.