A Conflict of Future and Past
Tyler Gaines, staff writer
Many performing arts events have taken place in the month of April. One of these events overlooked was LingXi’s Me2 vs He2. LingXi is a Chinese, student-run organization from UVA founded in 2015 to promote cultural diversity and act as a resource for student talents in theatre art.
They have performed in many other areas around Charlottesville, including at PVCC on Sunday, April 16. The crowd size was not exactly large by any means, but those who did show up enjoyed the show.
The plot of Me2 vs He2 follows a businessman, Mo Shen, played by Haonan Yu, and a businesswoman, RuJing Jian, played by Shuang Geng. They are followed by “Another Man” (Zhouyang Qi) and “Another Woman” (Jiewen Huang) throughout the play, but they are the only ones who can see them or feel their presence. That is because these ghostly figures are Mo and Rujing from the past. Since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, both have long since forgotten their past, and they are now meeting each other again almost 30 years later to discuss shares of their respective companies.
The play emphasizes the past, broken dreams, and what it all means in the present. The play was subtitled throughout, so following along was difficult, though the obscenities and jokes displayed were amusing to watch and read.
Audience member, Stephanie Xiao, said “I think it’s very interesting to see how two main characters interacted with each other. It brought to tear at one point.”
The reaction from the crowd at the end of the play was as if it was a full house applauding their performance. If you are looking for something different than your typical American drama or play, you should come see LingXi perform.
