Venue：Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre·Drama Salon

Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre (Mainland China) Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre

Is capital an angel or a devil?
It may lead you to meteoric success, or endless downfall.
It takes different forms depending on our individual perception, so how does it appear to you? 

Money brings conflicts. To finance his performance, the protagonist Liu Xuanrui is ready to do whatever it takes. Das Kapital starts with the protagonist’s refusal to take part in a play and ends in a pursuit of capital. The pursuit of art becomes a game, with everyone engrossed in money, desires and artistic ideals. Frenzy and ridicule, ecstasy and fury – all mingle and clash on stage. As the story develops, things grow more absurd and eventually get out of hand. 

The well-established duo, playwright Nick Rongjun Yu and director He Nian, have transformed the classic work of Karl Marx, Capital, into a theatre play, portraying the double-sidedness of capital not with abstruse theoretical text but hilarious dark humour. The plot, albeit seemingly absurd and detached, goes hand in hand with everyday lives. As the playwright acknowledged, “In fact, capital has penetrated into every aspect of our lives – politics, economy, society, law, religion and ideals. In the face of capital, there is nowhere to escape to.”