Drama "Where is the nearest barrier-free toilet?" Stills.
The creative team took a group photo.
Global Accessibility Day is celebrated on the third Thursday of May every year, and May 19 this year marks the 34th National Day for Persons with Disabilities. According to the China Disabled Persons' Federation, the total number of people with disabilities in China has reached more than 85 million, accounting for more than 6% of the total population. According to the "2017 Barrier-free Facilities Survey Experience Report in 100 Cities" released by the China Consumers' Association and the China Disabled Persons' Federation, the overall penetration rate of barrier-free facilities in China is only 40.6%.
They are rarely seen in public places, let alone on stage.
In 2023, drama producer Shen Lujun fell and injured her leg, and after brushing all the videos of the UP master @大程子好sister in the barrier-free area, she decided to make a stage play about barrier-free travel. So, according to the true deeds of Da Chengzi's good sister, and Zhao Hongcheng himself starred in the female one-man show "Where is the nearest barrier-free toilet?" was born.
The stage play tries to break the stereotype of people with disabilities who are hard and inspirational, and presents the ordinary and moving side of wheelchair people. Since its premiere in 2023, it has been nominated for "Best Newcomer" and "Best Innovative Play" at the 7th Chinese Theatre Festival, and won the "Best Innovative Play" award. From May 16th to 19th, the play will participate in the Shanghai Jing'an Modern Drama Valley Repertoire Showcase. Previously, during the Guangdong tour, Nandu Entertainment interviewed Zhao Hongcheng to talk about the story behind this excellent drama and his own feelings as the owner of the barrier-free zone.
"Let the public see the real people with disabilities, not the people who we think we are"
Nandu: As an amateur blogger, what was your first reaction when you received an invitation to appear in a stage play?
Zhao Hongcheng: When the producer approached me, I thought it was incredible, but I was motivated to let more industries and fields see the disabled community, so I encouraged myself to give it a try, thinking that if I refused this opportunity, I might regret it in the future.
I am very eager to have a similar image of myself on the stage, and I hope to have my own main narrative, so that the public can see more real people with disabilities, rather than our stories as imagined by the outside world, when a person's life transcends the meaning of their own existence, it will have some positive effects on this society.
Of course, this play is not only about the disabled group, but also about what many women say to their partners, the trouble of self-acceptance, the desire for mother's recognition, etc., the text of the script is very good, and I am often moved by these text descriptions until I cry when I read them. In the story on the stage again and again, it is also a kind of review and healing for yourself.
Secondly, I like this script very much, the screenwriter Chen Si'an's ability is very top-notch, although he has acted many times, (but) when I am familiar with the script before this round of performances, I will still be moved by some of her descriptions, and I have a feeling of relief. I used to feel that as a disabled group, there are too few people in society who can understand us, and I feel very lonely, but after she writes it, it will make me feel as if I am comforted, that is, there is at least Chen Si'an in this world, who fully understands many of my feelings, and she writes a lot of things very carefully, which can make the audience feel and comprehend slowly, and have a feeling that hits the heart.
Nandu: Did you know about theater before? Have you ever watched a play in the theater?
Zhao Hongcheng: Yes, my husband likes to watch dramas and musicals, and he used to go to shows together, but then he didn't go much because there are few theaters that make barrier-free facilities better, and he has had some very unpleasant experience of being served.
For example, if I want to go to the bathroom, my husband wants to see the accessibility in the bathroom, but the staff member tells my husband, "You might wear pull-up pants yourself." The other party thinks it's for your own good, but I feel offended. If I can wear it, that's my freedom, not that you don't have this thing (accessibility) and you want me to wear it.
As an audience, I felt that the drama industry didn't seem to be able to see the disabled group very well. When I entered the role of actor, I found that as a practitioner, this industry is even less aware of this - there are very few barrier-free toilets in the theater, and there is no backstage, as if the entire industry does not have wheelchair actors by default, so our crew is constantly solving many difficulties and challenges along the way. These difficulties are systemic.
"This script tells my own story, and it takes courage"
Nandu: Are you nervous about acting in a stage play for the first time? What is the difference between being an UP master?
Zhao Hongcheng: Drama performance, the state of telling is completely different from being a blogger sharing, and drama needs more of a sense of communication with others. As a blogger, I can say it many times to the camera, just pick out the one that I feel is the best one, but as a drama actor, everything on stage is done over and over again, and the challenge is very high, plus this script is about my own story, so it takes courage and demands a lot from me. It is to complete the examination of one's past life experience in order to tell it well, and to ensure that he protects himself during the performance. It's very hard.
Nandu: What is it like to be a stage performer?
Zhao Hongcheng: As a wheelchair user, my leg muscles are atrophied, so it is difficult for me to buy suitable clothes. I'm used to it, and I often buy it and cut it myself or find a tailor to modify it. However, the costume teacher will design the clothes according to my figure, including some small buttons and mechanisms in the stage, and props for all life scenes such as wardrobes, drawers, and doorknobs, which are also designed at the angle that I can open in a wheelchair. When I was making stage installations, I also went to the factory to test the height of all the props, including that I had a very stylish electric car on the stage, and I also had to ensure the safety of driving on the stage, as well as the safety standards of the iconic barrier-free ramp...... It's how it was made step by step and finally presented on stage.
It's still very special because as a wheelchair person, it's a marginalized person in the city. It is very inconvenient for us to walk and live in the urban environment, and we have to find things that can be used in very few barrier-free facilities, but in this play, all the external things are customized according to me, which is quite healing in itself.
"When I saw the wheelchair Barbie, I was very relieved"
Nandu: Is there anything in this drama that particularly impresses you?
Zhao Hongcheng: There are a lot of them. The first is a line that describes how I was never seen by the public and longed to be seen, "You may never have paid attention to it, but the people you see, the books you read, the dramas you watch, the TV you watch, are all people who look like you, people who walk upright." But I've never seen anyone like me. So when I saw the wheelchair Barbie, I was very relieved, and one line was, "If I had seen such a wheelchair Barbie as a child, I wouldn't have to have it, I just needed to see it." What impressed me most about the stage scene was the scene of my surgery on the stage, we used some multimedia and artistic means to present it, and we didn't say the lines, but it would make everyone feel the pain and some comfort, and the audience should look like a particularly shocking picture.
Nandu: Was there any performance at any stop that touched you instantly?
Zhao Hongcheng: When the first show of Guangzhou Station, the overall feedback of the audience was very enthusiastic, very much to follow up your emotions, almost all of the laughter we prepared had laughter, and sobbing could be heard in every touching place, including some unexpected feedback, for example, when I took out the wheelchair Barbie doll, I actually heard a burst of "Wow~" exclamation, there has never been such feedback before, originally at that moment I performed "I have a wheelchair Barbie" that kind of happy state, but at that moment suddenly a little choked, I feel as if I've really pulled a lot of people into my world, and that's some of the magical chemistry of the live show.
Nandu: What do you hope this drama will bring to everyone?
Zhao Hongcheng: It's very simple, I want everyone to know that people with disabilities are also human beings and women, and they don't want to be treated differently.
It sounds like a sentence of common sense, but many people subconsciously don't notice it, I hope that after watching this show, you can feel that we are very real people, and we have a lot of common emotions with you, and sometimes it may feel like not only saying that I am the same as everyone, but also that everyone is the same as me.
"People with disabilities should not always be presented with a tragic and inspirational image"
Nandu: What stereotypes about people with disabilities have you encountered in your life?
Zhao Hongcheng: When I go out, if I am walking upright, other people will assume that I have no subjectivity, that is, they do not ask my opinion by default, but only ask the opinions of my companions. For example, yesterday I had dinner with friends, and there were some steps in the restaurant, and the waiter wanted us to check the location of the table and whether it was convenient to pass through a wheelchair. But he spoke to my friend the whole time, and I said that I would go with me too, and then the waiter panicked: "Are you going to go with you too?" "Including when I usually go to commercial places, the attitude of the staff towards me is also very typical, in cultural venues or bars, some people will think: why do you come to this kind of place in a wheelchair?
Nandu: After graduating from university, will you be confused before entering the society?
Zhao Hongcheng: It's not that I'm confused, I should be very scared, because I can't see how a wheelchair woman grows, graduates, works, gets married, and has children since I was a child...... I don't have any reference in my life, as if I am the only outlier in this world, and all the roads ahead have to be explored by myself, and maybe there is a very instinctive desire to find the same kind from that time. I also imagine how much comfort, encouragement, and support I could have had if someone like me had appeared in the public eye at a younger age.
Nandu: What does your family expect from you?
Zhao Hongcheng: Ever since I was a child, my parents were still very worried about whether I, as a person with a disability, would be able to gain a foothold in society. The first thing is to survive and work. My mom may be the kind of person who is more curly and chicken, and her logic is because I am a disabled child, and I need to be more capable to make up for the lack of physical disability, which is very demanding of me.
Nandu: Tell us about your original intention of becoming a wheelchair blogger?
Zhao Hongcheng: I think my understanding and acceptance of my disability is largely thanks to Mr. Cai Cong (note: visually impaired, one of the debaters in the fourth season of Wonderful Story), when I saw his interview, I would have a feeling of brightness, which was completely different from the image of the disabled seen in the media before. It always seems to make me feel pitiful, either to show myself as a female warrior, how to overcome difficulties and obstacles, either very god or very weak. But after I saw Mr. Cai Cong's reports and opinions, I seemed to understand it at once, and it turned out that these are what others imagined about us. This includes his understanding of disability – disability is the lack of support for people with disabilities in the social environment, and the barriers we face, rather than the fact that we can't stand up. He was a spiritual beacon for me for a long time.
"Envy the sign language works of the deaf community, this is their culture"
Nandu: What encouragement have you brought to other disabled friends?
Zhao Hongcheng: When I was the UP master of the barrier-free area before, a netizen left me a message, saying that she is a non-disabled person, and she has an older brother who is in a wheelchair, but her brother has never been out at home all the year round, and after watching my video, she wants to take her brother out. She consulted me what kind of wheelchair to buy, and after I recommended it to her, she took her brother to Shenzhen for a tour, and told me how she felt after the trip, saying that she was very grateful to me, and she took her parents to go out with her brother. His parents weren't quite sure if his brother would be able to go out before, but after this trip, it should have changed his parents' minds and his brother's mind on a large level. She said that my brother had a lot of fun, and I could relate to it very much, because I was also very young and couldn't go out, and I was very eager to go out, and I longed for that feeling of freedom. I was very touched and I thanked her for letting me know that what I was doing could make such an impact.
Nandu: Is being able to use sign language on stage an advantage for performers?
Zhao Hongcheng: Because sign language itself is a language, there is actually a lot of room for exploration when combined with drama, including dance and performance in sign language, which has not been done before. I would also envy the sign language art made by the deaf community, which belongs to their culture and their identity, and I would like to hope that wheelchair people can have such a thing - we don't want the wheelchair to be a tragic symbol, we want it to become a fashionable, positive, positive, and can collide with art, and can show something beautiful. I look forward to the diversification of domestic dramas, so that more disabled groups can appear on the mainstream stage and disseminate more real stories of people with disabilities.
Written by: Nandu reporter Li Chunhua
Video: Nandu reporter Wu Jialin
Photo: Courtesy of the organizer