Tales of silent suffering through monologues
Women, who have close experiences of depression, pour their hearts out in stage production 'What happened to You?', reports Cheng Yuezhu.
The World Health Organization estimates that 54 million people in the country experience depression and about 41 million have anxiety disorders.
"The final result was truly astonishing. It was their first time on stage for most of the performers. When they performed, they weren't reciting memorized lines written by themselves, but were expressing their most genuine feelings. I think the performances are incredibly moving," Liao says.
"It takes immense courage and bravery to openly express one's weakest and most private moments, not just for them, but for everybody. So, I really feel for them to see them onstage, because they're revealing their most personal feelings rather than performing."
Although the creation and performance processes can be emotionally taxing, the performers believe that the production is a worthy cause to invest themselves in, and they are strong enough to readjust themselves.
"It is strenuous to perform three days in a row. But there's no need to worry about us. We'll carry on performing as long as we can, and we will recharge our batteries afterward," says Gu Feng, one of the performers.
