Playing on the everyday madness

"At that moment, I felt the city was truly beautiful. I wanted to use a playful, satirical tone to re-experience and reimagine the place where we live," he says, describing the moment when the idea for a new play occurred to him.

The first thing that came to mind was Diary of a Madman by Nikolai Gogol. Li envisioned its famous characters rendered in a comic-book style, reflecting the absurdities and struggles of modern life.