We all well remember that about three months ago, Mr. Zhu Tou, our math teacher, suddenly became the idol of the girls. It was not because he had just finished his drama script W For Women and made himself the director, but because every one of us "pitiful women" wanted to prove her acting talent on the stage, according to our weight-lifting champion. When I suggested to Mr. Zhou Tou that the play would be a real hit if he offered me the mayor role, Miss Zhu Ti, he appreciated my enthusiasm by telling me that 'you don't have to play a role on the stage to become Miss Zhu Ti, you can do just as well by sitting with the audience and following the story."

He was proved right last night when the play went to the stage for the first time, and probably the last, at our school hall. After the curtain was lowered, somehow I felt as if I were Miss Zhu Ti: absolutely miserable, totally lost, and deeply worried.

If it was Miss Zhu Ti's tragedy made me feel miserable and lost last night, it is my own future that worries me now because the play did warn me that, though in a rather cruel way, there are hidden dangers awaiting us out in the society once we step out of high school and start to think we know every thing.

To warn us about the danger and urge us to worry about our future, was just what Mr. Zhu Tou trying to achieve and he succeeded.

But my objection is, is there really no escape? Can't W stand for Win instead of Worry? And if there is a ghost of grave danger hanging around, does it only prey on women? Lucky men!

It was obvious the drama was based on the true story of our ex-school mate, Miss. Tudou. In the drama in real life, Miss Tudou was one of the brightest in our school and one of the model students. A sudden attack of nephritis prevented her from sitting in the university admission examination. While recovering in the hospital, Miss Tudou met Mr. Loubo, a former prisoner, also a student of our school some fifteen years ago, and fell in love with him. It is not for us to discuss what crime Mr. Loubo had committed , but we should agree that he is an up-right man. Fearing that their daughter's study would be jeopardized by falling in love while still a student, and even worse, her future would be ruined by marrying an ex-convict, Miss Tudou's parents, with the steadfast support of the 'street committee' and some of her former school teachers, spared no pain to 'pull her out of the mess.' At the end, they threatened to expel her from the family if she didn't end her relationship with the ex-convict within tree days. Understandably, a desperate Miss. Tudou turned to Mr. Loubo for help, hoping to gain strength from his experience and wit. But the news waiting for her was that Mr. Loubo had found enough money to study abroad, for he had always wanted to leave the place which had afflicted his body and soul with pain, and both of them understood that it was definitely impossible for him to take her along.

Then she realized she was going to lose him. She knew that the pressure from the society would withdraw : it withdrew not because she had fend it off, but because her love had betrayed her. She found herself a loser, a loser who had fought for a cause which might not actually exit, yet the enemies were real and mean.

The defeat was too massive for Miss. Tudou to sustain, she hid in an old building which was ready to be demolished with the use of explosive charge: all her suffering ended within a few seconds.

After losing their only child, Tudou's parents started off their own restaurant business, worked extremely hard and made a fortune. 'Money is opium for our life,' they told people.

In the sense of literature, this is a paper-thin story. Nevertheless, the cause of the tragedy is profound, and the truth behind the facts is deeply hidden. The writer and director of W For Women had been wringing his brain trying to find that cause and bring out the truth, but it seems to be too much a hack of a task for a high school math teacher to tackle. In fact, there might be no one capable of doing this in a long time to come yet.

But it was a nice try. On the stage, on her way to see Mr. Loubo, Miss. Zhu Ti recited:' Love and faith are the mightiest among all things, it is not going to surrender but to conquer. It is the conqueror of the conquerors!'

Back stage, our math teacher pointed out that he uses this line 'to make the young graduates aware of the danger of blind love.' 'Tell me, is that affection or confusion?' He asked.

I doubt if that line has served Mr. Zhu Tou's educational purpose. From a spectator's point of view, Miss. Zhu Ti was not blind at all. But the great effort made by our math teacher to reveal the subconsciousness is easily noticed and should be appreciated. For example, during her last moment alive, Miss. Zhu Ti recited:' I have not lost my faith, I still have my longings, and they are getting stronger. They are becoming so overwhelming that I just can't bear them any longer. I have to give them up. Crush me, crush me, you damn old building! I don't have the strength to save you, I don't have the skill to fix you, and I am all alone. Crush me! I know you want to crush me! But you have to fall to crush me. You should crush my weak body , crush all the conquerors inside and outside my humble being, and set my heart free.'

There is no much to say about the performance. What can we expect from our school mates? They have to do their homework too. Their acting depended on their natural talent and individuality rather than hard work and rehearsal. In fact, the audience was so overwhelmed by the tragedy itself and puzzled by the message it was sending, they hardly notice who was playing on the stage.

Thanks to the inventive use of light, music instrument and stage special effect, we were able to walked home with something more realistic to complain about: for just before the stage curtain was lowered, a huge gong was bashed repeatedly by our weight lift champion with a sledge hammer ; flash lights were aimed at the eyes of the viewers; tones of cold water were bucketed down to the ruins of the demolished building on the stage and the audience! All this stage of chaos lasted a full 30 second. If you still couldn't imagine this was the on-slaughter of a wild thunder storm symbolizing 'the sudden change of life, the savagery of unexpected confrontation,' you must have been blinded by the lights, your eardrums must have been damaged by the sound, and the worst, you are cold and wet.

A last word for the script writer, director and our math teacher: If you ever have another chance to write and director a drama again, would you please show us a little bit of the bright side of life? If we can't fight and win at the moment, can we escape and survive?

*stretch and twist

*Mr. Zhu Tou claimed that W For Women was a tragedy, but to me, it looked more like a drama of accident.

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