Director savors crazy comedy about sanity

"Nowadays, people are too busy to think. When they come to the theater, I like posing these questions to them. And, in this space, they are allowed to think and give answers."

Hello, Lunatic! follows the director's last contemporary drama, Hello, Give Me the Money!, which revolves around two innocent robbers, three apathetic bank clerks, several greedy investigators and cautious passers-by.

The 34-year-old director calls his dramas "gentlemen's comedy" - a blend of tragicomedy and black humor. Recently, Rao won the Best Director Award at the National Drama Golden Lion Award.

"I want to show audiences that things are not always as they seem. They could find themselves in the characters, and they will all be surprised by the ending," says Rao, who graduated from the directing department of Central Academy of Drama in 2003.

Born in a small town in Guizhou province, in southwestern China, Rao was a quiet child and his favorite hobby was watching students dance and sing on campus. He also liked reading books and pretending to be the characters, acting out scenes alone at home.

After graduating from the Central Academy of Drama, he opened a restaurant, hoping to make ends meet. The restaurant initially did well but was forced to close a year later in the wake of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak.