Young lovers filled up theatres around China on Valentine's Day to see a play about a young man, his unrequited love of a neighbor and how his dilemma was symbolized by the animal he was in charge of feeding at a zoo.

A still of the stage drama "Rhinoceros in Love" [Photo: ent.sina.com.cn]

"Rhinoceros in Love" was so popular it sold out all 1,035 seats at the National Center of the Performing Arts.

"We asked the theater to install seats in the orchestra pit last week and even these tickets were booked up in three days," said Sun Weiwei, who was in charge of the play's marketing.

Tickets for the Valentine's Day performance sold out two weeks ago, including VIP seats priced at 580 yuan (about 85 U.S. dollars).

The love story has been striking the heart strings of audiences in China since 1999 but has never been as popular as it is now.

"I had watched the play twice last year, but it means a lot to me to watch it on the Valentine's Day," said Liu Huiyan. "It was a lovely coincidence. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the play and also the relationship between my boy friend and me," the 26-year-old Beijinger remarked.

"Rhinoceros in Love" is a play about an odd love story between a rhino feeder, Ma Lu, and his pretty neighbor Ming Ming. Ming has the hots for another guy but that doesn't deter Ma from trying to win her heart. The rhino Ma is in charge of feeding at the zoo, serves as a metaphor in the story as one of the animal's traits is weak vision. In the story, Ma simply becomes blinded by love.

"I can identify with the storyline," Liu said. "Every time I watched 'Rhinoceros in Love' I was deeply moved."

The play debuted 10 years ago but only to small audiences of no more than 300 people.

Since then it has been performed about 260 times for more than 200,000 people in small theatres throughout the country.

"I love them because they were interactive," said Zhao Yuyun, a graduate from Renming University. Sometimes, actors would walk down from the stage to talk with the audience during the play.

"This brings us a sense of involvement," he said.

That intimate setting was challenged when the play debuted Feb. 12 at the National Center of the Performing Arts, or the "Big Egg".

Some opponents regarded the venue as a betrayal of the play's origins while others said "Rhinoceros in Love" might not be suitable for a big theater.

The play's director, Meng Jinghui said the audience responded with laughter and applause.

Which just might go to show they were as blind to the criticism about the big venue as rhinos would be.

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2009)