Bus Stop (Gao Xingjian play)

The Bus Stop is a Chinese absurdist play written in 1981 by Gao Xingjian. Though originally completed in 1981, a second draft wasn't completed until 1982, and the play was not performed on stage until 1983. The play premiered at the Beijing People's Art Theatre and was directed by Lin Zhaohua, the Deputy Director of the People's Art Theatre. Though appreciated by many audiences, the original run was shut down by the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign after only 13 performances. Now banned from performance in mainland China, The Bus Stop remains an influential text in Chinese absurdist drama.

Gao uses nothing more than the characters’ age to introduce them.

A parenthetical after the list of characters in the text reads: "the ages listed represent each character's age at his or her first appearance."

The play opens on "a bus stop in the suburb of a city." The only set pieces are a bus-stop sign in the middle of the stage and two rows of iron railings shaped like a cross. "The shape is symbolic of a crossroads, or a fork in the road on the journey of life, or a way station in the lives of the characters."

The first character to enter is the Silent Man, followed soon after by the Old Man. The Old Man inquires about when the bus headed to the city will arrive, reveals to audience that it's Sunday afternoon, and briefly discusses the concepts rush hour and buying cigarettes. The Girl and the Hothead enter next, and the Hothead sits on the railing despite the Old Man's protests. When Glasses, the Mother, and the Carpenter enter, the Old Man does his best to keep everyone in an orderly line. A bus approaches the station, but drives by without stopping. While the Old Man, the Mother, the Hothead, and Glasses argue about the queue, another bus zooms by without stopping. This unstoppable bus prompts the Hothead to begin fighting with Glasses. The Silent Man and the Carpenter separate the two, and everyone at the station falls back in line.

At this point in the play, characters begin to reveal why they're going into city. The Mother explains how her husband and child live in the city, and her work can't be transferred to the city because "you've got to have connections." The Old Man reveals that he's going into town for a chess game, and the Girl bashfully admits she’s headed into town to meet a young man. The Carpenter adds that he's going to town to continue making fine furniture, and Glasses says he's on his way to take the college entrance exam. The Director Ma then enters just as another bus whizzes past. The Director Ma discloses that he is the manager of the general supplies store and has bribed the bus company with cigarettes, yet still can't get on the bus. While the Old Man and the Director Ma discuss cigarettes and language, Glasses begins studying American English words such as pig, dog, book, and desk. Amidst scattered conversation, the Silent Man takes off walking towards the city – "a painful yet determined search."

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