Kathmandu’s new theatre house, Kunja Theatre in Thapagaun, is slated to open with the staging of the play, A Madman’s Diary. The play is a Nepali dramatic adaptation of the eponymous short story written by Chinese author Lu Xun. The play is adapted into Nepali and directed by Che Shankar and features a solo performance by Sudam CK.

Published in 1918, A Madman’s Diary is an allegorical story about a man who is obsessed with the idea that everyone around him, even his own brother, wants to eat him. The story is told in thirteen diary entries, preceding which is a short narration announcing that what follows is the “confused and incoherent” diary entries by a man who “suffered from a form of persecution complex.”

Ostensibly a story about one man’s obsession with cannibalism, A Madman’s Diary was written as a political allegory at a time when the Chinese nation was under the feudalistic system of government. It is generally agreed among readers of the short story that “cannibalism is a metaphor for the oppressive feudalistic society of China at the time. Those at the top of the feudalistic society fed off of the work of the individuals below them, chipping away at the souls of those at the bottom of the society.”

A Madman’s Diary marks the second solo play for the director-actor duo of Che and CK. Prior to this, the duo had staged Eklabya Ko Antim Tape, an adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s one-act play Krapp’s Last Tape.

A Madman’s Diary opened at Kunja Theatre, in Thapagaun, on Tuesday and will be staged every day at 5 pm until March 1.