Why Do You Beat Him Up?

Qin Le grew up in a home where tenderness and violence existed side by side. What happened to her as a child has followed her into adulthood. The play centers on a family birthday gathering on her 27th birthday. Drunk, she suddenly lashes out and brutally beats her older brother for no clear reason, leaving the whole family shaken. In the aftermath, Qin Le is forced to confront the trauma she has spent years suppressing and to retrace the steps that brought her here.

Structurally, the play begins after the party and moves backward in time, ending just before it—forming a closed loop that steadily exposes the secret Qin Le has kept hidden from herself. The story unfolds largely through memories and psychological landscapes. Two figures—“the Stranger” and “the Therapist”—operate as split aspects of Qin Le’s psyche, searching for truth from two directions: one through the body, the other through language and analysis. The play follows a woman’s internal struggle in vivid, physical terms, and arrives at a moment of reckoning in which she can finally face the pain she once avoided at all costs.

Creative Team

Director: Mirror Huang Jingxuan
Playwright: Chen Xialu
Set Design: Bai Lena
Lighting Design: Geng Qianyi · Wang Jingchen
Costume & Makeup Design: Li Ling · Xu Xueke · Wu Haoyu · Liu Yuqing
Multimedia Design: Li Yilong
Music Design: Wang Yingjie
Music Production: Cheng Yuan
Fight Director: Gao Lei

Cast

Qin Le: Jia Wenyao
Girl: Zeng Xinyi · Liu Hailin · Ye Weiyi
Man / Boxing Coach: Wang Youlun
Doctor: Mao Xin
Zheng Qi / Qin Zihang: Qin Yunfeng
Drama Teacher / Mother: Liu Feiheng

Production Team

Executive Producer: Fang Danjie
Producers: Xia Yuchen · Ye Ting
Stage Manager: Liu Jingwen
Assistant Director: Hu Jie
Production Assistant: Liu Jingwen
Set Design Assistant: Zhang Wanlin
Costume & Makeup Assistant: Tian Duoduo
Music Coordinator: Zhu Jiaqi
Props: Wang Xinyu · Xue Shiwei
Wardrobe: Dong Wenxuan · Tang Yuying
Stage Crew: Jiang Yenan · Wang Yulu
Photography & Video: Chen Yihuan · Jiang Zewen
Prompter: Li Can