Li Zhuolang Talks “Who The Hell Is Rober Wayne?” Her Debut Solo Show Coming To Camden Fringe

Written in response to cultural loneliness as a North-Western Chinese person living outside of the country, Li Zhuolang’s debut play Who the hell is Robert Wayne? explores identity, cultural architypes and tokenism. An aspiring actor, Lily fights to play the role of Robert Wayne and his secret superhero identity ‘Ratman’. Inspired by her love of superheroes, but not seeing herself reflected in these stories, Li Zhuolang interrogates the tokenism and architypes often attached to Chinese and East Asian characters and asks the questions, who gets to be the protagonist and when do labels overpower their story?

What was the initial spark or moment that led you to create Who The Hell Is Robert Wayne?

I was at this comic book store, and I was looking for some Stephanie Brown Batgirl back issues. A gentleman came up to me and without preamble informed me that I should read Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl run, because “she is Chinese like you”. I grew up in mainland China, where my race was never the center of any conversation, and once I stepped out into the world, somehow it has managed to become the center of almost every conversation, and I lived with that. But that day at the comic book store was a more concrete moment where I thought “what if I had a name, and a hobby, and a personhood, beyond being a Chinese woman?”

The show touches on navigating an interracial relationship, how does that dynamic help shape or challenge your exploration of identity in the piece?

It’s encouraging in a way to see more representation in modern theatre and in general, but I can’t shake the feeling that so often it’s a story about a woman of color, or a minority group, told through the lens of someone else. It gave me this feeling that we exist in relation to a baseline, which conversely makes the Asian woman the exotic display once again. Lily has a white British boyfriend in this play, and he only exists through her own narratives, because I wanted to restore the order of her own world.

The title is provocative - who is Robert Wayne, and why did you choose that name to anchor the story?

Robert Wayne is the secrete identity of the hero Ratman, and the role that Lily is auditioning to play. I chose this name because I hoped the audience would examine it with me, about the difference between identity and labels, and about the core values of the superhero stores. Does the person wear the mask, or does the mask wear the person?

You reference superheroes as an inspiration. What did they mean to you growing up, and how has your relationship with those stories changed over time?

Not to be hyperbolic but the caped stories changed my life. They very much shaped me as a person. I have been a Batman fanatic since my childhood and it’s part of the reason why I finally decided to join this industry (I hope my mother won’t see this interview because 25% of why I went to law school initially also had something to do with Bruce Wayne’s diploma from Yale Law School - Detective Comics #, page 14). Despite everything else, the superhero stories taught me to hold on to the fundamental faith in what’s good, and to look at a person’s heart and spine. The great thing about superheroes is that, they are what you believe them to be, and I don’t think I ever became disillusioned as I am now older, and I don’t think I ever will. Batman has remained the same hero, at least to me.

Can you talk about the process of unpacking tokenism in your work?

It’s rough because I don’t want to come off preachy, or scorn the genuine effort to advocate for more representation, but I have also been very jaded by life, so the process is really about how to focus on the character and the plot, instead of the underlying message. I think (I hope) the message will come through if the character comes off as, sincerely, just another person, and the audience will see her in all her nuanced personality and human wants, etc, before her Chineseness. To combat tokenism, one must first resist the easy route of surrendering to tokenism. 

Were there moments during the writing or performing of this piece that felt particularly cathartic or unexpectedly difficult to express?

Yes I wrote chunks of the bluest streak of curses in the northwestern dialect :D

But also, when she finally confronts the reality that maybe her “identity” is the real thing her boyfriend is interested in, that was a nice little conversation to have. I’m curious to see how the boyfriend would actually react to that, and wanting to make an ensemble play for this reason.

What do you hope audiences will take away from the show?

I hope they have fun!! I think my highest hope would be for the audience to become just a teensy bit intrigued by the very, very big place I came from, and maybe even by the superhero stories.

Who the hell is Robert Wayne? plays at the Etcetera Theatre as part of Camden Fringe from the 28^th July – 13^th August. Tickets are available at www.camdenfringe.com