A famed and challenging animal role in theater, Kafka's creation, often compared with Frankenstein's monster, has been interpreted many times in theater by acclaimed actors, including British actress Kathryn Hunter (Kafka's Monkey) in 2009, and South African actor Tony Miyambo (Kafka's Ape) in 2015.

With a passion for theater that started in his university years, Li, now 35, quit his job as a design editor with a newspaper in 2014 to pursue acting full time. A self-employed actor for years, Li signed with the Drum Tower West Theater in 2020.

"Over the past eight years I have taken a lot of workshops on acting and acted in various productions but have yet to make a name for myself," Li told the China Daily website.

"I have been trying to make a breakthrough in acting, just like Red Peter trying hard to seek a way out in the human world."

Encouraged by the theater's founder Li Yangduo, Li decided to stage Listen to Your Inner Ape, one of three solo pieces to celebrate the theater's 8th anniversary.

Li then asked his friend Xi Wang, a graduate of the Jaques Lecoq's International Theater School in Paris, to direct him.