The live performance landscape in Shanghai is literally shifting, with more and more shows now held in previously unlikely venues like cafes, bookshops and even malls, Zhang Kun reports.
Shanghai has announced 100 new settings for live performances, as the city sees an increasing number of music, theater and talk shows taking place in malls, cafes, bookstores and other unconventional locations. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Instead of being confined to traditional spaces like theaters, live performances such as stand-up comedies, improvisational dramas and even immersive theater shows are now increasingly being held in venues like shopping malls, office buildings and residential areas in Shanghai.
On Dec 23, the municipality announced that 100 new spaces for live performing arts have been opened this year. On the list are jazz bars, teahouses, bookshops and outdoor theaters. These new spaces will "play an important part in building Shanghai into an Asian center of performing art", and bring art and performance close to people, according to the municipal administration for culture and tourism.
For example, the Asia Building at 650 Hankou Road, just off People's Square in the center of Shanghai, may seem like an ordinary commercial building in the day, but the venue undergoes a stark transformation at night when crowds form at the gate as people swarm to catch shows in the mini theaters there.
The most popular of these shows is the immersive theater production Apollonia. Adapted from the South Korean musical Mia Famiglia, the show is set during the prohibition era in the United States and tells the story of a pub that is about to close down. In the show, the three actors play 12 characters who sing and dance among audience.
Shanghai has announced 100 new settings for live performances, as the city sees an increasing number of music, theater and talk shows taking place in malls, cafes, bookstores and other unconventional locations. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Since its premiere in August 2020, Apollonia has been performed more than 350 times to 43,000 people, many of whom are return customers hoping to catch each of the 16 actors on the rotating cast.
Other performances such as Santa Lucia, which was adapted from Mio Fratello in Korean, the prequel to Apollonia, stand-up comedy shows and musicals also take place in the same building.
According to Yao Shuo, a veteran theater curator, small theaters started growing in popularity when the pandemic forced the bigger players in the industry to stop performances or limit occupancy rates due to social distancing rules.
"Small venues are simply easier to manage according to the pandemic containment measures," he says.
Shanghai has announced 100 new settings for live performances, as the city sees an increasing number of music, theater and talk shows taking place in malls, cafes, bookstores and other unconventional locations. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Yao has also benefited from this trend－crowds have been flocking to his creation, Show Time Now, a mini-theater festival taking place from Dec 11-31 at Huarun Times Square in Pudong district. The festival comprises nine productions, including comedy sketches, talk shows, concerts and even an immersive show of the opera La Boheme.
"The rise of small live shows such as stand-up comedies, theater sketches and immersive theater shows set in spaces such as cafes, pubs and bookstores are an almost natural result of the upgrading and renewal of traditional shopping malls," Yao tells China Daily.
"When you break down the framework of the traditional theater structure, more interactions could happen between the performers and audiences, and more possibilities begin to emerge," he adds.
Shanghai has announced 100 new settings for live performances, as the city sees an increasing number of music, theater and talk shows taking place in malls, cafes, bookstores and other unconventional locations. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Faced with the challenges posed by e-commerce, traditional businesses such as malls have been steadily turning their focus away from being a purely retail destination to one that also incorporates dining and lifestyle options. Malls and business compounds have thus welcomed live show performances because these events bring in the crowds.
Another alternative performance venue that has been drawing the crowds is Xintiandi Ruihong, a new shopping and lifestyle compound in Hongkou district where the play Shear Madness premiered in September 2020. The play has been performed nearly 400 times since.
An interactive play that takes place in the setting of a beauty salon, the show features no more than six actors, and audiences are invited to participate and shape the narrative of this murder mystery.
Shanghai has announced 100 new settings for live performances, as the city sees an increasing number of music, theater and talk shows taking place in malls, cafes, bookstores and other unconventional locations. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
"Young audiences are becoming less tolerant of the traditional way of sitting to watch a show. They want to get involved, and we believe these innovative and immersive projects highlight the new direction of our company," says Wang Haigang, CEO of Mahua Fun Age, the parent company of Improv Alliance, the production group that created Shear Madness.
According to Wang Yuxin, the founder of Improv Alliance and the producer of Shear Madness, this shift in the live performance landscape has been a boon for the company, which has grown in size and now presents more than 100 shows a year. Improv Alliance also runs a coaching academy for theater performance.
Many of the audiences, most of whom are young office workers in their 20s and 30s, have even switched roles to become actors.
"We have among our actors former physicians, public servants, schoolteachers and psychologists working with children of special needs. They have brought their understanding of life to their performances and created theater shows even better than the graduates of theater academies," he says.
Contact the writer at zhangkun@chinadaily.com.cn
