Venue: Beijing Comedy Theatre
Dates: September 29-October 06, 2017
About
Large stage comedy The Stage was created and produced by Dadao Culture in 2015. It was written by scriptwriter YU Yue, directed by famous Chinese comedy performing artist CHEN Peisi, starring CHEN Peisi and YANG Lixin. In the over-two-hour performance, more than 20 characters display a story of the survival of a drama ensemble in troubled times, advocating the Chinese traditional culture represented by Peking Opera and inspiring the audience to reflect on the traditional cultural inheritance.
The script took almost two years to complete. The comedy made its debut as the opening drama of the Beijing Comedy Theatre on July 16th, 2015, and was well-embraced by the audience.
Synopsis
The Stage describes a warlord dogfight in the Republic of China period (1912-1949). When Commander HONG captures Beijing, Wuqing Troupe (a famous Chinese traditional opera peforming group) including famous actor JIN Xiaotian holds a three-day performance at the Dexiang Theatre. Leader HOU of the Wuqing Toupe and Manager WU of the theatre are preparing for the performance, and both of them are immersed in the joy because all tickets have been sold out. However, an unexpected series of accidents occurs in succession. Characters including the bun delivery man, the Inspecting Commander, the escaped Aunt Liu, gang LIU Guaizi and famous actor JIN Xiaotian are involved in a seires of events which are intertwined. Hence, the theatre’s backstage situation descends into a complete mess. Leader HOU and Manager WU try their best to save the broken situation, but the accident is out of control and develops beyond everyone's expectations regardless of their efforts. Will JIN Xiaotian finally appear on the stage? Will the troupe have a successful performance? How will this mess be fixed? All these questions are answered in The Stage.
Beijing Dadao Culture & Program Production Co., Ltd
Established by CHEN Peisi in 1994, Beijing Dadao Culture & Program Production Co., Ltd. is famous for producing and creating excellent comedies and promoting comic culture, and has produced many popular movies and TV series in its early years. Since the company started to produce stage comedy in 2001, it has produced many well-received works including The Stage, The Balcony, A Shill, Bridal Chamber, The House and more. Newly created in 2015, The Stage enjoyed a good reputation upon its debut. The Balcony and A Shill starring CHEN Dayu and other young actors made a successful performance in Beijing in 2012, and continuously broke box office records when the two comedies were performed at the Beijing Comedy Theatre in 2015. In July 2016, as a play to celebrate the first anniversary of the Beijing Comedy Theatre, The House explored various possibilities of comedy and innovative forms of performance. So far, Dadao Culture has presented 1,350 performance of stage dramas for more than 1.2 million people in more than 40 cities all over the country.
Dadao Culture also devotes itself to promoting comic culture and cultivating comic talents. In 2009, it launched the first Beijing Comedy Art Festival, which has been successfully held five times and has become China's authoritative platform for displaying excellent comedies. In 2012, the company started the “Dadao Comedy Performance Training Class”, which has been held five times and has cultivated about 60 talents. In addition, its public-benefit comedy edauction programmes, such as the comedy open class, comedy in schools and rehearsal open day, have brought comedy and the public closer. In order to deeply promote the creation and development of the comic arts, Dadao Culture, the National Center for Performing Arts and Oriental International Culture & Art Center Co., Ltd. jointly established the Beijing Comedy Theatre in 2015, aiming to build a huge platform for the collection, display, creation and exchange of comedic arts.
