'Beijing audiences are truly fortunate, it feels like a festival every day!' In this golden September, Beijing's theater scene is bursting with brilliance. The 2024 'Grand Stage' in Beijing Performance Season, the "Marching with the Times, Heart to Heart with the People" Exhibition of Outstanding Stage Artworks in the New Era, the National Centre for the Performing Arts International Theater Festival, the Beijing People's Art Theater International Drama Invitational, the 17th Beijing International Youth Theater Festival, the 2nd International Solo Theater Festival, the 7th Shadow Puppet Art Week, the 2nd Traditional Renewal Project at Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, and the 2024 British Stage Screenings are all kicking off. A series of exceptional Chinese and international productions will take the stage one after another, showcasing the dazzling artistic brilliance of the capital of performing arts.
On the evening of September 3, the 2024 "Grand Stage in Beijing" Performance Season opened at the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Over the course of two months, more than 50 art troupes and performance institutions will present and screen 114 fine works in over 40 theaters and new performance spaces across Beijing. That evening, the classic play Beijing Fayuan Temple kicked off the season with a powerful performance. The atmosphere was electric, with the three-tiered auditorium packed to capacity. At the end of the show, the thunderous applause lasted for five minutes, with an extended and enthusiastic curtain call leaving the entire theater immersed in emotion. Tian Qinxin, president of the National Theatre of China and the play's writer and director, expressed her feelings: "Nine years, 75 performances—we carry a deep emotional connection to this play and a pursuit of Chinese-style theatrical idealism, and we will continue performing it for audiences."
Artists Tian Qinxin, Feng Yuanzheng, Li Xincao, Chi Xiaoqiu, and Ailada Dani jointly inaugurated the 2024 "Grand Stage in Beijing" performance season.
At the same time, the "Marching with the Times, Heart to Heart with the People" — a showcase of outstanding stage art in the New Era, co-hosted by the Publicity Department of the CPC, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, is also taking place in Beijing. Forty outstanding stage works from across the country will be performed throughout the capital. This week, at the National Theatre of China, performers from the Tibet Autonomous Region Song and Dance Troupe took to the stage with the ethnic musical Gesang Flowers on the Horizon, telling the moving, real-life story of two generations quietly devoted to herding and guarding the borderlands of China. Meanwhile, at the China National Opera House, Jin Dong led the China Coal Mine Art Troupe and the Shaanxi People's Art Theatre in a collaboration on the play The Warmth of Taste, reflecting on the emotions and challenges of rural revitalization from a contemporary aesthetic perspective.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of China-Russia diplomatic relations and the 60th anniversary of China-France diplomatic relations, bringing a wave of international cultural events to Beijing. A series of world-class productions have captivated audiences. This week, the stage at Poly Theatre hosted a five-hour performance of the Russian drama War and Peace, which drew the interest of many in the performing arts community. Numerous artists and theater troupes purchased tickets to collectively observe and learn from the production. At Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, the original French version of the musical Notre-Dame de Paris played to packed houses for three consecutive weeks. Each performance ended with the audience joining in a grand singalong during the curtain call. These two international productions attracted many out-of-town visitors who traveled to Beijing, luggage in hand, and some audience members returned for multiple viewings, unable to get enough of the shows.
“Each of these performances is a precious artistic experience. Even traveling abroad, it’s not always possible to get tickets for such high-quality shows, especially with the added benefit of well-translated Chinese subtitles. I truly cherish this opportunity!” said Xiao Wei, a fan who traveled from Shanghai to Beijing to watch War and Peace three times, determined to collect all the cast members’ playbills. Armed with various programs and theater-related merchandise, she spends her days immersed in Beijing’s theater scene. For Beijing residents, the experience is even more rewarding. Yiren, a local audience member, shared that her theater schedule is fully booked until the end of the year: “With so many great shows from around the world at my doorstep, it feels like we’re celebrating a theater festival every month!”
On September 5, Feng Yuanzheng, president of the Beijing People’s Art Theatre, announced at the press conference for the "Beijing People’s Art Theatre International Drama Festival" that this year, the "Capital Theatre’s Premium Drama Invitation Showcase" has been officially upgraded to the "Beijing People’s Art Theatre International Drama Festival." From October 11 to November 10, six major sections and over 40 exciting events will be held across four theaters—Capital Theatre, Cao Yu Theatre, People’s Art Small Theatre, and Juyin Theatre. Nine high-quality domestic and international plays will be featured, seven of which will make their Beijing debut, including The Seagull from Georgia and The Master and Margarita from Russia, both performing in China for the first time.
"Hello everyone, I’m actor Pu Cunxin, and I’m also the patron of the Drum Tower West Monodrama Festival. I hope that great actors enjoy performing monodramas, and that audiences love watching them. Monodramas are truly remarkable!" On September 5, alongside festival patrons including Luo Jinlin, Sato Nobu, Ren Dongsheng, SiTu Huizhou, Zhou Ke, Zheng Yunlong, Ding Yiteng, and Li Yangduo, Pu Cunxin helped inaugurate the second International Monodrama Festival at Beijing's Drum Tower West Theatre. In the coming weeks, audiences will experience the unique charm of monodrama with 46 performances of 13 productions from countries including China, Greece, and Denmark. Additionally, there will be 9 short monodramas and 9 monodrama-themed dialogue events, showcasing the diverse forms and artistic expressions of this distinctive theater style.
Zheng Yunlong, Fang Xu, Li Yangduo, Luo Jinlin, Pu Cunxin, Carolina Pizarro, Ren Dongsheng, and others posed for a group photo at the Second International Monodrama Festival.
On the evening of September 6, the Sino-French cooperative puppetry performance Starfish had its premiere at the Naluo Theater as the opening show of the 2024 Seventh Beijing International Puppet Festival. The next morning after the performance, a "Starfish" creation seminar was held by the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles, where experts from various fields offered their insights and suggestions for the creation of shadow puppetry, leaving the French artists quite astonished. From September 6 to October 6, 28 works from 11 countries, 51 performances, 9 screenings, and 3 expert-guided tours will be held in Beijing.
Yang Qianwu, former Secretary-General and current Vice Chairman of the Beijing Theatre Association, stated: "Shadow puppetry and monodrama may seem like niche forms of theater, but they offer significant creative space and have produced many excellent artistic works. They are also very popular internationally. Therefore, Beijing should play a guiding role, building an international exchange platform, promoting and advancing local shadow puppetry and monodrama arts, inspiring innovation, and providing a large platform for these uniquely featured small theater works. This truly reflects Beijing's diversity and grand scope as a hub for performing arts."
Youth Talent's Creative New Works Blooming
"'The Second Half Has Begun!' is absolutely fascinating! Words can't describe it—you have to see it in the theater!" After the opening performance of the 2024 17th Beijing Fringe Festival on September 4, many audience members couldn't help but recommend the show to their friends on social media. This non-fiction documentary theater piece, created by young director Wang Guanghao, cleverly combines interview texts from an elderly soccer team with elements of young people's video games, brimming with creativity.
This year's Fringe Festival will showcase 15 outstanding works by young creators, with 30 exciting performances, 8 cutting-edge original scripts, 17 play readings, 3 screenings of avant-garde global theater productions, and 2 youth theater forums. With diverse themes and styles from creators of different generations, backgrounds, and regions, the festival will bring audiences a refreshing and innovative theatrical experience.
Fringe theater creators took a group photo at the opening ceremony of the 17th Beijing Fringe Festival.
The inaugural Peiyuan Arts Festival is one of the few theater festivals in China that highlights the function of creative incubation. This year's festival received 435 submissions from 321 authors across 67 cities nationwide. After multiple rounds of selection, including preliminary evaluations, online reviews, and in-person defense reviews, 23 works were shortlisted for incubation, and 20 distinctive and stylistically unique pieces will make it to the stage of the inaugural festival. From September 20 to 22, 2024, the Peiyuan Arts Festival will hold 54 events across six spaces in three venues in Beijing. The original production Crossing Mountains and Seas by Drama Nine will premiere at the Erqi Theater as the opening play.
These outstanding works and numerous theater festivals, with their captivating performances, are spread across various theaters and performance spaces throughout Beijing, creating a city-wide cultural atmosphere. This not only provides a diverse artistic experience for audiences and enriches Beijing's performing arts market, but also fully showcases the charm of the city as a hub for performing arts, further enhancing Beijing's status and influence in the international performing arts scene.
