The 4th International Experimental Theatre Festival

The 4th International Experimental Theatre Festival ran from Oct. 14 to 21 at Shanghai Theatre Academy.

    This year we celebrate the centennial of modern drama in China. As a higher educational institution aiming at nurturing and training future theatre artists, Shanghai Theatre Academy has held four international experimental theatre festivals since 1998. This event, along with “the international theatre school directors＇ forum” we＇ve  held and the “Asia-Pacific Bureau of Theatre Schools, UNESCO Chair ITI” founded last year, is a platform on which STA  presents herself to the world in order to proceed to our goal of being an internationally prestigious school of arts. 

    At the 4th International Experimental Theatre Festival this year, there were altogether nine productions from different countries. In addition workshops were another emphasis of this festival in the purpose of enhancing interaction between performers and spectators, as well as creating a more active atmosphere. Every troupe did one workshop of various performance training methods involving some audience members. There have also been a series of artistic and social performance workshops open to fellow professionals and community people. On Oct. 21, we held a summarizing symposium.The productions came from Germany, Italy, Japan, Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai:

1. Hamlet: That Is a Question, directed by the world-renowned experimental theatre director Richard Schechner and produced by STA, attracted the widest attention. Prof. Schechner is an honorary professor of STA. This production is a program of the Schechner Center for Performance Studies. In his rehearsals Prof. Schechner used the “rasa-box training method” which he had invented based on some Indian aesthetics. This method helps actors control their emotions more effectively, and has also been adopted at NYU＇s Law School and Med School in their social performance training. This research and performance project was sponsored by Shanghai Education Commission. The cast included faculty members Xue Guanglei, Liu Wanling, Hong Bin and others. The form of this performance was more than creative. There were several video cameras recording the live performance, while the TV director edited the footage on the spot so the audience could enjoy more powerful visual effects on screens as well on stage. Furthermore, young students from the School of Chinese Opera brought a new flavor to the play-within-play.

 2. The Game, scripted, directed and performed by the famous actor-couple Zhan Ruiwen and Zhen Yongbei, was a production from Hong Kong. Zhan Ruiwen is a popular stage actor and has a huge following in Hong Kong. The Game was adapted from The Chairs by Ionesco and portrayed the inner world of an old people, the hardship they suffer in daily lives, and the psychological complexity of all people when facing the final moment.

3. Dead Cat Bounce from Germany told the stories of people handling money in the stock market. It was a super-realistic production which started at 9:30 p.m. sharp every time since it＇s the time when the New York Stock Exchange opens in the morning on the other side of the Pacific. Real transactions happened via internet in every performance.

4. Les Bancs Publics from Italy presented a story of the same movement happening on the same bench everyday. The special physical language of dance theatre added a touch of symbolism to the performance.

5. Bedlamite Education from Japan smacked of Lu Xun＇s Bedlamite Diaries and aimed to provoke some thinking on issues about madness and normality, domination and obedience.
 

6. Zhang Guangtian＇s The Old Summer Palace was a production from Beijing which meditated on history from a brand new perspective.

7. Love and Hate, adapted from western classics and directed by Lu Ang (STA), had been highly acclaimed in the international theatre workshop summer program of UNESCO- ITI in Romania.

8. Among others are A City of Cathay written by Du Cun inspired by a well-known Chinese painting and directed by Tong Ruimin;

9. Phoenix and Yingning, a Beijing Opera production presented by STA students which led the audience into the wonderful world of ghosts, fox spirits and people…