Though some players in Shanghai’s cultural economy have been affected by the economic downturn, others are sailing full steam ahead. While the acquisition of land for the construction of a new commercial arts center is on hold in one neighborhood, another city district government is in discussion with a potential partner from a significant international entertainment entity.
Fortunately, while some are preoccupied with this cultural “hardware,” others continue to focus on content, audience development and good business planning. The Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre is one of the most agile and successful local enterprises. Nick Yu wears multiple hats in marketing/pr and dramaturgy. As we catch up over tea, he reports on foreign collaborations with theater companies in Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, and the U.S. In November ’09 they will have 5-7 productions running.
Most of their funding comes from the Shanghai government, and Nick hasn’t heard about any stimulus money coming to cultural sector.
Their regional audiences are growing. Last year they toured 24 productions, which included 14 new productions and 10 revivals. They earned 16million RMB in gross touring revenues, up from 3-4 million 2 years ago. Their tours took them through 32 cities, into theaters of around 1000 seats. This year they will tour 4 plays.
Their biggest current worry is presenting too much “commercial” work. They say they realize people just want to be happy, so prefer comedy. They plan to address this problem with more audience education. When they presented “Copenhagen” recently, the audience that did come loved it, but the tickets sales were the worst of the season.
It is said that the Shanghai theater market is now bigger than the Beijing market. Shows from Beijing will now tour to Shanghai as well, and local professionals claim that in Beijing there is still a prevalence of group or free tickets, (Nick Yu proudly reports that Shanghai people pay for tickets.) In Shanghai, long runs are becoming more viable. And though young audiences generally don’t trust new unknown musicals, they do trust Nick Yu’s new plays. This year, Nick says, they will try a new small musical to see what happens, to educate them. (There are also reports that the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre is preparing to stage a dramatisation of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital using elements of Broadway musicals and Las Vegas shows.)
Nick has reason to be optimistic. Though “official” and formulaic entertainments still depend on invited audiences, some modern, original work has touched young Chinese audiences. My first night in Shanghai I try to find a ticket for “Rhinoceros In Love,” Meng Jinghui’s 1999 drama that has now achieved cult status in China. The Chinese press reports that this story of unrequited love (“The Bible of Love for Youngsters”) has been performed an estimated 270 times for more than 200,000 people in small theatres throughout the country, not including countless college productions, highly unusual in a country where most people are unfamiliar with modern drama.
So no surprise—the performance, part of a ten-day run at the Shanghai Grand Theatre—is sold out (top price US$85!!!). In China, there are sellouts and there are sellouts. This is a true sellout—there is not a scalper in sight. I stand by the theater entrance, studying the arriving audience, hoping to find someone with an extra ticket. They are young 20- and 30-somethings, practically airborne with excitement; no padded or official audience this! They brandish their tickets like trophies.
Practiced (former) orchestra manager that I am, I manage to sneak into the venue during the last minute confusion, finding a perch at the back of the balcony. The play begins; the ushers are perturbed at my presence. I stay long enough to determine that, as much of a touchstone the work might be to young Chinese, it would probably not work for American audiences. I am disappointed. My curiosity satisfied, I leave the theater and head to the home of my Shanghai host.
It is 9:00 pm, and as I walk down Jianguo Xi Lu alley, I hear someone practicing the accordion on the second floor of one of the buildings. Behind the curtain, someone plays technical exercises for 20 minutes, hypnotic figurations reminiscent of “Messiaen meets Terry Riley”. As cats skitter across the alley and bats wheel in the sky above, the unseen virtuoso then launches into a long Bach fugue, then….good God, into the Scherzo from Midsummer Night’s Dream, a metronome barely audible in the background. I am mesmerized, mystified. What would possess someone to play this repertoire on this instrument? More on that to come.