Performance Review: The 2015 Inaugural Shanghai Experimental Xiqu (Chinese Indigenous Theater) Festival, December 1–6

A consistent forum for the presentation of xiqu戲曲 (Chinese indigenous theater) in “little theatre” (xiaojuchang小劇場) form (translated as “experimental” on all promotional material for the Shanghai festival) is overdue. Pretty much the entirety of the xiqu world is in agreement that xiqu arts and audiences have long been in crisis. There is perhaps an element of ideological determinism in this narrative— on-its-last-legs is a default story for tradition anywhere—but there can be no doubt that troupes face a rapidly-changing policy environment and pressure to experiment and modernize. How they should do this, and where the bounds of such reforms should be set, are questions which continue to drive the work of xiqu practitioners, and their interaction with spoken theater and foreign artists. “Little theatre,” a term usually associated with Taiwanese spoken theater and lately with non-official PRC spoken theater (huaju 話劇) performance, is one option for xiqu troupes, especially given the bloatedness and complacency of many gala xiqu productions. To date, for two years running, festivals of “little theatre” xiqu plays lasting at least a month that involved at least 12 plays and fifty performances have been held in Beijing. The festival under review, whose Chinese title was Xiqu huxi: 2015 Shanghai xiaojuchang xiqu jie 戲曲呼吸: 2015 上海小劇場戲曲節 (Let Chinese indigenous theater breathe: The 2015 Shanghai small theater Chinese indigenous theater festival) was smaller (six plays and seven performances) and shorter in length (only a week). Plans are in the works for the 2016 edition.