介绍:
Located in a quiet Hutong in Downtown Beijing, Penghao theatre is a unique place in the Nanluoguxiang neighborhood known for its avant-garde style.
The theater's slogan "the art without borders" is the first thing people see when they step in.
Wang Xiang is the founder and artistic director of the tiny avant-garde theater.
"My passion for theater comes from literature. Theaters depict both the beauty and hardship of human nature, which is the ultimate pursuit of literature, though presented in a different way. I think theater is another major force of shaping the humanity just like literature."
Wang says a small experimental theater like Penghao is the perfect place for artists to express themselves simply because people sit close to each other.
Invested by Wangxiang in 2008 as the first private theater with the qualification of public staging in China, Penghao has staged more than 200 plays to this date.
It has also attracted and even nurtured a large number of theater goers.
"It took me quite some time to find such a small theatre hiding in a Hutong when I came here the first time. It was a musical directed by an American, I saw many foreign audiences. It's amazing that one can express so many things with the light and sound in such a small place. I fell in love with it the moment the play began."
"For me, the atmosphere here is totally different with that in big theaters. It feels like I'm so close to the actors and they are acting for each audience. In big opera houses, we usually watch plays just for fun."
"As a student majored in theatre arts, the best thing here is of course its affordable tickets. Also I think the small theater is a good place for communication. Limited space here provides more possibilities for creativity and imagination to thrive."
Art director Wang Xiang says theater plays an irreplaceable role in people's life.
"People can get a better understanding of human nature and the world during the one of two hours they spend in theaters. It is the perfect art form apart from literature in this sense. Besides, theaters also bear the values of aesthetics and social criticism."
Penghao doesn't charge rent fees for any individuals and groups to perform there. Besides, Wang Xiang donates 60-thousand yuan to subsidize the daily operation of the theater.
Wang Xiang is a typical art patron who has always cherished art diversity.
He summarizes his definition of a good avant-garde play as "noble, natural and unpretending, sophisticated yet simple, effective and inspirational".
Wang Xiang says in this sense, Penghao provides a "large" stage.
"You may see several cultural officials from foreign embassies come here discussing cooperative projects in one single afternoon. I think at least 60 percent of China's cultural exchange programs are being carried out here, at Penghao."
Actress Gao Yaru echoes this view, saying she is particularly attracted by the cultural diversity of Penghao.
"It is a great platform. It is a great pleasure for me to know artists from around the world.
Wang Xiang is one of the main contributors of the annual Nanluoguxiang
theater festival named after the famous neighboring Beijing hutong, and Penghao is one of the flagship venues of the five-year-old festival.
But at the same time, Wang Xiang admits, in comparison with their counterparts in Europe and the United States, Chinese avant-garde theaters are still too young.
"One closed down earlier this year. So now there are five experimental theaters in Beijing. There is only one in Shanghai. While in all other major cities, the total number is zero. So you can imagine what we have here."
Wang Xiang's artistic pursuit is in line with his life philosophy. He believes giving is the highest form of receiving. Life is completed once people know how to give after they get everything.
Though avant-garde theater is just the opposite of a cash machine, art patrons like Wang Xiang are trying hard to maintain art standards as well as nurture the market in China.
