Audiences to see traditional-style performances in venue that enhances atmosphere, Chen Nan reports. 

Every October, young theatergoers, who share a passion for traditional Chinese operas with a modern twist, gather at Beijing's Star Theater to enjoy the annual Xiqu Opera Black Box Festival.

Xiqu means Chinese opera. The Star Theater, a small venue in the downtown capital with three performance spaces－each with a capacity of about 200 seats－is dedicated to presenting Chinese traditional operas with a goal of popularizing the old art forms among young audiences.

This year the festival kicked off on Oct 20 with an opening show adapted from the tragic life story of Ruan Lingyu, one of the most celebrated Chinese actresses in the 1930s.

Featuring both veteran Yueju Opera actors, actresses, and new Yueju Opera performers－six in total, the show, directed by 24-year-old Du Yaxin, tells the story of Ruan with a play-within-a-play structure. With a simple stage set, mainly one red chair, it follows the tradition of Chinese operas' distinctive style of symbolism, notably a simple stage set delivering versatile meanings, as well as appealing to the young audiences with a storyline full of drama.

Yueju Opera is one of the most popular Chinese operas in the country. It first appeared in 1906 in today's Shengzhou, a city in Shaoxing in East China's Zhejiang province. In the beginning, it was mainly performed by males but in 1923, a training school was set up in Shengzhou to recruit girls for Yueju Opera. This was a resounding success. By the 1930s, the opera began to feature all-female casts and in 1925, it was called Yueju Opera for the first time when it thrived in Shanghai and was soon introduced to many other parts of the country.

One of the most well-known Yueju Operas is Dream of the Red Chamber, based on a novel of the same name written by Cao Xueqin during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

According to director Du, the reason why Yueju Opera was used to tell the story of Ruan is because the art form is known for portraying female characters, mainly tragic, beautiful and graceful, and telling love stories.

Ruan was born in Shanghai in 1910, the hub at that time of the Chinese film industry. She started her movie career at 16 acting in the Chinese movie, Husband and Wife in Name, in 1926. She performed in about 30 movies and committed suicide at just 25 after the tabloid press bombarded her private life.

"When I read the script, I was soon captivated by Ruan and her tragic life. She was a movie star and is considered as China's Greta Garbo. She was also a woman, very pure and innocent, who was torn by love," says Du, who is pursuing her master's degree as a director at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts. Yang Minning, a student of the same school, wrote the script for the Yueju Opera, Ruan Lingyu.

Born in Qingdao, Shandong province, Du was introduced to Chinese operas by her grandfather, who not only enjoyed listening to Chinese operas but was also an amateur performer. Du studied acting at the middle school affiliated to the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts at 14 and later obtained her bachelor's degree at the university's directing department in 2019.

Ruan had three important men in her life: her puppy love Zhang Damin, tycoon Tang Jishan and director Cai Chusheng. The romance of the actress is portrayed in the Yuejue Opera production, which showcases the tragedy of Ruan behind her glamorous movie-star image.

According to the show's producer, Xiao Nairong, who is also a student of the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, the creative team members are students of the university who, during the past, were supported by their teachers, to create the Yueju Opera Ruan Lingyu.

"Chinese operas, which have hundreds of years of history, have gained a large fan base among young audiences. We want to showcase the beauty of Chinese operas with creative ideas, such as staging the shows at smaller theaters," says Xiao, 24, a student of the department of International Cultural Communication of the university.

Yueju Opera actress Hu Jieting plays the role of Ruan. An actress with Shaoxing Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe, one of the most well-known in China, Hu, 36, was busy touring with her troupe when director Du called her to join in the Ruan Lingyu production. They were classmates at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts from 2015 to 2019.

"I am very interested in the story of Ruan. Performing Yuejue Opera in a small theater is also a big draw for me," says Hu, who was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang province and fell in love with Yueju Opera as a teenager. She trained to become a Yueju Opera actress at 15.

"Small theater offers a kind of intimacy between the actors, actresses and the audiences. The atmosphere is quite different from performing in bigger venues where I usually perform," Hu says.

"I was not sure about the production until I started to do rehearsals with those young people, who are passionate about theater and full of interesting ideas. They keep the old art form alive and still vibrant among young people," says veteran Yueju Opera actor Zhu Hanqi, 47, who, born in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, learned to perform the old art form as a teenager. He works with the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe.

Tickets for the show sold out days before it opened, which proved the warm feedback of the audience, says Hao Weili with the marketing department of Star Theater.

From Oct 20 to Dec 19, 18 shows of 11 types of Chinese operas, including Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, Qinqiang Opera and Pingju Opera will be staged at the Star Theater during the festival.

"Since it was launched in 2014, the festival has been a platform for young artists to communicate and present their works, which makes traditional Chinese operas easy to understand, modern and full of fresh ideas," says Zhou Long, artistic director of the festival. "As innovators, they keep the old art forms moving forward."

"What makes Chinese operas special at small theaters is that the shows are rooted deeply in the tradition, but the way the stories are told are quite different, which attract lots of young audiences," Zhou adds.

Other highlights of this year's festival include Jin Que Ji, or The Legend of Golden Bird, produced and performed by Northern Kunqu Opera Theater－the only professional theater in northern China dedicated to the Chinese opera style that dates back some 600 years, and Si Fan, a classic Peking Opera piece adapted by director Bai Ailian, which showcases different performing styles of the 200-year-old art form.