Started in 2006 as an informal “playdate” for local ex-pats, Beijing Improv has become a mainstay of the underground performing arts scene in China’s capital. NewsChina investigates how this unusual group of performers has survived without sticking to the script.
By Jack Smith
From the prescribed physical contortions of traditional opera to Party-approved revolutionary dramas, theater in China has always been rigorously controlled. Among an exhaustive list of dos and don’ts issued to aspiring theatrical troupes, who are now permitted to operate outside State channels, is a clause forbidding the performance of any drama that has not had its entire script pre-approved by a government bureau.
How is it then that, the last Saturday night of each month, a standing room only crowd packs itself tightly into Peng Hao Theater, a converted courtyard house barely a hundred yards from the Central Academy of Drama, to yell suggestions to an improv theater troupe who have no more idea of the outcome of each scene than their audience? Beijing Improv has gone from a small gathering of friends playing drama games to a city-wide institution among ex-pats and locals alike, who flock to take an active part in performance, an experience completely new to China, but one that is rapidly catching on.
Community
Beijing Improv was co-founded by long-term Beijing residents Lottie Dowling and Jonathan Palley. Despite busy personal schedules as a schoolteacher and businessman, the two have been instrumental in the troupe’s meteoric rise. The fact that the troupe perform in English is, in Jonathan’s opinion, one of the reasons why they’ve been able to enjoy such a high profile for four years.
“[The local government] care about performances in established, large-scale spaces, and they’re sensitive around big national events, for example we had to shut down during the Olympics when we got feedback saying ‘don’t do anything right now.’ It’s all rumor and hearsay, but as far as we can tell, they generally care much less about English language performance than performances in Chinese.”
English-language performance in China has generally operated under a different mandate to theater performed in local languages. Aside from Beijing Improv, the capital boasts several independent foreign troupes that hold regular performances generally free of altercations with the authorities. However, the growing popularity of Beijing Improv has seen the group expand into both Chinese and bilingual performances, as well as initiating an annual Beijing Improv Interactive Arts Festival which brings together performers and artists from across the community in the spirit of unplanned artistic creation.
“The festival was about creating a sense of community within Beijing and within China, and it was received very well.” Lottie told NewsChina. “20 people participating in a workshop and really getting something out of it, I feel, is more significant than 5,000 people going to a rock concert. People saw they were making a difference. They could say, ‘I put that flower on that skirt in the fashion show, I yelled out a line used in that scene.’ It went beyond being a fan of improv, and became about being a part of improv.”
One feature which sets Beijing Improv apart from other international troupes is the diversity of players. New Yorkers and Canadians perform alongside actors from Austria, New Zealand and France, with the constantly-changing lineup a challenge both for audiences and the performers themselves. The tendency to focus on political and social satire among improv troupes in the West is a less reliable source of inspiration for performers with origins as diverse as their audience. The troupe estimates that roughly 60% of its regular audience uses English as a second language, with an increasing number of local Chinese speakers in the crowd.
“Very culturally specific jokes won’t go across,” Lottie explained to our reporter. “Instead, you can use internationally recognized humor, physicality or master-servant relationships to reach your audience.”