At the beginning of 2023, a stage named “Star Space”, put up by “Bo Luo You Zi”, a Qingdao-based drama team, in a shopping mall in the downtown, opened to the public. The stage, which integrates murder mystery games, board role-playing games and immersive stay plays, is a bold try to rival the “Vertical Broadway” in the Shanghai Asian Mansion and will usher in a new wave of fashion in Qingdao’s art performance sector.

Located in the historical and cultural area in west Qingdao and boasting a history of 100 years, the “Liyuan Building” Sanjiangli was home to the earliest theatrical stage in Qingdao. The Qingdao Theatre Company recently created a live-action stage play named Liyuan Buildings. A combination of thousands of old-fashioned pieces of furniture as props, Liyuan buildings and stories that occur in the buildings can immediately immerse audiences in the play and present tourists a different experience.

“Qingmo Xiaopengche”, a group of musicians in Qingdao, throws concerts even in Xiaomai Island, a famous scenic spot in Qingdao. Novel open-air, gratuitous performances and freestyle singing has made the Qingdao camping music festival popular. This year, the group plans to launch a new music performance named “Music Notes on Road Zhongshan”. Participants will be invited to thoroughly seek music along famous Zhongshan Road and Zhanqiao Pier, experience classical music in century-old buildings and play a game that involves architecture, history and music. The program aims to see association of activity and inertia, a new performance feature.

Last year, “Ming Hai Tang”, a cross-talk team in Qingdao, relocated its stage from a small theatre to cinemas and historical and cultural sites, and organized flash mob activities for cross talks, so that audiences can listen to cross talks in shopping centers and old blocks, and appreciate the charming Chinese folk art. On these novel stages, Ming Hai Tang has made over 300 performances that won warm responses from audiences.

New ideas and methods keep emerging in Qingdao’s art performance sector, and novel performance spaces come out in an endless flow. As varied urban performance forms, including immersive performances, little theatre dramas, lie-action musical plays and talk shows, are well-matched with drama book shops, shops of cultural and creative products and fashionable catering, more and more people are motivated to enter special theatres and appreciate novel art forms, thus diversifying the performance market in Qingdao.  (Mi Jingyu)

The premier play in “Bo Luo You Zi·Star Space” enjoys a novel form. By Wang Lei

Such novel performance spaces as Livehouse have burgeoned in Qingdao over the recent years. By Wang Lei