Theaters to livestream 12-hour show to celebrate World Book Day
Three theaters in Shanghai will livestream a 12-hour show on Saturday to celebrate the World Book Day with their followers during the city's lockdown.
Jointly organized by Shanghai Grand Theater, Theater Young and Shanghai West Bund Theater, the show starts at 10am on Saturday, marking the 27th World Book Day.
Online performances, artistic lectures, music and interactive reading activities are planned. Artists and theater professionals like English director Dominic Dromgoole and Chinese director Chen Xinyi have been invited to communicate with audiences.
The World Book Day show is jointly presented by Shanghai Grand Theater, Theater Young and Shanghai West Bund Theater.
World Book Day, aimed at promoting reading, publishing and copyright, falls on the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare.
As the former artistic director of the Shakespeare's Globe theater, Dromgoole organized a two-year world tour for "Hamlet" in 2014, and later published a book "Hamlet Globe to Globe" to review the tour.
During the 12-hour show, Dromgoole has been invited to do an online talk at 10:30am about the playwright's classic work and how it has influenced people and the theater world.
English theater director Dominic Dromgoole
Veteran domestic theater director Chen Xinyi will share her thoughts on Shakespeare's works at 2pm. Chen has been working on a new adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice," which will be staged at Shanghai Grand Theater this year.
Other programs include the screening of the Royal Ballet's "Winter's Tale" at 7pm, as well as book reading activity joined by Hong Kong actor Tse Kwan Ho and other theater practitioners throughout the day.
A scene from "Winter's Tale" by the Royal Ballet
Ballad musician Xiao He will join his Shanghai friend Ma Weijia for an online concert from his home in Beijing at 4:10pm.
At 9pm young director Bai Shangwu will lead an experimental drama troupe in a performance in Beijing's Fengtai District.
The 12-hour show will be available for free on Shanghai Grand Theater's official Weibo account, Theater Young's WeChat account (THEATREYOUNG) and other livestreaming platforms such as Bilibili and Douyin.
