Festival kept audience laughing

THE second Shanghai Interactive Festival of Theater in Jiading closed with the physical comedy show “Semianyki: The Family.”

This year’s event has concentrated on interaction not only in theaters, but also in schools and communities.

Deep Ocean Theatre Workshop brought their theater education workshop “Deep in the Sea” to Defu Road Middle School. The students got to experience the play by reenacting it when every act finishes.

Five-year-old Xuan Benben dragged his dad all the way to the community cultural center in Jiading industrial zone, as they were about to attend the interactive magic workshop for children “Puff! Flower!”

Xuan Kai, the father, said: “The story of the magic show was told from children’s perspectives, so it would be more acceptable and interesting to children than traditional plays.” He hoped there would be more similar shows in the future.

At the festival venue, a sea of laughter could be heard from afar. It was Mahua Fun Age’s improvised comedy, which was to let the audience give directions and have the actors improvise accordingly.

Some members of the audience even jumped on stage. Qian Yu, who was in the audience, said he hadn’t expected interactive theater to be such fun.

During this year’s festival, the Hackathon of Arts and Technology was held for the first time, attracting five teams with 20 members from home and overseas.

The workshop intended to select and cultivate promising individuals or teams that are dedicated to interactive performing arts, live entertainment industry as well as technology innovation field.

E-GO Team from Beijing won the most creative project award with their “Shooting Game.”

It’s a thought provoking game, in which the player shoots targets, and with every successful shot, hears a rewarding sound effect; while the audience see on the LED screens outside the four walls of the experience chamber that actually every target the player shoots is a person.

Wang Zhigang of E-GO Team said, “When we are immersed in games, we tend to overlook the bigger picture and the meaning of life.”

Ti Gong