‘I don’t believe in Utopia’ – Curtains open on mainland’s first tent theater

Wuyabang is the first show by local tent theater enthusiasts.

“It is a play about ogres and monsters, about how they use their impoverished bodies and string wills to gnaw away the crust of their world from the inside,” Sakurai says.

After the production, he left the group’s tent in Beijing, and members of Tent-Beijing moved it to Picun Village near Capital International Airport – an area home to thousands of migrant workers. The ratio of migrant workers to native inhabitants in Picun is five to one, with nearly 10,000 migrant workers.

The tent quickly became an entertainment center for the migrant workers and their children. “It is not a tent anymore. To my surprise, it is a permanent structure that has already changed the migrant workers’ lives,” Sakurai says.

The new play to debut at Picun is Tent-Beijing’s first show written by Sun Bai, a drama researcher.

It tells the story of a city’s underclass – people who build the city but who can only afford to live on its outskirts. The playwright creates a virtual space for those people.

“It’s neither utopian nor anti-utopian,” Sun says. “I call it Wuyabang, something like a group of crows living near a dump.”

Sakurai has been through several rehearsals with the actors. “They are armatures. Maybe their performances are not up to professional level, but their experiment is a significant moment in the development of Chinese drama,” he says.

Wuyabang2
Where: Picun Village, Jinzhan County, Chaoyang District
When: July 31 – August 2, 7:30 pm
Admission:Free
Getting there: Meet at Exit D of the Dongzhimen subway station at 6 pm and staff will provide free bus service; reserve seats in advance by contacting beijingzhangpeng@gmail.com or beijingzhangpeng@126.com