In the golden autumn, the Centenary Lecture Hall of Peking University played host to a major production of the 2023 "Autumn Rhythm" season. It was the large-scale original drama "Outpost" from Shanghai Theatre Academy.
Senior representatives of the Department of Ideological and Political Work of the Ministry of Education, the Department of Employment and Entrepreneurship of the Ministry of Veterans' Affairs, Peking University, the National Centre for the Performing Arts, China Culture News, the Beijing People's Art Theatre, and the Drama Research Institute of the China Academy of Art attended the performance. Huang Changyong, President of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and Deng Xiaodong, Director-General of the Shanghai Bureau of Veterans Affairs, were also in attendance.
Red is the spiritual background colour of Peking University, where the lecture hall is not only an important art space, but also a special classroom for ideological and political education. The drama "Outpost" came into Peking University to transform the red resources into a moving story that can be seen and felt in the form of a young actors’ performance, promoting the spread of the red spirit among young students.
After the first performance, the creators of the play and the audience engaged in a congenial exchange of thoughts and ideas. The students of Shanghai Theatre Academy who portrayed the five martyrs of the Union of Left-wing Writers of China said that being of same age as the heroes, they grasped the spirit of the revolutionary martyrs by rehearsing and taking on their roles, and they had profound appreciation for the responsibility and mission of the literary and art workers in the new ear to tell a compelling red narrative.
The Peking University performance was noteworthy for the "return" of Mr Lu Xun to the campus. In the play, Lu Xun conducts salon activities with young people in a bookstore. He was a part-time teacher at Peking University in the 1920s, where Rou Shi, one of the five martyrs, listened to his teachings. Therefore, the performance of "Outpost" at Peking University was even more intimate and familiar to the audience.
Since its public debut in 2021, “Outpost” has been well received by all sectors of the community, especially by young audiences. It has won a number of honours, including the Ministry of Education's Excellent Original Cultural Works Project for Colleges and Universities 2023, and the First Prize for Scripts at the 36th Tian Han Drama Award. The performance at Peking University, starring Wang Luoyong, Artistic Director of the Musical Theatre Centre of Shanghai Theatre Academy, was jointly presented by a group of outstanding alumni and current students and teachers of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. In this round of performances, 90% of the cast is made up of post-00 student actors, which makes a real "youth version".
Recognized as a production under the Ministry of Education’s excellent original cultural works project, “Outpost” will enter more university campuses and, with Peking University as an important stop, the college and university tour of “Outpost” will continue in the future.
