Theater festival in Xichang. Photo: Courtesy of Wen xin

The Liangshan International Theater Festival, China's one and only theater festival held in the winter season will be launched on November 7 in Xichang, capital of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The festival will host nearly 50 plays from both Chinese and overseas creation as well as hold events such as an art market and international forums on various cultural topics with the aim of bringing more cultural influences to the region. 

"Due to harsh conditions in particular areas of Liangshan when it comes to living standards, education, environment and intergenerational influences, the region has long been considered 'lean,' not only when it comes to actual living resources, but also cultural resources… Although the festival is not going to solve this problem, at least as far as I am concerned, it is a gesture to show that people's cultural lives are just as important as resources such as food," Xiao Shuming, a cultural researcher in Chengdu, told the Global Times on Monday. 

Poster of the theater festival in Xichang. Photo: Courtesy of Wen xin

The highlight of the festival is sure to be Shakespeare's iconic tragedy Hamlet, which will see three different versions performed during the event. 

One version, created through the collaboration of theater students in Shanghai and Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, saturates the English play with Tibetan cultural characteristics. The other two versions are also worth paying attention to as one is an experimental play created by artists in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and the other is the product of international collaboration between Chinese and Japanese stage play actors. 

The festival, which takes "Chinese Wave" as its theme, will include seven main sections such as a theater exhibition, classes on red plays and an introduction to emerging theaters. 

The variety of plays at the festival will run the gamut from folk opera and children's plays to experimental dramas. 

The first season of the festival was held in 2020 in Xichang, making it the only international drama festival in the world to overcome the impact of the COVID-19.

Employee plays joker at the theater festival in Xichang. Photo: Courtesy of Wen xin