NEW TALENT: The Second Beijing Youth Drama Festival featured 22 plays created by 34 young directors and choreographers. The event was held through September 8-27 (XINHUA)

This year's Second Beijing Youth Drama Festival, held on September 8-27, featured 22 dramatic works that were put together by 34 directors and choreographers. The plays, along with lectures and seminars, were presented on 10 different stages around Beijing. The festival drew an audience of more than 30,000.

The plays were chosen from 80 entries whose creators come from Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Jinan and Macao and countries like Malaysia and the United States.

"The festival features twice as many young directors as those that were invited last year and there is also an increase in female directors," said a festival spokeswoman.

Promising dramatists, veteran playwrights and stage artists attended the opening ceremony for the festival at Beijing's Beehive Theater on September 7. Among them was China's iconic drama director Meng Jinghui.

"Young drama directors and playwrights must express and convey their ideas. They have to present their understanding of contemporary society. That is the most important aspect of their creative efforts," Meng said.

Renowned Chinese actor Pu Cunxin of the Beijing People's Art Theater said young directors look at the world from a fresh, original perspective.

"Some people think that the young are too self-centered. But I have found their free thinking and devotion very admirable," Pu said. "They never try to flatter anyone. I admire such an attitude."

An all-woman crew created one of the dramas, Letter From an Unknown Woman, which was directed by Li Shan.

"I thank the festival for offering us a stage to show what we really want to do. The ideal atmosphere of being free and without any restraints is really good to the creators," said Li.

I'm Iris Chang, another play, is based on the true story of Iris Chang, who is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking. She committed suicide on November 9, 2004. The drama features the 24 hours before she killed herself, revealing from a novel angle her thoughts about her own life and the Nanking Massacre.

Art or market?

Some of the 22 dramas, their creators said, are quite experimental and would not be affected by the market. Meng said at the last session of the festival that young directors would bring change to China's dramatic landscape. But others held that the youth festival is more like a playground for young directors to amuse themselves while at the same time losing their audiences.

Theater devotee Ge Zi said that the increasing number of entertainment options have led to a diminishing drama audience while at the same time remaining fans find there are few good plays to enjoy. Innovation only on the level of formality and too much philosophical thinking have undermined the power of the medium, Ge said.

"It's not possible for the audience to adapt to the drama, nor the other way around. It's just an interaction between the two," said director Shao Zehui.

Director Kang He does not concern himself with audience's complaints of being unable to understand a work of drama.

"The general drama audience in China is still at a relatively low level. That is why they don't understand the performance. This year I am trying to give a new look to philosophy via visual methods," he said.

The most urgent thing for the Chinese theater is to cultivate the audience as well as drama talent, said Yang Qianwu, Vice Chairman of the Beijing Dramatists Association (BDA).

Last year's festival sparked wide-ranging discussion about the commercialization of the dramatic arts that continued through the event's second year. One view supports commercialization on the grounds that it will help popularize drama. Many young directors hold another opinion.

"The market should not be the decisive ruler that measures the good or bad of a dramatic play. As directors, we make our own aesthetic choices. Though some of the works may be unattractive to the market, we still show them," said He Yufan, another director.

Yang of the BDA also worries that excessive commercialization will bring down the quality of dramas and performances. Commercial success yields nothing but a batch of copycats that look like each other, Yang said.

But money is still crucial for the young professionals of the stage. Director Shao said that his play, Sun & Kill, was first written and performed 10 years ago when he was still a student. At that time, he was unable to find an investor to put money into it.

Yuan Hong, a Chinese theatrical promoter, hoped that this batch of young directors could find a balance between artistic creation and market return, thus enabling them to advance in their careers.