Just a year ago, China’s first professional comedy theatre opened its doors in downtown Beijing. 

Nestled along the east 2nd Ring Road, Beijing Comedy Theatre has now welcomed its first anniversary, and it brought in a pretty good number at its box office, too. Various events marked the occasion over the weekend, with a lineup of new comedic shows slated for the upcoming season. 

Beijing Comedy Theatre celebrates 1st birthday

In the first year since its opening last July, Beijing Comedy Theatre has offered a stage for 35 comedies from home and abroad with over 200 shows, which have been viewed by 176,000 audience members in total. 

With an average ticket price of about 200 yuan (U.S.$30) Beijing Comedy Theatre has reeled in 29 million yuan (U.S.$4.3 million) at its box office this first year alone. To attract an even wider audience, the theatre lowers their average ticket price to 100 yuan during the Chinese New year season and tailors its productions to children so that the whole family can enjoy the theatre.

“Before the opening of Beijing Comedy Theatre, our goal for the first year was to stage at least 200 shows. And we did. The box office is at 29 million yuan. We have reached a balanced budget with not too much profit. But it's a good first year for a new theater,” said Wang Yan, COO of Beijing Comedy Theatre.

From its inception, one of the focuses of the theatre is to grow the audience for comedy through low ticket prices and various interactions. In addition to the five seasons, viewers can also take part in comedy classes every Tuesday and sign up for various workshops on the weekend.

For the first year anniversary celebration, theater-goers have also been invited onto the stage to experience the fun of improv. And some are even lucky enough to act aside China’s comedy legend, Chen Peisi. As the artistic director of Beijing Comedy Theatre, the 62-year-old man and his company Dadao has teamed up with the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Oriental Arts Centre to build a venue dedicated to comedy for comedy lovers.  

Based out of the former Oriental Theatre, the rebranded venue is administered and operated by the National Centre for the Performing Arts, adding to the centre's four performance spaces in the so-called “Egg,” the architectural landmark just west of Tian'anmen Square. 

Through the cooperation, Chen Peisi’s company will stage at least 100 shows annually. To mark the opening of Beijing Comedy Theatre last July, Chen Peisi and veteran actor Yang Lixin presented a show called “The Stage,” which is about the backstage antics of a traditional opera troupe trying to mount their show. Now, for their one year anniversary, Chen is presenting a revised version of his experimental and interactive suspenseful comedy “The House.”  

“There is still a long way to go. It was not until the end of the Cultural Revolution that people got back their ability to laugh. And it was not until the early 1980s that the audience members got the chance to watch short sketches. Even since then, the road for the development of comedy has seen its ups and downs,” Chen said. 

“It was not until 2001 that we produced a full length comedy show in the theatre called ‘The Capper.’ And the first version was nothing but a bunch of a few short sketches. Step by step, we revised it to a structural comedy with preset clues. Most of the popular comedies we see today are language drollery or acting absurd rather than structural comedy. But it’s a great improvement as we see more and more people joining this profession.”

And it counts as another step forward since China has now witnesses the birth and development of its first comedy theatre. As Chen Peisi said during the theater’s one year anniverary performance, this is just the beginning for a new brand of theater.