Rise and Fall in 100 Years-History of the Lyceum Theater
3 min readStory building is not particularly eye rticularly eye-catching among the city’s high-rises, but Ding its fame remains. Many The Lyceum Theater is located at the Changle Road crossing of Maoming South Road. The three-ame of the Lyceum Theater and knew something about its long history, but few rcuitous story of the Lyceum Theater is not that stead, it is a continuation of culture.ynasty, the wood struc-iled and became the exclusive venue for the 1866, the theater was located at gyuan Road intersection with uanmingyuan Western Theater”. It was not last long. It was destroyed by fire on he foreign population to. The A.D.C successfully raised struction of the theater,Yuan uanmingyuan Road. The see 13th year of the reign of Tongzhi(18 Chunyang Troupe, the first stach started a run the reign of Guangxu). The play was a yceum began to stage performances by new troupes performances by the A.D.C. in 50 yeed. The rise of the movie industry hadan nthe theater. Less and less people were interested in drama, forcing the of the theater to Chinese for 175,000 , and moved out in April. They purchased another tract at Route Cardina ngle Road) in the French Con-heater. The Lyceum Theater we see today was built by Messrs. Da and completed in February, 1931.The new Lyceum drama with a fan-shaped stage and an audito all was slightly roughened. The actors could be heard clearly in cooperation withthe to its repertoire from December tors were active on the stage, as Chinese drama had ma Wen Tianxiang, a National Hero roused the natium and attracted a huge audience. After the war, the first Chinese(in November, 1945). Mei Lanfang, the master of art in 1946. The restored Lyceum Theat inge in the entertainment industry of Shanghai.
Shanghai Art Theater in 1952 and became a part of the Shanghai People’s performance. It resumed its original name in 1991 and was shape it had been 70 years ago. Drama became increasingly fashionable from 2005, due to the 100th Anniversary of Chinese Dramaich promoted the con-struction of new, specialized theaters. Among all of these new theaters, the Lyceum is still the best,due to the new market for drama that has developed over the past decade. Today the Lyceum Theater stages a wide variety of performances, from drama, dance drama and traditional opera, to concerts.
Despite time and change, the Lyceum Theater will remain a favored venue for Shanghai drama lovers.
The martial arts show Shaolin Soul staged at the Lyceum Theatre on August 7, 2005.
A traditional Chinese festival concert staged in the Lyceum Theatre on April 8, 2008,which displayed ancient Chinese costume and etiquettes.
The Lyceum Theatre was the home of the Amateur Dramatic Club(ADC), a British drama society that heavily influenced the expatriate theatre scene in Shanghai. On Mard 1, 1867, the ADC put on their first public performance at the Lyceum Theatre, Whitebait at Greenwich. From then on, the ADC performed several plays a year for Shanghai’s expatriates and local residents. Initially, the group only edua performed playlets until around 1892 they gradually began doing multi-act and full-length dramas.
Entering the 20th century, the troupe was already master of the stage. In 1907, the ADC brought George Bernard Shaw’s comedy You Can Never Tell to the Lyceum, inaugurating the show’s first per-formance in China. In November, 1952, the ADC performed MacKinlay Cantor’s three-act comedy One Wild Oat, marking their 309th and final performance in Shanghai.
The logo of the Amateur Dramatist Club(ADC) Stills from ADC’s Eleventh Performance of Maid and the Magpie in 1868 Stills from ADC’s 153rd performance, the British Dramatist George Bernard Shaw’s.
