Theaters told to play nice(2)

"We don't know which drama they watched because no one told us. All I know is that they didn't communicate with our theater, playwright or any of our actors. I guess most of them bought tickets themselves. Government officials tend to inspect our theater about once a month," Ren said.

Ren's theater was then told by the bureau to remove certain examples of "vulgar" plays as well as remove some examples of coarse language.

Ren said that on recent occasions he had told script writers to modify certain radical lines, but he insisted that some "impolite words" are necessary to present the stories in the manner they deserve, and to provide leeway for improvisation.

Though Ren said he is not sure what the inspectors reported to the bureau, he guessed based upon his experiences that the inspectors write reports on the performance then local cultural authorities collate them then deliver orders to mini theaters.

At present, both the departments that are expected to carry out the program, along with the theaters that will be inspected, have received little word of what the inspections will entail.

A staff member from the cultural department of the neighborhood administration office of Zuojiazhuang in the Chaoyang district of Beijing on Thursday told the Global Times that their office had received no notice about the order. Similarly, an employee from a neighborhood administration office in Bajiao in Shijingshan district said she was not certain about the policy and refused to comment.

In the second half of 2012, almost all mini theaters in Beijing installed cameras as required by the bureau to ensure the script did not deviate from the version approved by the authorities, according to Ren.

Creativity in the spotlight

Ren said that he had some doubts as to the ability of inspectors to evaluate performances. "I hope that the supervisors are able to watch our performance without bias and don't misunderstand them. They should communicate with the makers of the plays to get a better understanding of them," he said.

Liang Dandan, president of the Penghao Theater in Beijing, said that she had concerns. "I welcome them (the inspectors), but I hope our communication is operation-oriented instead of opposing each other. In the long run, I think the policy is ill-advised because free creativity should be encouraged in drama."

Cui, however, said that supervision was necessary as mini theaters were sometimes prone to lapses in quality. He said that mini theaters, unlike other theaters, could often start turning a profit after just 20 or 30 performances, and they sometimes pursued profit via vulgar jokes.

"The policy is necessary to guide mini theaters to develop in the correct way, but not to place restrictions on them," Cui said. "I feel relaxed when supervisors come to our mini theater. I hope they can communicate with mini theaters in a skillful manner in a bid to help the development of mini theaters according to the rules of artistic markets."

Wang Xiaoyu, a cultural criticism professor with the Shanghai-based Tongji University, told the Global Times that it would be tough for the government to implement the policy, because the public lacked confidence in their censorship choices.

"The policy is spying on culture. It's not good and will produce more problems," he said. "No one is against mini theaters, and the policy encourages people to oppose restrictions placed on mini theaters."