Curtain up for scene of enthusiasm

Theatergoers head to Shanghai to binge-watch plays for spiritual nourishment and to forge friendships Wang Jiaqi and Zhang Yuyan may come from diverse backgrounds but they have one thing in common: their absolute love and passion for theater which leads them to binge-watch plays. Wang, a clinical medicine student from Xiamen University, Fujian province, usually takes an overnight high-speed train to Shanghai on Friday evening, arrives at a youth hostel near People's Square on Saturday morning, watches one play in the afternoon and another in the evening, and repeats the feat on Sunday. As she often travels to Shanghai, by air or by railway, she says that she "could even walk from Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station to People's Square with my eyes closed". In less than six months after settling down in her hometown, she had made seven trips to Shanghai for her "theater binge".Actually before graduation, her play-watching schedule was even busier. And in the first half of 2024, its 100 "new performance spaces" hosted 9,927 performances, attracting 1.68 million audience members and generating a total revenue of 147 million yuan, according to the Shanghai Performing Arts Association.