They say the easiest time to meet and greet is when alcohol is involved. Booze relaxes people and can offer that sometimes essential Dutch courage to speak to anyone and everyone. If meeting people is what you want to be doing in Shanghai then look no further than the weekly Drunken Dragon Pub Crawl. Here you’ll meet other tourists, students, interns, expats and young professionals.

The festivities begin around 9.30 at O’Malleys on Taojiang Lu, where ‘registration’ takes place. Although it sounds very formal, it is in fact anything but, with an hour of open bar, a bit of food and some acoustic live music. An open bar is the perfect way to get into the swing of things and soon enough the conversation is flowing and tales are exchanged. After an hour at O’Malleys, crawlers are ushered onto the ‘party bus’ to begin the Dragon trail to the three other hot spots.

By this time, most people are in the mood and the guides keep spirits up by strolling up and down the aisle, free-pouring flavoured vodka into the gaping mouths of the expectant party-goers. Upon arrival at the second jaunt, drunken dragons are welcomed to complimentary shots and special drink deals.

Crawlers then hop aboard the party bus for more flavoured vodka before arriving at the third stop on the trail. Here, more complimentary shots are provided until the guides rush you back onto the bus to reach the final destination – one of Shanghai’s infamous clubs. For your money, you’ll get entrance into the venue, not have to queue and be handed a few drinks tokens to keep you quiet.

If nothing else, the Drunken Dragon Pub Crawl is a good way to get out there, meet new people and sample some of Shanghai’s up-and-coming bars. At RMB 150 per head, its very good value-for-money and for any newcomers to the city, it is a decent way to be shown around and taste that world-famous nightlife.

Web: www.pubcrawlshanghai.com

Last week I went down to the press conference announcing the new government approved mma fighting championship in China. Its name… the Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation., its goal…to bring the spectacle of two grown men beating the hell out of each other to the adoring, and admittedly blood thirsty public.

The idea is a simple one. Try and recreate the incredible success of MMA in the west here in China. But, it seems, from the outset that the promoters have other motives as well.

RUFF will encourage individuals and families to lead healthier lifestyles and help them reach their martial arts and fitness-related goals. Placing emphasis on the positive benefits of martial arts as a great way to build character, and keep China's youth healthy in body and spirit. A great message by any standards if you ask us.

There is no news as to whether any established fighters from the UFC will jump ship, and in reality its probably way too early for the brand to be courting the likes of Josh Koschek, and George St-Pierre. But who knows where they'll be a year frome now. And knowing China, the sky's the limit.

The first fight is due to take place on March 5th at the Shanghai Grand Stage and from what I saw at the press conference its going to be one of the hottest tickets in town. Fighting and ring girls…what’s not to love?

Click here for a video.

Expect the unexpected. That should be the motto of Concordia International School’s theatre program. The last three productions to hit the stage have been Macbeth, Aida and now Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. On the surface there appears to be little connecting the three. Other, perhaps, than a sincere desire on the part of Director Chad Doering to discourage return performances?

This is the third production and 6th performance I’ve attended. That’s math you might want to argue with, but I admit I liked Aida and Macbeth so much one viewing just couldn’t suffice. Time constraints meant I couldn’t adopt the same multi pronged approach to R&G, but nevertheless I made sure my name had been marked in indelible ink on a seat for the penultimate performance.

For those of you not au fait with the storyline, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is an absurdist, tragicomedy (depending on who you ask… we’ll get to that) by Tom Stoppard. It expands upon the exploits of the titular characters, who are taken from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. While there are direct reenactments of scenes from Hamlet involving the two figures, the majority of R&G focuses on the protagonists’ musings from what would have been their “off stage” moments from the Shakespeare original.

I’m rather glad I’d done my homework going in. Mostly because I sounded awfully knowledgeable during the two intervals as I commented on points of existentialism, farce and art vs. reality to my neighbours, most of whom looked at me with what I feel was a profound reverence. Thankfully no rigorous examination of my shockingly loosely made arguments followed as I’d memorized only the first two paragraphs of Wikipedia’s synopsis. However, as I suggested earlier, the beauty of R&G is that it invites interpretation and challenges rigid analyses. The audience is encouraged to join the two character’s philosophical wanderings and make their own judgments.

So, easy enough to act that then, right?? Surprisingly you might think so, given the excellent performances on show. It’s high time I refrained from falling back on the usual bromides (“amazing for their age”, “acting beyond their years”) and accepted that Concordia Theatre productions and the actors within are genuinely very good in their own right.

The two leads were actually played by four actors, as each character had a shadow of himself providing his subconscious face. This was a construct designed by Concordia Theatre and worked extremely well. Given that a large proportion of stage time involves just the two leads, it would have been hard both on actor and audience had it been handled by only two actors. Furthermore, it must be said that the back and forth between the two sets (Julien Chien and Esther McLachlin as Rosencrantz, Nathalia Tavares and Michael Zhou as Guildenstern) was very sharp and offered another platform for expressing Stoppard’s witty dialogue.

Despite Mr. Doering’s best efforts, there were a number of familiar faces on show. Chien was back once more after prominent roles in Macbeth and Aida. With a whiff of a death scene in the script, Don Zheng also reappeared and again proved he’s peerless when it comes to ‘terminalising a character’. He also mastered delivery of some of the best lines on offer (“Murder, seduction, incest…what do you want?”). Other returnees included Garvin Price, Vinia Bao, Lina Pan and Sarah Bieniek. 

Zheng and Thomas Parker (as the Tragedian, Alfred) added some fantastic physical comedy to proceedings. In fact, all credit to Parker for carving up a memorable place in my memory of the show with a sum total of about two lines of dialogue.

Once again, the backstage elements of the production were outstanding, with particular praise going to the lighting crew this time. The soft backdrops and supportive shading magnified my feel for the performance and greatly enhanced it overall. Compliments to Zach Estey, Anthony Wonsono and Doering.

All round, another notch on the stage post of excellent shows!

Keep an eye on the Concordia website below for future productions.

Awards:

·         Glutton for Punishment Award: Julien Chien. His body of work is now only rivaled by a combination of Clint Eastwood and Adoor Bhasi (Bollywood legend – 549 film appearances).

·         Till Death Do Us Part Award: Don Zheng. Rumour has it Don refused the role of Boromir in Lord of the Rings as he felt the death scene was underplayed.

·         The Acting Bug Award: Sarah Bienik, who valiantly fought through sickness to take the stage and was apparently one of a number who had early winter illnesses. The show must go on.

·         Best Catchphrase Award: Michael “Show Time” Zhou. Throwing those two words around with indecent recklessness, Zhou was the heartbeat of rehearsals. Or persistently confused as to the start date.

·         A Time And A Place Award: Joey Schwalbach. Never afraid to push the boundaries of what is socially acceptable. Put the ‘feel’ into feelings.

·         Devoted To Their Craft Award: The entire male cast who expressed a fearsome desire to work with heavyweight thesp Megan Fox in future productions

By Nicholas Garrett

Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen at the Ke Centre for Contemporary Arts

Children’s stories are simply terrifying! Perhaps the effects had been dulled by time and I’d forgotten the harrowing episodes I must have suffered in childhood reading them, but experiencing these stories again now I am at a loss for words in denouncing my parents devil may care attitude to child rearing. What were they thinking? Did they simply not have time to raise me in an attentive manner? Or was it some kind of socio-evolutionary experiment?

A huge number of authors of children’s books must have been in serious danger of finding themselves on a child offender list. You can imagine the mail-out: “We’d just like to inform you that that Lewis Carroll figure has moved into the neighbourhood at No.18. It goes without saying that you should now keep a closer eye on your children.” (I make no allusions to any danger other than reading his works)

Hansel and Gretel, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Witches, pretty much anything published by the Grimms… These tales comprise a veritable cluster bomb of acts of cruelty towards children. I say we put children back in the mines where they’re protected. This mental torture is just unforgiveable.

Speaking of torture, "contemporary" is nearly always a word I fear when used in conjunction with entertainment. I tend to like my theatre to be traditional, but still reserving space for a more is more approach to show tunes. Interpretive acting gives me the heebie-jeebies. However, the Shanghai Repertory Theatre (SRT) have been churning out excellent performances for a while now (or so I’d heard), so I was willing to forego my anxiety regarding the contemporary setting and give it a whirl.

The Snow Queen marked SRT’s first birthday and perhaps the giddy delights of being a year old prompted the temporary diversion away from their customary more mature productions. The Snow Queen revolves around two children, and best friends, Kay and Gerda. When Kay is stolen away by the evil Snow Queen, ruler of the snowflakes, Gerda embarks upon a long and desperate search encompassing thieves, talking flowers, a prince and princess, mountains of non-sequiturs and the Lord’s Prayer.

Rosita L. Janbakhsh, producer and director, is fast becoming a torturously difficult to pronounce house-hold name in expat circles. And I can see why, as, despite myself, I rather enjoyed the show. The performance was an abundance of colour, humour and music. And enough indoor scarves in the audience to make you think you were in France. 

The Snow Queen is a perfect choice for the season and one for adults and children alike and there’s still time to see it!

It running until this Sunday, 12 December at the Ke Centre for the Contemporary Arts at 613-B Kaixuan Lu, near Yan’an Xi Lu. It’s worth noting the phone number (6131 3080) as it’s a little tricky to find. It’s 8pm daily during the week and twice daily (3pm and 8pm) in the weekend.

For further information, please email [email protected]