The Crucible opens this year's International Theatre Live Festival

A still from "The Crucible", the production that opened a new season of cinema screenings of live theater performance on Tuesday, July 30, 2019. [File Photo: China Plus]

"The Crucible", directed by Yaël Farber and starring Richard Armitage, opened this year's International Theater Live Festival on Tuesday in Beijing.

Li Congzhou is the CEO of Beijing-based ATW Culture Media, which is the sole distributor of the National Theater Live program in China. He explained the reason why "The Crucible" was chosen as the opening title.

"Yael Farbery is South African female director. She approaches the production in a quite different way. She's quite stylish. 'The Crucible', one of her best works, is as familiar as a classic play."

According to Li, this new form of theater, which is watched on the big screen, is increasingly popular for young audiences in China. The project was officially introduced into China in 2015.

Li Congzhou explained some of the advantages and disadvantages of the format.

"I think it's a huge opportunity for the theatrical content to be presented to a larger audience, at least to different groups of audience. In this year's international theater live festival with Broadway cinema chain. She has lots of audience who are fans of independent film. So for those fans who've never been in theater, they will see theater content in the cinema for the very first time. The disadvantage is something that we feel we cannot make it perfect, so if you really feel that live, you must go to the theater."

According to Li, their audience is mainly female, aged between 20 and 35, highly-educated, and mostly fans of American and British television and film.

In 2009, the Royal National Theatre in London started its NT Live initiative, which broadcasts high-definition live performances of their productions to cinemas and arts venues around the world. It didn't take long for the new format to become a hit among theater lovers.