Good Luck to You production still
Good Luck to You, adapted by Rye members, tells the story of an unconventional relationship unfolds between retired teacher Susan and a mysterious young man.
On the afternoon of April 3, bathed in warm yellow limelight, members from Rye Theatre, the English language drama student society of Fudan University, put on stage their latest play Good Luck to You, inside Jinyi Theatre (靳以剧场) at the south student residential area of Fudan’s Handan Campus.
“I had known about Rye Theatre long before I entered Fudan University. I used to watch their vlogs posted on Bilibili repeatedly,” said HUANG Zixuan, currently a sophomore student and president and producer of Rye Theatre, who also starred in the play. “So, it was almost like a dream come true when I was accepted as a theatre member!”
It’s true that Rye Theatre fosters dreams for everyone. Established in 1996, this English drama society initially comprised students mostly from Department of Foreign Languages and Literature. Today, members from all majors grace the stage, driven by their passion for theatre. The drama society has staged numerous authentic English plays, with carefully adapted scripts and rehearsed performance.
From the heartfelt love and struggle depicted on a winter night in Skylight, a highly acclaimed show of Rye, to the intense emotions revealed in the 2015 play Macbeth, these timeless classics have guided the audience through countless touching moments.
Skylight production still
Skylight, an Olivier Award-winning play set in post-Thatcher England. The piece centers on former lovers trying to rekindle feelings they once felt for each other.
For chairman FENG Zhehao, now a graduate student from the Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Rye Theatre has provided him with a precious experience. He took on the leading role as Tom Sergeant in Skylight for the first time two years ago while staying as the producer of the show. However, the rehearsal was fraught with challenges—long speaking sections, subtle moves, bridging a significant age gap with the character, and managing time, venue, and personnel matters.
“Somewhat painful, I have to say, but it has taught me to understand so many people and things, including myself. Facing those emotions that were once hidden, I kind of reconciled myself with Tom.” More importantly, during the yearlong rehearsal for Skylight, Zhehao formed close, trustworthy, and caring friendships. The rehearsal room, Room 209 of Fudan’s Liberal Arts Building, became their “haven”, a place to “let off steam, get lost in deep reveries, or just whim and whisper”, according to Zhehao.
Rye Theatre’s backstage staff
The journey from the rehearsal room to the stage is long and arduous, normally taking a semester to get things like casting, rehearsal and publicity in place. Some plays don’t make it to the final showtime, like The Crucible, unable to be performed due to the pandemic. Despite the past years of difficulties, Rye members persevered, practicing and progressing. The pursuit for perfection has almost become a shared personality trait for all Rye members — not just to produce something, but to produce the best.
Beyond plays in the limelight, there’s a stage for everyone who is interested in acting: theatre workshops. For example, last November, a “Body and Expression” workshop was co-organized by Rye Theatre and Yanyuan Theatre, a student society that puts on stage plays in Chinese.
“Body and Expression” workshop, where students spread out their limbs to resemble spilling water
Here, beginners were immersed in a brand-new world, exploring different means of expression. Participants were instructed to move their trunks and limbs like spilling water, engage in dialogues and react naturally to certain emotions in them, or try to feel others’ walking paces and movements in a shared little space without deliberately looking around. “Remove those forced, deliberate expressions while following your natural flow of emotions,” explained the tutor, a professional actor named GAO Dayong.
“It’s quite different from what I expected,” said LIU Yi, a sophomore from Shanghai International Studies University who came to Fudan campus for the workshop. What he had envisioned was something more straightforward, like script practice, yet it turned out to be more natural, with meditation, interaction, and short improvised lines discussing everyday life matters. As Dayong stated, drama workshops should never follow dull doctrines for theatre plays but focuses on helping ordinary people better understand and express themselves by shedding pretentiousness and letting out their streams.
Rye Theatre is a wonderland for its members, each joining the society for different reasons. Some may be like Zixuan, enchanted by the English drama festival held at high school and developed a love ever since; or more like Zhehao, wishing to present some of the most interesting English plays in their original language with precise rather than translations. While their early approach to drama may have been naive, their passion made Rye Theatre thrive.
For audience, plays provide an escape from daily routines, guiding them into parallel universes — some striking, some dreamy. “If you don't like this dream, you can always choose to forget it. On the other hand, if you like it, it would be great if you feel it with your heart, delve into characters, and try to understand the spirit the play tries to display, the core it tries to deliver,” said Zhehao.
The Magic Tower put on stage in June 2021
“Drama, after all, is a dream-like medium, emitting ever-changing lights, and through it, we are enlightened with new perspectives to see the world and ourselves,” wrote LI Zhuo, a freshman majoring in English, in her WeChat Moments after watching the show on April 3.
Professor ZHU Jianxin, instructor of Rye Theatre, said, “I hope everyone find joy and self-worth in Rye Theatre, bringing heart-touching stories to their audience while cultivating their own language and acting skills.
According to a Rye member, another play Look back in Anger, written by John Osborne, is under rehearsal, will be performed later this semester. Let’s stay tuned for more good shows from Rye Theatre!
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Presented by Fudan University Media Center
Write: YANG Yunya
Editor: WANG Mengqi, LI Yijie
