In stitches

Chen Peisi has made making audiences laugh his mission. He has recently built a school for those who love comedy, Chen Nan reports.

Having written, acted in and directed the same play nearly 200 times in more than 40 cities across China, Chen Peisi still displays the enthusiasm of a young director.

"We need more kisses here and you could repeat kissing him as fast as possible," Chen tells two actors on stage, who are acting out the roles of husband and wife.

It is a scene from The Balcony, where the wife is surprised that her husband, Manager Hou, has bought her a new house. She is so ecstatic that she kisses him crazily.

But the house is actually for Hou's lover, who is in the shower. While the wife is kissing the husband, he is in a cold sweat and worried that his lover will emerge from the shower to confront his wife.

"The kiss here is important because the couple has totally different emotions, which conjures up laughs," explains Chen, as he supervises the rehearsal of The Balcony.

The play tells the story of the desperate contractor Lao Mu who goes around demanding payments from migrant workers. He accidentally falls onto the balcony of Manager Hou's house and gets embroiled in the "cat and mice" chase of Hou, his wife and his mistress. Lao Mu finally manages to get out of the mess, but accidentally takes with him a large sum of money kept by Hou under the bed.

The actors in his latest run of the classic comic drama are the first batch of graduates from Chen's comedy training school. Chen says their acting needs to be polished further before they could be called "the future of Chinese comedians".

"The young comedians are trained to dream, to be on stage and to be in the limelight," the 58-year-old comedy master says. "Thus, after all the jokes and funny acting, they expect applause and bouquets of flowers. But when they are on stage, they realize that the reality is different. They have to accomplish one of the hardest missions - to make the audiences laugh, laugh harder than they expect."

One week before the first show on Aug 3, they rehearsed at the theater, which is located inside Century Theater in downtown Beijing, from 9 am to 10 pm. Chen's blunt and condescending comments challenge the actors' confidence and push them to do better.

Chen Tiantian and Wang Huacheng play migrant workers in The Balcony. "Chen Peisi is very focused. He tells us that it's crucial to cultivate strong emotional ties and relationships with audiences," says Chen Tiantian, a 22-year-old third year student who is studying acting at Beijing Contemporary Music Academy. "He'll get very angry if we go for overkill in our acting to make audiences laugh."

From Weifang, Shandong province, Chen Tiantian aspired to become an actor since he was in middle school. Despite his parents' objections, he moved to Beijing to study acting. But he didn't find his own style until he met Chen, who discovered and cultivated his comic talent.

"I used to tickle the funny bones of the audiences by telling bad jokes or playing idiotic roles. Chen told me that real comedy is not doing anything intentionally funny but using the story and personalities of the roles to entertain audiences," Chen Tiantian says.

Huang Fei, a 30-year-old veteran actor, who has starred in many TV series and appeared in Chen's comic drama, A Dou, in 2008, plays Lao Mu in The Balcony. He describes Chen as very strict. Huang has been criticized many times in front of all the actors during rehearsals.

"You know, as an experienced actor, it's hurtful and embarrassing to be questioned about my taking skills," jokes Huang. He admits that having spent years acting minor roles in TV series, he became indifferent to acting. But working with Chen has fired up his passion for acting again. "He always asks me to give more. I feel as if I'm returning to the classroom again," he says.

The Balcony is staged at Chen's brand new Dao Comedy Theater, with a seating capacity of 380 seats.

"The reason why we chose The Balcony as the opening drama for the theater is because it's my favorite work so far," says Chen.

The comedy school and the Dao Comedy Theater are part of Chen's dream of developing comedy in China.

Although Chen was sad about the death of his father, renowned actor Chen Qiang, in July, he didn't bury himself in sorrow. Instead, he continues to devote his time to The Balcony and the new theater.

"The theater took me six months to get it started and it is a fulfillment of my father's wish. He always wanted me to build a home for those who love comedy," says Chen. "It's also a stage for young comedians to carry on my dream."

Chen first rose to fame during the 1984 Spring Festival Gala, in which he and actor Zhu Shimao introduced their skit Eating Noodles. Since then, the comedian has become a household name in China. He then collaborated with his father, directing and acting in numerous comedy movies.

Since 2000, he has devoted himself to theater - writing fresh scripts and adapting from existing ones.

"From acting in comedy to researching comedy, I have come to realize that the art form is so charming and audiences need comedy badly," Chen says.

To better develop the theater and train young comedians, he also turned down CCTV's invitation to perform at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 2013.

"A 7- or 8-minute skit is not enough for the audiences. The real stage for comedy is in the theater," he says.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn.