Frequently, Beijing's expensive theatre tickets keep crushing
the dreams of the literati, who flock to the city's renowned
theatres expecting sensuous pleasure.
Gates are slammed shut in front of those who are unable to
afford the extravagant tickets. Yet numerous scalpers skulk near
the box offices surreptitiously waving their illicit tickets. These
rogues will even stuff name cards in people's hands, trying to set
up "business" relationships and promising to courier tickets to a
patron's home in the future.
These scalpers get their paws on a lot of complimentary tickets
sent by performing companies to various sponsors and media
reporters, the Beijing Morning Post reported recently.
"Ticket prices would slide down if companies simply reduced the
amount of complimentary tickets," said Xiao Fuxing, a Chinese
writer and deputy chief editor for People's Literature
magazine.
In recent months in Beijing the highest ticket price for a
concert conducted by Argentina born Daniel Barenboim sold at about
980 yuan (US$132). Yet the most expensive ticket in the United
States is not supposed to hit US$60, Xiao said. .
But it remains difficult for performing companies to cut out
dispensing complimentary tickets. "We have no choice since there
are too many sponsors asking for bonuses," said a performance
organizer surnamed Wang.
According to a random survey conducted by the Beijing
Morning Post, more than half of the twenty people interviewed
in the audience inside the Beijing People's Art Theatre had come on
November 4 to see White Deer Prairie, a drama adapted from
a Chinese novel, with complimentary tickets. People who were not
interested in the show sold their tickets to scalpers.
Xiao commented that the complimentary tickets were metaphorical
"tumors" inside the city's art performances. "Scalped tickets
create a vicious cycle in which the true audience must pay an
extra, hidden cost created by the comp tickets," the editor wrote
in one of his articles.
To create a more positive image, theaters in Beijing have
started staging performances exclusively for students and are
selling less expensive tickets. Significantly, on November 6 the
Capital Theatre sold out 900 student tickets for White Deer
Prairie. The most expensive ticket was priced at 100 yuan,
which is at least 400 yuan lower than the highest end seat.
"Students loved these charity performances but they also complained
about the scarcity of tickets," said a staff member from the
theater.
(China.org.cn by Wu Jin November 11, 2007)