Chapter 182: People's Art Theatre Tickets Are Very Expensive

In the era when televisions were not yet popular, dramas and movies were the greatest pleasure for many young people when dating and passing the time. Relatively speaking, dramas were a bit more high-end, mainly because the ticket prices were expensive.

The ticket price for a movie is a little over ten cents, but the starting price for a play is fifty cents, and the seats are not good.

"Farewell My Concubine", as the major drama promoted by the National Theatre of China this year, has the support of millions of sales of the original novel. It is conservatively estimated that there are at least tens of millions of book fans across the country. After its premiere, it immediately became a major phenomenon in the cultural circle of Yanjing City.

To be honest, the most popular things in the literary and art circles in 1982 should be the two movies released at the beginning of the year.

"Shaolin Temple" and "The Shepherd".

Both films were released in February and set off a nationwide viewing craze in a short period of time. With movie tickets costing only a little over ten cents in that era, both films managed to sell over 100 million yuan at the box office.

If calculated based on movie ticket prices in later generations, the box office would be tens of billions, which is terrifying.

Now, it has been nearly half a year since the two movies were released, and their influence is still there, making them still the most popular movies in theaters. At this time, it is normal for a movie to be shown for half a year or a year after its release.

If we say that the biggest cultural phenomenon in Yanjing in the first half of 1982 was "Shaolin" and "The Shepherd".

In the first few days of the second half of the year, this object is rapidly changing to "Farewell My Concubine".

Moreover, due to the different communication media, "Farewell My Concubine" can only be watched in theaters, and only the Capital Theatre is performing it, which makes tickets for the drama hard to come by.

Since the first ticket scalper appeared on the opening day, the number of vendors reselling tickets outside the Capital Theatre has increased.

The ticket prices for "Farewell My Concubine" also rose in price. Originally, the tickets for the worst seats were only a few cents, but these unscrupulous vendors drove them up to a sky-high price of ten yuan, not to mention the tickets for the front seats, which often started at thirty or fifty yuan.

The most outrageous thing is that even though the ticket prices have been driven up to such a high level, there are actually people who buy them.

Lin Weimin was stunned when he heard the news. No matter what time it was, there were indeed many rich people in Yanjing City. He was eager to make a move. How about getting a few tickets to sell?

"How is it now? It can't still be so expensive, right?"

"We just caught two ticket scalpers yesterday, and the rest all ran away." Han Zhuangzhuang stuffed his mouth with food and swallowed it whole before saying, "But the problem is that the ticket scalpers ran away and there are no tickets! In the past, there were ticket scalpers, and everyone bought tickets from them. Now there are no ticket scalpers, so we can only ask people for help. There are fewer tickets and they are sold at a higher price!"

Lin Weimin took a bite of his meal in silence. It was so outrageous that he opened the door in such a way - it was outrageous to the extreme.

The ticket price is getting more and more expensive!

"Uncle, you don't know. Every day, audiences come to our theater to complain and demand that Farewell My Concubine be re-performed. Some retired comrades have also joined in the fun, reporting the situation directly to higher authorities, saying that Farewell My Concubine has serious problems and demanding that it be banned."

Lin Weimin sneered, "Are they trying to go backwards?"

"Who says it's not true? But the theater is a bit overwhelmed right now because there are too many people who want to watch this play. If you haven't been to the Capital Theater these days, you wouldn't know that every afternoon, the theater entrance is surrounded by people. Many people want to sneak in without tickets. The police have been called in several times because of this matter."

Lin Weimin frowned and said, "We can't go on like this. We have to find a way to solve this problem."

"Yeah, it has to be solved, right? So the academy is now considering renting another theater, gathering all the supporting actors together, and forming a performance group."

When Lin Weimin heard this plan, he nodded and said, "That's a good idea."

He smiled at Han Zhuangzhuang again and said, "So, you have a chance to play?"

Han Zhuangzhuang smiled innocently, "I have finally waited until today."

"Perform well. The role is small, so you have to show your skills."

"Yeah. By the way, uncle, you don't know, right? Yang Lixin was beaten!" Han Zhuangzhuang said with a gossipy look on his face.

"What's going on?"

Han Zhuangzhuang recounted what happened on the night when Yang Lixin had things smashed, and Lin Weimin couldn't help laughing.

"Xiao Yang is such a miserable character!"

"Hehe, if it were given to me, I would be willing to be hit once a day." Han Zhuangzhuang said enviously.

Yang Lixin is now completely famous, at least he is well-known in the area of ​​Yanjing City.

Regardless of whether you have watched the drama or not, you know that Yenching People's Art Theatre has an actor who plays Cheng Dieyi.

The performance season of "Farewell My Concubine" lasts for half a month, but due to the audience's eager demand to watch the show, the People's Art Theatre had to extend the performance time to one month.

In order to alleviate the urgent needs of the audience, the troupe rented the venue of the Yanjing Youth Palace and announced to the outside world that it would be performing at the Youth Palace soon.

The two measures to add performances of the drama "Farewell My Concubine" completely disrupted the arrangements of the National Theatre of China in the second half of the year, and the National Theatre of China was in a state of panic over this matter.

Fortunately, these two initiatives they launched, after being widely publicized by the media, have finally eased the anxious waiting of the audience.

The growing influence of the drama "Farewell My Concubine" is also inseparable from the coverage of major media in Yanjing. Not only print media, but also radio and television stations were alarmed. Yanjing TV and Yanjing People's Broadcasting Station both reported on the drama-watching phenomenon triggered by "Farewell My Concubine". Such a scale is rare in this day and age.

It is also because of this that the influence of "Farewell My Concubine" is gradually expanding to areas outside Yanjing.

It is no exaggeration to say that the impact caused by "Farewell My Concubine" in half a month of performance was greater than that caused by "The Intouchables" in more than a year. The influence and effect of the two are incomparable.

The cultural scene created by "Farewell My Concubine" is still going on, and has also affected Lin Weimin. Recently, he still goes to work and goes home every day as usual, and occasionally meets with friends.

However, recently there have been more young men and women blocking the door of the Guowen Publishing House hoping to meet Lin Weimin. The performance of the drama "Farewell My Concubine" has once again attracted the attention of readers and audiences to Lin Weimin, the original author of the novel and the screenwriter of the drama.

Many people place their love for a work on the actors, and many people also place their love on the original author.

These days, Lin Weimin goes to work every morning like he is reviewing his troops. He has to greet the readers standing at the door of the Guowen Publishing House waiting for his autograph or to meet him. The only thing he lacks is a sentence "Thank you for your hard work, comrades."

These readers and drama fans are all young people, many of them are high school students or college students. They are the treasures of the country at this era. Just like the reaction of the security personnel of government agencies and colleges and universities when the young people of Today went to the gates of those agencies to post publications, the security personnel of Guowen Publishing House did not dare to drive them away at will.

I can only hope that Lin Weimin will come earlier every day and send these people away as soon as possible.

The performances of Farewell My Concubine during these days have put unprecedented pressure on the security personnel of the National Literature Publishing House, which no one had expected.

"Alright, alright! You've all worked hard, don't wait here any longer. I'm just an ordinary editor, you've all seen it, and my signatures are coming soon. Go back and study hard, work hard, and don't delay your work."

Lin Weimin, with a smile on his face, persuaded all the readers and drama fans who had gathered at the entrance of the Guowen Society this morning to leave, and raised his hand to check the time.

Oh, I’m late again!

When he entered the courtyard, he looked upstairs. In front of a window of the front building, Yan Wenjing was staring at him as he just entered.

Lin Weimin lowered his head guiltily and quickly went into the back building.

After entering the office, Lin Weimin spread out a pile of letters written to him by readers on his desk. These readers not only wrote to him, but also sent him things, including those blocking the door.

Just like the mother fans of those popular stars in later generations, they always give him things at every turn.

Lin Weimin really wanted to lift their little heads and roar: "I earn more from writing a book than you do from working for ten years, wake up!"

Therefore, Lin Weimin would never accept anything from these readers. If someone gave him something, he would just give it back.

There are some things hidden in the letters that cannot be discovered in time, so he will send them back after reading them.

I worked until the afternoon, and the sample issue of the fourth issue of "Contemporary" this year came out, and Shi Tiesheng's "My Distant Qingping Bay" was published in this issue.

Lin Weimin rode his motorcycle to No. 26 Lama Temple Street after get off work, "Tie Sheng! Tie Sheng!"

At this moment, Shi Tiesheng was enjoying the cool in the yard. "I'm here, why are you shouting?"

“I’m used to it!”

Lin Weimin pulled out the sample issue of Contemporary from his pocket and said, "Let me show you. It was just published this afternoon."

Shi Tiesheng took the "Contemporary" with a happy face, flipped through the table of contents to find the novel that belonged to him, and stroked the paper with his hands.

“Finally it’s published!”

"It's not like it hasn't been published in Contemporary Magazine."

Shi Tiesheng shook his head. "It's different. Qingping Bay should be considered a small breakthrough in my creative career. It was also published in Contemporary. Contemporary now has millions of readers across the country. It's my fortune that Qingping Bay was published there."

Lin Weimin took out another list from his bag and said, "Don't worry about the difference for now. Just check if the payment is correct."

Shi Tiesheng was about to take the payment slip when his sister Shi Lan snatched it away.

"Ninety yuan? Brother, this is a lot of royalties!" Shi Lan shouted happily.

Shi Tiesheng said, "What's more? Your elder brother Lin's book is dozens or even hundreds of times more than this."

"You can't compare with Brother Lin."

Shi Tiesheng was depressed because of his sister. What do you mean I can't compete with him?

"Shi Lan, you can't rush this. When your brother publishes more works and they can be published, his royalties will increase. Then you can eat shabu-shabu every day."

Shi Lan thought about that day and smiled, "When that time comes, I will work and make money, and I will treat you two to shabu-shabu."

Lin Weimin smiled and said, "Okay, but you have to be prepared to be laughed at by us."

(End of this chapter)