The Shekou Theater Festival, known for staging original incubated performances in non-conventional theater spaces, such as streets, industrial heritages and coastal villas, will return this year with 10 Chinese plays to be staged from Oct. 27 through Nov. 12.

The performance venues for the plays in this year’s festival are more diverse than last year.

“A Space Between the New and the Old @Shekou” uses the Shekou Cruise Homeport (蛇口邮轮母港) as a space to store and tell memories. “Space Ark 2020_Day 1381” compresses the past, present and future in the I-Factory (价值工厂).

“Made of Beauty,” to be performed at William Equestrian (威廉国际马术中心), attempts to examine everyone’s definition of beauty. “To Forgive the Coccyx 2.0,” to be performed in an office, explores how society evolves by focusing on the tortured tail bone of office workers.

Some performances will take on new forms. “Tales of Snake Tails” and “Love in the Twin Cities” will guide the audience to participate and play interactive games in the plays. In “Stock Up!,” actors will wear visual art installations.

Incorporating innovative intangible cultural heritage items is another highlight of this year’s festival. “‘Chen San and Wuniang’ in Multiple Time Dimensions” is inspired by an ancient folk story and opera originated in Fujian. “Global Music Voyage, Starting From Shekou” features local music samples around the world. “A Party of Fantastic Animals” is a puppet show that can be traced back to 5 B.C.

Five new scripts with popular social themes will be read by performers from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts performers, offering a personal and immersive engagement with the art of theater.

The Situ International Forum is a new section of the festival. This event will invite domestic and international industry experts and observers to share their successful cases and discuss the current state and future of site-specific performance.

The festival will also feature exciting events such as workshops, lectures and post-performance discussions. All the events are free to attend.