As the 30th Olympic Games is proceeding in London, the utility of Beijing's own Olympic venues is being questioned. The Bird's Nest, officially known as the National Stadium, was designed for the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. But in its post-Olympic days, it is fighting for survival.

On September 21, a large-scale show, Attraction, will be staged at the Bird's Nest after six months of preparations.

"Since the project kicked off in January this year, we went to various places including the US and Macao to learn about outdoor shows and to try to create a unique one," said Lu Chuan, general director of the show.

"Attraction incorporates Chinese flavor and international styles and will overall be a stunning visual and audio experience," he said.

International love

Attraction, a love story set in the future, incorporates stage elements from plays, dances, magic shows and acrobatics.

What distinguishes it from other large-scale shows is not just the impressive visual impact but the story itself, which is very touching, Lu said.

"The love story is an adventure and delivers inspiration to people," he said. Instead of adapting a Chinese traditional love story like The Butterfly Lovers, which has been frequently staged, Lu wrote the script himself.

 "This show is meant for international audiences. Sometimes a domestic traditional story has less of an ability to cross cultures," he told  Global Times over a phone interview.

The entire interior of the Bird's Nest will be made into a huge stage, said Lu. Holographic technology will also be used.

Attraction is supported by an international production team, some from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The stage set and design is done by France's ECA2, and the visual effects by Britain's Studio Output.

Emi Wada, who won the Academy Award for the Best Costume Design in 1986 will design the costumes. Emi Wada will dress the heroine, China's leading singer Tan Jing, in a fantastical and mysterious way.

The heroine appears in a variety of time and spaces, including forests, modern cities and outer space. The costumes will change accordingly, said Wada. The costumes are extraordinarily large, matching the grandiosity of the venue.

In addition, famous musician Bian Liunian and dancer Zhao Liping will be cooperating.

Directors swoop in

As a film director, Lu has made a reputation for films like Nanking Nanking (2009), Mountain Patrol (2004) and The Missing Gun (2002). This is his first time directing a large-scale performance.

"I believe there are commonalities in different types of art," he said. "Film directing experience helps in team bonding and visual impacts."

Lu isn't the first film director to venture into this field. Respected domestic directors like Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang have also tried their hands at directing plays.

In October 2009, the opera Turandot, directed by Zhang Yimou was staged at the Bird's Nest, at a production cost of about 120 million yuan ($18.86 million).

Cooperating with a renowned director is a great way to brand the Bird's Nest, according to Jiang Haoyang, general manager of the Bird's Nest Style Company, the company in charge of the Attraction project.

"Our plan is to produce a stunning visual and audio product specific to the Bird's Nest. We want to enrich the stadium's cultural value and integrate it into people's daily lives," said Jiang.

As part of the commercial plans for the Bird's Nest, the show will be staged regularly in the next three years, with about 100 performances held each year.

"Over the course of its run, new actors and ideas will be added to the performance," said Lu. "We are aiming for perfection."

Post Games

Four years after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, capitalizing on commercial value and increasing interest in the venues built for the event is a huge challenge facing the government.

 Before, the amount generated from the Bird's Nest entrance ticket accounted for 70 to 90 percent of the total revenue. Now that number hovers around 40 to 50 percent, a declining figure healthy for its sustainable development, with the stadium relying on income from performances.

In a recent interview with InvestorChina, Li Aiqing, president of Beijing State-owned Assets Management Co. Ltd, the company responsible for operating Beijing's Olympic venues, said that high maintenance costs, reliance on ticket revenue and a lack of regular large-scale competitions are the main problems facing the Bird's Nest today.

"The management of venues post-Olympic Games is a global issue," said Lin Xianpeng, vice president of College of Management at Beijing Sport University.

Cities that have undertaken this honorable quadrennial global event invest a significant amount of capital into the athletic venues. But sometimes this results in excessive budgets for the venues, according to Lin.

"We are not just staging a show, we are putting Olympic venues into sustainable use," said Lu. "We want to establish a business model that is transparent, fair, and regulated."

Cooperating with famous directors is one way for Olympic venues to garner interest. In June, film director Li Shaohong's Dream of the Red Mansion was staged at the Water Cube, or the Beijing National Aquatics Center. The show received mixed responses.

Whether this will be an effective way to ensure the survival of these venues post-Olympics is still up in the air.