The Lyceum Theater in East China's Shanghai Municipality Photo: Snapshot of Sina Weibo

Efforts are underway to restore China's first Western-style theater, the Lyceum Theater in East China's Shanghai Municipality, to its original appearance during the 1930s, the China News reported on Saturday.

This theater is widely known due to Chinese director Lou Ye's film Saturday Fiction. The film starring Chinese actress Gong Li competed for the Golden Lion at the 76th Venice International Film Festival in September 2019. However, the theater's history dates back to much earlier than what was depicted in the film. 

According to reports, the Lyceum Theater started with two amateur theater troupes established by British expatriates in Shanghai. In 1866, the two theater troupes merged into the Amateur Dramatic Club Of Shanghai (ADC Opera Troupe) and funds were raised to purchase a piece of land to build a wooden European-style building that they would come to call the Lyceum Theater.

However, the wooden-structure theater was later damaged by a fire. In 1874 it was rebuilt using brick. In 1902, the well-known Irish playwright Bernard Shaw's famous play The Devil's Disciple debuted in the Lyceum Theater, the first time one of Shaw's plays was ever performed in China.

The rebuilt Lyceum Theater operated well for more than 50 years until it was sold in 1929. The troupe later purchased a new plot of land in Shanghai and built a new Lyceum Theater in 1931 that had a more modern US architectural style. In 1933, the Lyceum Theater installed a sound film projector, becoming one of the most luxurious cinemas and modern theaters in Shanghai. 

After the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) in 1945, the notable Peking opera artist Mei Lanfang, who had left the stage for eight years since he refused to perform for the Japanese army, made his come-back performance at the Lyceum Theater.

The renovation work began on Tuesday and is expected to take a year. 

"It took nearly three years to collect historical resources about the theater. We have made more than 20 drafts according to old photos and videos," said Sun Yifei, the designer in charge of restoring the Lyceum Theater, according to a report from Kankan News.  

Sun said that the renovation will involve cleaning and repairing the damaged bricks on the theater's fa?ade anddecorating the audience hall and zenith, while restoring toilets and make-up roomsto its 1930s style. Meanwhile, the number of seats will be increased from the original 681 to 709 and the stage entrances will be widened appropriately. 

The restored theater will mainly promote musicals favored by urban white-collar workers, according to reports.