Art beat (May 17-June 1)

Shanghai

Multimedia mix from 1927

1927 is a theater company from Britain famous for mixing live music, storytelling and performance with animation. 1927 will present in Shanghai The Animals and Children Took to the Streets. It tells the story of Agnes Eaves and her daughter, who rent a shabby building near a river. The show will seamlessly synchronize live music, performance and storytelling with stunning film segments and animations.

7:30 pm, May 24-26. Lyceum Theater, 57 Maoming Road South, Shanghai. 021-6217-3055.

Poetry arrives at museum

Poet Li Yawei will share with audiences his new work from a collection named Lyric Poems on Hexi Corridor. Li was born in Chongqing in 1963 and has been composing poems since 1984. This is the latest session of a series of public activities called Poetry Comes to the Museum at Minsheng Museum of Modern Art. All these events are free to the public but reservations are required.

7 pm, May 18. Minsheng Art Museum Shanghai, Building F, 570 Huaihai Road W Shanghai. 021-6282-8729.

Poet Xu Zhimo's life celebrated

Yihai Theater in Shanghai is staging an original play about modern Chinese poet Xu Zhimo. Xu is a representative figure of Chinese literature. He laid the foundation for modern Chinese poetry, but the play is not just biographical, says Zhao Yaomin, the playwright. "It starts from the hero's death in an air crash, and digs deep into historical files to explore Xu's living situation and inside world." It's a tragicomedy that reveals the cultural landscape of the early 1900s' China. Xu Zhimo will be played by TV actor Zhou Jie (right).

7:30 pm, May 17-26. Yihai Theater, 466 Jiangning Road, Shanghai. 021-6256 8282.