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What if theatre were not a building,

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a company, or a finished play,

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but a method for making relations visible?

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P4 Theater is an independent experimental

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theatre and public practice project founded

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in Beijing in 2015 by Zhang Shaohua and He Fa.

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It is not simply a troupe, a venue,

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or a repertory of finished productions.

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P4 uses theatre to organize live situations.

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People enter,

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roles shift,

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relations become visible,

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and the encounter leaves a record.

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Performance, photography,

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moving image,

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public writing and participation

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operate within one system.

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In P4,

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The work does not begin when the lights

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go down or end with applause.

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A project may start with a public invitation,

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bring strangers into a workshop,

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turn rehearsal into collective research,

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produce a performance,

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record disagreements and audience responses,

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publish photographs and essays,

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then use that archive

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to generate the next project.

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The invitation,

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rehearsal, argument,

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camera, aftertalk

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essay, and hard drive can all

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belong to the same event.

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P4's current history begins in 2015.

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Its public opening is documented in 2016

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inside Beijing's Sculpture Studio Art Zone,

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where an artist's photographic studio

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was rebuilt as an independent black box.

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Early records describe a room

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divided by black velvet into black and white

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zones with space for roughly 80 people

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and a stage about 10 meters wide.

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The first public performance,

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Shadow Counterpoint,

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was co devised by Ao Shuang and He Fa.

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Projected images, sound,

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repeated instructions, bodies,

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cameras and spectators

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were placed in relation.

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From the beginning, P4 was designing

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encounters across media.

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The name began with a photographic question.

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P4 could be heard as photo for you,

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but you meant the person beneath the pose

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encountered through reciprocal looking.

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In 2016, the four P’s were Present,

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Photosynthesis, Psychology, and Permanent.

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Psychology was an artistic

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catalyst for attention and relation,

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not a clinical claim.

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The early logo showed two rotating figures,

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each watching and reshaping the other.

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That reciprocal structure remains

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more important than any single

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expansion of the letters.

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That photographic origin became

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a three-part method:

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look, perform, shoot.

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Looking is not passive judgement;

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it is an encounter.

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Performing produces a temporary

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reality shared by everyone present.

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Shooting is not neutral documentation.

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The camera chooses a position,

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participates, and turns a fleeting

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relation into evidence for a future viewer.

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Real Image:

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Eight and a Half made this explicit in 2019,

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turning portrait making

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into one to one photographic theatre.

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Across linked encounters,

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Photographing, looking,

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speaking, and responding

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became part of the performance.

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Participants chose whether to continue

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and whether their images could be made public.

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From late 2020, participation

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became infrastructure.

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P4U invited strangers and non

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professional makers to bring proposals,

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form temporary groups and make work together.

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Each edition could change

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with the people who entered it.

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Cocoon transformed an open call and sixteen

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days of rehearsal into dance theatre

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Built from bodies and participant experience.

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Howlers on the Rooftop moved through writing,

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training, performance,

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discussion, and seven

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behind the scenes accounts.

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Centrist extended performance into auditions,

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rehearsal, surveillance, images,

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interviews, and after texts.

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Participation was not added after the show.

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It shaped the work's structure,

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memory, and public life.

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In Purple Action and Duel Club,

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rules, votes, players,

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spectators, and shared consequences

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formed temporary political structures.

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P4 tried to redistribute authorship,

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while preserving the cost:

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Conflict, rupture,

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abandoned plans, and criticism.

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Failure becomes evidence

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for the next experiment.

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After leaving the original venue in 2021,

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P4 moved through parks,

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boxing rings, offices,

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dance studios, bookstores,

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ruins, and temporary public spaces.

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The next fixed site was a room of roughly

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sixteen square metres,

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known as 510.

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There, actors, cameras,

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objects, and viewers could not

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remain separated.

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Iceberg developed through meetings,

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rehearsals, field filming, interviews,

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performance, and criticism.

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The project was no longer only a show,

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but a network.

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P4 was becoming less

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a building than an ecology.

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In 2023, Human Surrender

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pushed this system into cinema.

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Its recruitment proposed a chamber film,

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observation of performers’

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daily lives and a public performance.

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The Last Rehearsal combined theatre,

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performance art,

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live sound,

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installation and continuous filming.

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Audience actions could enter the film.

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Actors could direct.

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Camera operators perform,

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observers become agents.

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The camera entered the event.

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The 2024 film

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Shoot Self with You makes “with you” central:

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a self appears through another person,

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a camera and a later viewer.

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P4's archive does not freeze the work.

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It keeps sources, dates,

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arguments, and memories in relation.

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One experiment generates the next.

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P4 is not an answer, but an invitation.

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Theatre is not an end point, but a beginning.