Puy du FouOperation Officer: Planning Exceptional Performances through Shaolin IP

　　普德赋运营官：通过少林IP打造精品演出

Puy du Fou, known as the "French cultural and tourism giant", is a large-scale theme park brand dedicated to restoring historical scenes and celebrating traditional culture. Founded in France in 1977, it has established itself as a pioneer in the global theme park industry, earning the reputationas "the world's most story telling-oriented theme park".

被称为“法国文旅巨头”的普德赋，是一个致力于还原历史场景和传统文化的大型主题公园品牌、全球主题乐园里的先锋代表，1977年创建于法国，被称为“世界上最会讲故事的主题公园”。

On October 23, the 2024 China Tourism, Leisure, and Entertainment Industry Development Conference was held in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. Joseph Corbo, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Producer of Puy du Fou Asia, delivered a keynote speech titled "Localization Practice of International IP in China". In his address, he shared insights on scenario interpretation and its role in enhancing cultural tourism.

10月23日，2024中国旅游休闲娱乐产业发展大会在河南郑州举办，普德赋亚洲首席运营官&执行制作人Joseph Corbo来到郑州，作了题为“国际IP的中国化本土实践”的主旨发言，介绍沉浸式演绎对文旅赋能的经验与路径。

After the speech, the Top News had an exclusive interview with Joseph Corbo.

发言结束后，Corbo接受了顶端新闻记者的专访。

Top News: What was your first impression when you arrived in Henan? How did you feel about your visit to the theater complex "Unique Henan - Land of Dramas"?

顶端新闻：此次来到河南，第一印象如何?参观了“只有河南·戏剧幻城”有什么感受?

Corbo: "Unique Henan-Land of Dramas" features around 20 immersive performances. I'm very impressed by both the architecture and the operation. The environment is clean, and the performances are fantastic. The stage design, the performance quality and the emotional expressions are all excellent. They really helped me connect with the story of parents who dedicated themselves to the survival of their children in the past.

Corbo：“只有河南·戏剧幻城”是20个左右沉浸式演出的集合，无论是建筑还是运营都让我感到非常满意，印象深刻。这里环境很干净，演出很精彩，舞台布景、表演质量、情感表达都非常出色，帮助我理解了在过去父母为让孩子生存而奉献自己的故事。

All of these triggered strong emotional reactions. Even though I couldn't understand every detail, the performance was still a very high-quality work in terms of the value and presentation. In the evening, we were invited to visit Zhengzhou Haichang Ocean Park. The food was delicious and the people were friendly. They all exceeded my expectations.

这些都引发了强烈的情感反应，即使我不能理解全部内容，单从演出所传递的价值和呈现上来看，这是很高质量的作品。晚上，我们还受邀前往郑州海昌海洋公园参观，食物很美味，人们很友好。实话实说，这一切都超出我的期待，我们都十分开心和惊喜。

Top News: All regions in Henan want to further develop immersive theme parks and enhance cultural tourism to achieve breakthroughs and innovations. What experience and suggestions would you offer for reference?

顶端新闻：河南各地想要进一步打造沉浸式演绎的主题公园，赋能文旅发展出圈，有何可借鉴的经验建议?

Corbo: I once asked my team what's special about Henan. So I looked it upon line and discovered the Shaolin Temple in the mountain. Personally, I think that leveraging existing intellectual properties in this province or city is really a good way to create a good show and promote ticket sales, because people are naturally attracted to an existing thing.

Corbo：我曾经问我的团队，河南有什么独特的地方?我上网查找资料，发现了位于嵩山的少林寺。个人认为，利用少林寺这种地方IP来打造精彩的演出是很不错的方式，同时也能推动宣传和售票，因为人们天生会被已经存在的事物所吸引。

When I say IP, I don't just mean a story. It can also be a famous place, or a well-known mountain, or even a popular food. I believe capitalizing on something already exists is the key. Like the show we saw yesterday is a bit about that. It is very contemporary, but also very historical. And it's based on a real story. I think the characters might not be real. But the story is real. That makes it easier to connect with people, but also to sell tickets, because you need to sell tickets. If you don't sell tickets, your business will go down which is not good. You need strike a balance: connecting with your audience while keeping an eye on the profit and loss.

我所说的IP，它不仅仅是一个故事，也可以是一个著名的地方、一个著名的山或者有名的美食，围绕已有的事物进行创作是关键。就像我们昨天看到的“只有河南·戏剧幻城”演出，它非常的现代，但同时具有很强的历史感，而且是基于真实的故事进行创作。我认为角色可能是虚构的，但故事是真实的，这就很容易让观众产生共鸣，同时有助于售票，把票卖出去是很关键的，如果票卖不出去，你的业务就会下滑，这不是好事。所以应该将与观众产生情感联接，与保证业务能够盈利两者很好的结合起来。

Top News: Henan is a major cultural province. What do you think about the impact of cultural elements on tourism scenario interpretation? How can we better tell the stories of our local culture?

顶端新闻：河南是一个文化大省，文化是旅游情景演绎的压舱石。如何看待文化属性在沉浸式演绎中的作用？如何借此进一步讲好地域文化故事？

Corbo: Like I said, even as a show producer, you think that you have done the best show in the world, if the public doesn't agree, then you've failed. So as Puy Du Fou. Our DNA is the story.

Corbo：正如我所说，作为一名演出制作人，你可能认为自己已经制作了世界上最好的演出，但如果观众不认同，那你就失败了。所以就普德赋来说，我们的核心就是故事。

In fact, we got the inspiration for our stories from history of the countries. We are in France. We speak about French history. In Spain, it's about Spanish history. While we're in China, we speak about Chinese history. And in China, there are also provinces and the cities.

事实上，我们从各个国家的历史获得了灵感。我们在法国，我们讲述的就是法国历史；在西班牙，就讲述西班牙的历史；在中国，我们就要讲述中国的历史。不仅仅是整个中国，还要讲述关于省份、城市的历史。

So we try to localize our stories and our shows as much as possible. The way we do that is that we immerse ourselves in the local culture. We have consultants. We work with historians and specialists, but more importantly is: our team is right here in China. We're not based in Europe coming to China to make a show. Our team is based in China. We have a team of the production of 120 people. Everybody even foreigners like me are based here. We immerse ourselves in the culture. I think this is the way we create the show that connect with the people of the market where we are in China.

所以我们会尝试去让我们的故事和演绎尽可能的本土化，我们通过让自己深入了解这个文化来实现这一点。我们有顾问团队、历史学家和专家合作，但是更重要的是，我们的团队就在中国，我们不是只在欧洲创作，然后来中国进行演出。我们的团队扎根在中国，我们大概有120个人的制作团队，所有人，包括像我一样的外国人，都扎根在中国。我们把自己融入这片文化，这就是我们能够创造与中国乃至各地观众产生共鸣的演出的方式。

Top News: Does Puy du Fou have any plans to open an immersive experience venue in Henan? Can you share some details about it?

顶端新闻：接下来普德赋是否有在河南开设沉浸式体验场所的计划，可否剧透一下?

Corbo: Our first show in China was in Shanghai, and we have opened Saga City of Light. It's a story about love, friendship, and overcoming challenges, and in the end leading to reunion and happiness. Saga City of Light is a new immersive form at for us. We've combined many different elements that we've developed over the year. It's the biggest immersive theater in the world, with a 20,000 square meters of immersive experience space. And we have more than fifty cast performing every night.

Corbo：我们选择在了上海，举办《深光之光明之城》的演出，这是普德赋第一次在亚洲、在中国的演出。这是一个关于追寻爱、友情和克服挑战，最终大团圆的故事，对于我们来说也是一种全新的沉浸式形式，融入了很多我们发展了多年的不同的形式，是世界上最大的沉浸式演出，有大约两万平方米的供观众沉浸式体验的场所，每天晚上有超过50位优秀的表演人员进行演绎。

It is the first time that we've developed this format for cities. We hope not to replicate. But we hope to open more of this format in many different cities in China.

这是我们第一次在城市进行这种形式，我们不希望仅仅是简单的复制，希望未来能够在中国更多城市引入和开设这样的演出。

Our concept of immersive performance is to take the audience into a different world, where you're not only a spectator, but also a participant in the story. We hope that the audience can not only enjoy our performance, but also have a deeper understanding of the history and culture presented.

我们的沉浸式演出理念是要将观众带入一个不同的世界，在那里您不仅仅是旁观者，而是故事的参与者，希望观众不仅能够享受我们的演出，还能够对呈现的历史和文化有更深的理解。

As a new brand in the Chinese market, we know that we'll face unique challenges and opportunities. We understand that Chinese audiences have specific taste preferences and expectations. We're committed to accepting these differences with humility, understanding Chinese culture and history, and immersing ourselves in Chinese cultural history. This is our priority in creative efforts here.

作为中国市场的一个新品牌，我们知道将面临独特的挑战与机遇。我们理解中国观众有特定的品位偏好和期望，我们致力于以谦逊的态度接受这些差异，了解中国的文化与历史，沉浸在中国的文化历史之中，是我们在中国创作的优先任务。

We don't want the audience to just sit there and watch. We want them to be able to walk into a new world we've created, to be a part of this world, to believe this world, to experience this world.

我们不希望观众只是坐在那里看，我们希望他们能够走进一个我们创造的全新的世界，成为这个世界的一部分，相信这个世界，在这个世界中体验。（中文来源/顶端新闻 记者/孟月 编译/赵珮岐 洪建园 童林 英文审校/丁岚）

Web editors: Tong Lin, Shen Ke