The Paper's reporter Wang Yi
"Last year was the 160th anniversary of Chekhov's birth. Reading Chekhov's plays and novels a lot, many of his works are about love, and I was deeply touched by his love stories. [Thus] in his own mind gradually formed a concept of a 'Chekhov parallel love universe'. On March 25, Cha Wenhao, a young director of the National Drama Theatre, wrote in "Love! Chekhov" launch at the opening remarks.
Translated by Tong Ning, directed by Cha Wenhao, adapted and written by Cha Wenhao and Liu Jinni, and performed by Hou Yansong, Chang Yuhong, Jiang Jiaqi, Zhang Jie, etc., the first new repertoire of the National Drama Theatre in 2021 will be staged at the National Theatre of China from April 14 to 18.
At the press conference, Tian Qinxin, president of the National Drama Theatre, said, "Love! "Chekhov" was launched on the 160th anniversary of the birth of Chekhov, the "father of modern drama" last year, as the first newly created play in 2021, which is a new interpretation of Chekhov on the Chinese drama stage, and also a sincere tribute to Chekhov, the "great man of eternal life" by Chinese drama artists. At the same time, she stressed that the National Drama Theatre of China has an indissoluble relationship with Russian and Soviet drama and Chekhov: in 1954, Sun Weishi, the first red theater expert in New China and returned from the Soviet Union, directed one of Chekhov's masterpieces, "Uncle Vanya"; in 2004, the National Drama Theatre of China successfully held the first "International Drama Season - Forever Chekhov", and Chekhov's debut work "Platonov" debuted on the Chinese stage for the first time.
The national drama theater main creator press conference scene group photo, dean Tian Qinxin (middle)
For Soviet and Russian drama, the director has a "biography"
Young director Cha Wenhao graduated from the Central Academy of Drama with a bachelor's degree in directing and later obtained a master's degree from the Beijing Film Academy. Previously, he has directed the small theater monologue "Flower Heart Clown", participated in many dramas such as "Youth Taboo Game", "Monument", "Long Night" and so on, and also played the role of Deng Zhongxia in the recently popular TV series "The Age of Awakening". It is worth mentioning that in the past, most of the plays he participated in were "plays directed by his father" - the famous director Cha Mingzhe served as the vice president of the National Drama Theatre, and he was also the authority on the research and practice of Russian theater in China after the reform and opening up. It is for Russia and the former Soviet Union drama, Cha Wenhao not only has a true biography, but also a "biography". This time, "Love! The graphic design of the "Chekhov" poster presents the characters in the play in the form of Russian matryoshka dolls, which is also said to be from Cha Wenhao's hand.
Chekhov was one of the great playwrights of the 19th and 20th centuries, and his work adhered to realism, often focusing on the little people and revealing their unenlightened souls. Chekhov was also the founder of modernist drama, and his drama is also interwoven with lyricism and irony, hope and despair, which is a metaphor for the social consciousness of an era and the roots of the Russian nation. Chekhov's drama is difficult to exclude because it does not have a complex plot or a story of ups and downs, but through telling ordinary, everyday trivialities, it unveils the essence of life and shows the profound spiritual dilemma of human beings. ”
Cha Wenhao said that in his view, Chekhov's plays have a unique temperament, "In the past, a large number of Chekhov plays have been put on the stage, and I found that Chekhov's translation history in China is also the evolution of Chekhov plays in our country." Among them, I especially like "Requiem", the text of which is adapted from three Chekhov novel fragments of "Lohir's Violin", "Distress", and "In the Canyon". ”
As a reference, the adaptation mode of "Requiem" also inspired the "Love! The creation of Chekhov. The latter mainly selects Chekhov's three one-act comedies "Stupid Bear", "Marriage Proposal" and "Wedding", and integrates his "Man in the Set", "Teasing", "The Bride", "About Love" and other novels, with a contemporary perspective, a new narrative method, framing a classic story, exploring the eternal life puzzle of love. "Stupid Bear" humorously portrays a pair of men and women facing a sudden tornado-like love, from panic and dodging to brave acceptance; "Marriage Proposal" shows the ironic quarrel and love between the "older leftover man" who came to propose and the "older leftover woman" who was proposed; "Wedding" is a story that takes place at a wedding banquet of a middle-class family in Russia, which triggers a series of absurd chain reactions due to the dislocation of the characters' identities, satirizing the "profitable" concept of marriage and love.
"Fall in Love! Chekhov" rehearsal photo Yu Chenxi photographed
Rehearsing Chekhov's play, the actor said to himself, "Be brave."
In the eyes of director and screenwriter Cha Wenhao, Chekhov, as a world-renowned playwright and a holy hand of short stories, is an "unparalleled artist". He believed that in order to eliminate Chekhov's unique style, it was necessary to find the symbolism of Chekhov in every line, every action, and even every pause. In the second creation, he uses parallel cross-narrative techniques to let various highly distinctive characters intersperse and integrate in the plot, forming a love parallel time and space in chekhov's literary world, and finally, multiple groups of characters arc light shine together, creating a gorgeous love aurora on the stage. "Compared with the previous performances that are mainly restored and realistic, this time it will be a small subversion. Let the audience experience a Chekhov who is wise and humorous, optimistic and warm in the background of sadness and joy. Cha Wenhao said.
Tian Qinxin, president of the National Drama Theatre, introduced that Chekhov's plays have always been difficult to rehearse and perform, in order to show their attention, and this time four national first-class actors were selected to star in "Love! Chekhov". Cha Wenhao laughed at the scene, "Teacher Hou Yansong and Teacher Chang Yuhong both watched me grow up. When my father used to direct "Ask cang", he gave a play to teacher Chang Yuhong in the rehearsal hall, and I was still a child next to me. This time I called Teacher Chang to invite her out of the mountain, and I had already changed my voice, which surprised her. Actress Chang Yuhong plays Popova in the play this time, and she feels that Chekhov's works are good at exploring human nature through the surface of life, and the aftertaste is endless. She hopes to show the multi-faceted character as much as possible, so that the character of Popova is more full of life texture. "'Stupid Bear' is not just a love story, it's more about bravery. And bravery is especially important for each of us women. Chang Yuhong said.
Plum Blossom Award winner Hou Yansong was affectionately known as "Brother Hou" by everyone in the rehearsal hall, this time in "Love! In "Chekhov", he is even more one-man and multi-role, and he hopes to abandon the previous creative inertia, explore the characters with a subtractive attitude in performance, accurately grasp the measure of performance, and strive for new breakthroughs. "Classics need to be inherited, as the 'vanguard' of theatrical art, how do we interpret the classics, how to let more people, especially young audiences, understand and understand the classic works of drama, we have the obligation and responsibility to do this work well." Hou Yansong said.
Editor-in-Charge: Chen Shihuai
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang