Author: Ye Xiushan
As an intellectual audience, I have two demands: I want to be a big actor; I want to be a big critic.
Why do people attach so much importance to Mei Lanfang and Zhou Xinfang? Because they are irresistible. Whether chinese or foreign, whether you understand drama or do not understand drama, like or dislike drama, as long as you watch their plays, you still want to watch, watch more, do not like it will also like, this is irresistible.
I grew up in Shanghai, and I watched a lot of Zhou Xinfang's plays. Later, at Peking University, I watched Mei Lanfang and Tan Fuying's "Royal Monument Pavilion" and lined up in the middle of the night to buy tickets. For example, most of the professors of my teachers' generation like Beijing opera, and some of them are Western and like it very much. Qian Mu also mentioned Peking Opera in his book, and he said that at that time, he took a rickshaw to teach at school, walked on the road, and listened to the radio in the shop next to the road to play Beijing Opera, which was the greatest enjoyment.
Mei Lanfang's "Royal Monument Pavilion"
The late Mr. He Lin, who was an expert on the history of Western philosophy and Hegel philosophy. He didn't know how to play, but Mei Lanfang's "Forty Years of Stage Life" he had seen twice. I said that the performance was very detailed, and he said that he read the coherent meaning of it, and he was inspired by how to behave, how to do work, and how to embody traditional culture.
Professors at Peking University, in addition to Qi Liangji (who is Qi Yanming's cousin, understands opera and can sing Kunqu opera), like Ren Hua, who is engaged in ancient Greek philosophy, can also sing some. There is a professor surnamed Yang, he is a school Schopenhauer's book, when he was young for a long time abroad, he especially liked Beijing opera, can learn two Yang Xiaolou. There is also a professor surnamed Wen who has been in the United States for 16 years, and after returning to China to study ancient Greece, he regrets that he did not have money to buy tickets to watch theater at Peking University. And now I always complain that there is too little time for the radio to play opera.
There is a friend who is engaged in linguistics, sings flower faces, knows martial arts, and sings model plays when he is in cadre school, he is the chief conductor. But now he doesn't watch the drama, and he doesn't watch the drama on TV, and he thinks there are no good actors.
Today's Beijing opera actors do not pay much attention to performance skills, and old opera fans are not willing to watch it. If Peking Opera wants to be revitalized, it has to produce irresistible big actors, so you must watch. In the past, if anyone didn't know Mei Lanfang, people said you had no culture.
Mei Lanfang and Zhou Xinfang's "Baolian Lamp"
To be a big critic. In the 1950s and 1960s, we loved Peking Opera, and we benefited a lot from reading the articles of all of you here. In today's theater world, theoretical criticism is not active, and there must be leading critics. After he commented on this play, people were convinced, and this could lead to a considerable number of intellectual audiences, because they usually have to read articles.
In this regard, the opera industry does not do as well as the calligraphy industry. The world of calligraphy is new, and now it is doing well, and their theories are also very active. They have a group of people, who teach in universities, or who do research, and the book association has a research department. Their material is very rich, and they understand the traditional art of calligraphy from new psychology, literary science, literary criticism, and some more modern ones, such as hermeneutics and structuralism. Of course there are some problems, but this is a start.
They also had arguments, and the arguments were fierce. There was once a so-called abstract and figurative dispute in Chinese calligraphy. Some people say that it is abstract art, but it is not, and then it gradually became clear. We in China are not at all abstract and concrete. The calligraphy community has a plan, they invite people who are engaged in aesthetics to hold meetings, and they also invite people who are engaged in literature to hold meetings, and they will understand our calligraphy symposium. It is said that they also want to talk about psychology and sociology. Our critics in the theater world can't catch up, including the study of Mei and Zhou, as if there is not much weight.
Zhou Xinfang performed "Qingfeng Pavilion" and took a group photo with Mei Lanfang
There should be specialized research, active discussion, collaboration in all aspects, and mutual exchange. Actors don't want to listen to us, we talk too abstractly. Once, I also discussed Mei Lanfang, and while talking, I received a few notes saying that you wanted to talk more about Mei Lanfang. Mei Lanfang, I can't talk too much, I can only talk about the edges. Actors don't like to listen, they say, we don't understand theory, we only know acting. That's great, but we also have to think about the audience, and the audience is watching the play to understand you. How do you cultivate your audience? Of course, first of all, it depends on the actor himself, and then it depends on the theory, relying on comments to guide the audience and improve the audience's interest and understanding.
I know very little about Western art, but there are people like Adorno in the music world, who is a philosopher and understands music, and he brought music into the philosophical world and influenced philosophy. Schoenberg's music is very new, who understands his 12-tone system? Nor is it pleasant to the ear. Some people helped him to speak, Adorno helped him speak, and it made sense, and people slowly felt that this was an innovation, different from "neoclassicism", which was a relatively successful experience. Of course, the music industry itself also likes theory and also writes some articles. The same is true in the painting world, such as understanding Van Gogh, through the introduction, discussion and research of some critics and philosophers, such as Heidegger, etc. There are also philosophers in China who discuss his paintings, read these articles, and then look at Van Gogh's works, the experience is different.
To expand the influence of opera, the first need for big actors, the second need for big critics, you commented on this play, I will be relieved, you said yes, if I don't understand it, I can't appreciate the benefits of this play, but I believe that your comments are stronger than mine, so I go to see it again, and then experience it, this is the prestige of the critic.
(Chinese Drama, No. 1, 1995)