Qianjiang Evening News hourly news reporter Zhang Jinhua
Mr. Lu Xun left a series of classic literary and artistic works, which are quite related to drama. As an important resource for stage art, his works are constantly interpreted, interpreted, and adapted. In the dramatic presentation of "A Q Zheng biography", "Blessing", "Impermanence And Hanging", "Kong Yiji", "Eyebrow Ruler", "Cast Sword", "New Compilation of Stories", "Lu Zhen's Past", "Life Between Heaven and Earth", "Diary of a Madman" and so on, we can see the profundity of Lu Xun's thought, the modernity of literary connotation, the openness of textual connotation, and the eternity of its cultural value.
At the seminar, Professor Song Baozhen of the Institute of Drama of the China Academy of Arts analyzed the dramatic adaptation of Lu Xun's literary works.
On the occasion of the 140th anniversary of Mr. Lu Xun's birth and came to Shaoxing to participate in the seminar on "The Cultural Value of Shaoxing Drama- From Opera Adapted from Lu Xun's Novel to the Study of Xu Wei Opera", Professor Song Baozhen said that perhaps Mr. Lu Xun has been encouraging us.
At the end of Lu Xun's novel "Hometown": "Hope is that there is nothing to have, and it does not matter to have nothing." This is like the way on the earth; in fact, there is no road on the earth, and the more people who walk, the more it becomes the road. Professor Song Baozhen said that for the dramatic adaptation of Mr. Lu Xun's literary works, we are still on the road of artistic exploration.
"Mr. Lu Xun's novels have typical character images, complete stories, vivid language, the embodiment of narrative scenes, and the symbolism of image symbols, so it is worth digging deeper, and constantly carrying out new artistic interpretations and stage presentations." Therefore, in order to carry forward the spirit of Lu Xun and expand its cultural influence, for Mr. Lu Xun's novels, it is not a question of whether they should be changed, but a question of how to change and what to change. Professor Song Baozhen of the Drama Institute of the China Academy of Arts said.
【The Indissoluble Relationship between Lu Xun and Drama】
Before talking about the dramatic adaptation of Mr. Lu Xun's literary works, we should first talk about his indissoluble relationship with drama. In the article "Social Drama" in the novel collection "Scream", it first talks about dissatisfaction with the performance of old operas in Beijing, followed by good memories of watching social dramas in Pingqiao Village when he was eleven or twelve years old: a group of naïve and simple rural teenagers, holding up a big boat, moored on the bank of the river full of stars, watching the performance of the iron-headed old man on the stage in the distance, seeing "the shirtless man turned over and followed his head in, and then walked out of a small Dan, singing." "I don't mean to watch somersaults. What I would most like to see is a man covered in a white cloth, holding a snake spirit with a placed snake head on his head in both hands, followed by a tiger in a yellow cloth suit. But after waiting for a long time, I didn't see it, and although Xiao Dan went in, he immediately came out with a very old student. I was a little tired, so I bought soy milk to go. ”
Lu Xun recalled the experience of watching dramas in his childhood, full of attachment to the countryside and childlike fun that has not changed.
In 1906, while studying in Japan, Lu Xun translated the novels of the Russian symbolist writer Antlev (now translated as Andreev) "An derev" and "Mo", calling these works "mysterious and profound, and a family of their own". In fact, Andreyev is also a playwright, he has written the script "Towards the Stars" and "The Life of Man".
In 1907, Lu Xun mentioned Ibsen as an artist of "precious talent and insight", whose drama was intended to illustrate the hypocrisy and cunning of the bourgeoisie, maintain the dignity of individuality, and have democratic tendencies; in "Moro Poetic Theory", Lu Xun highly praised Ibsen's rebellious spirit against bourgeois society and affirmed his courage to dare to "fight the majority alone". Mr. Lu Xun's "horizontal eyebrows are cold to a thousand fingers", which is in tune with Ibsen's quotation.
In 1923, at the Literary and Art Conference of the Beijing Higher Normal School for Women, Lu Xun was invited to give a speech entitled "What Happens After Nala Left", in which he said that Ibosson (now translated: Ibsen) was a literati in Nauve (now translated: Norway) in the second half of the nineteenth century. His writings, with the exception of dozens of poems, are scripts. Among these plays, there is a period when there are more or less social problems, which are also called "social dramas" in the world, and one of them is "Nala". Mr. Lu Xun's proposal that "first, at home, we should first obtain an equal distribution between men and women; second, we should obtain equal power between men and women in society", which is still of profound enlightenment significance to contemporary women. Lu Xun was not only very familiar with Ibsen's plays, he also said that Chekhov was his "favorite author", and we have reason to believe that he did not only read Chekhov's novels, and the plays should not be missed.
Lupa's version of Diary of a Madman.
[He doesn't hide his dislike for old plays]
In the May Fourth New Culture Movement, Lu Xun, as a pioneer of thought, criticized traditional old plays, and he did not hide his disgust or even disgust. In "Social Drama", he talked about when he first arrived in Beijing in 1911, he was invited by a friend to the opera garden to watch traditional opera, and this time the experience of watching the play was very unpleasant: he was knocked dizzy by the gongs and drums outside the venue, entered the venue and saw the empty seats, wanted to sit down but was driven away, it turned out that someone forcibly occupied the seat. The second time I watched the traditional opera was to donate money for disaster relief, "People are full, even it is difficult to stand, I had to squeeze in the crowd of people in the distance to watch an old Dan singing on the stage, the old Dan has two lit paper twisters in his mouth, there is a ghost pawn next to him, I thought hard, only to suspect him (her) or Mu Lian's mother, because later a monk came out, but I did not know who the horn was, so I went to ask a fat gentleman crowded to my left." He glanced at me as if he looked down upon me and said, 'Gong Yunfu! I was deeply ashamed of being shallow and rough, my face was hot, and at the same time I had made a definite chapter in my head that I would never ask again, so I watched Xiao Dan sing, watchEd Hua Dan sing, watched Lao Sheng sing, watched some unknown role singing, watched a large group of people beating each other, watched two or three people fight each other, from nine o'clock to ten o'clock, from ten o'clock to eleven o'clock, from eleven o'clock to eleven o'clock, from eleven thirty to twelve o'clock,—— but the sky had not yet come. This made Lu Xun intolerable, so he had to squeeze out of the crowd and go away in sorrow.
For traditional Chinese opera, Mr. Lu Xun did not hide his opposition or even disgust. He sharply criticized that at the time of the destruction of the country and the death of the family, he still held the mentality of "business women do not know the hatred of the country", singing idle songs of resentment and sorrow, no dignity in life, and did not know how to fight and forge ahead, he fiercely opposed the "men playing women" in the opera, and wrote in a sarcastic tone that "the greatest and most permanent art of our China is for men to dress up as women", in fact, he called for the flesh and fierceness of Chinese. Perhaps for this reason, Lu Xun did not have a good feeling for Mei Lanfang, and had ridiculed his performance several times in the article. After Lu Xun criticized the interesting folk "little family jasper" for becoming an "aunt wife", he became "rigid and pitifully reserved". He is not opposed to the unified theatrical style of watching and acting in reality, but to the "spectator" psychology of spectatorism, indifference, malice, and the pleasure of others.
Lu Xun once said, "The masses,—— especially the Chinese ,—— will always be spectators of the drama." Sacrifice on the field, if they appear generous, they watch the tragic drama; if they appear to be sloppy, they watch the burlesque. In front of the mutton shop in Beijing, there are often a few people who open their mouths to watch the sheep peeling, as if it is quite pleasant, and the sacrifice of people can give them benefits, but this is nothing more. And if they don't take a few steps afterwards, they will forget that they are happy about this." Aside from the pitiful pastime, the world has nothing to do with it.
Mr. Lu Xun is also critical of Xia Yan's political satire drama "Sai Jinhua". However, Mr. Lu Xun is inseparable from drama, and the art academy established in the base area of the Anti-Japanese Revolution in Yan'an is still named after him, and the drama department of The Lu Xun Art College in Yan'an has cultivated a large number of drama talents in New China.
Mr. Lu Xun has written dramas: "Passerby" in the "Wild Grass" collection is a one-act play with symbolic significance and allegorical characteristics, and the passers-by in the play are undoubtedly a portrayal of Lu Xun himself, the situation of passers-by, that is, Lu Xun's state of mind, loneliness, stubbornness, confusion, despair, however, even if the front is a desperate situation, resolutely moving forward, there is a determination and firmness of "although thousands of people are going to the end".
The madman in "Diary of a Madman" is a clash of madness and civilization, a rebel against feudal protocols, a skeptic of tradition and history, a warrior trying to break through the iron house. He was at odds with everything that Zhao Guiweng, Mr. Gu Jiu, and the eldest brother identified with and complied with, and even thought that they were all cannibals, and he himself was not necessarily wrapped up in them, and inadvertently ate people. In "The Lonely Man", Wei Lianzhen's opposition to the people and the social mediocre masses, with the determination of independence of the world, Xia Yu in "Medicine" certainly has a life-and-death confrontation with the feudal ruling class, but for those so-called toiling masses he wants to save, they also have a huge difference in spirit, his death has not changed the attitude of these people's lives, afraid that the blood they shed will be made into a human blood bun that can be sold as an elixir. In the "New Edition of the Story", there are also conflicts and antagonistic relationships such as patching the sky, running the moon, casting swords, and Tsai Wei.
Lu Xun's novels are full of the paradoxes of modernity, which in turn form the irony of the aesthetic effects of drama. The self-reflection and reaction, the hedging of hope and disappointment, the alternation of human nature and servility, and the crisis and turning of the character's fate are all full of drama. For example, the brave can hold a long fork in the moonlight, stab at the leaping earth of the watermelon that steals watermelon, and finally become a wooden and stupid old man with a bitter face; A Q's fight with Little D, his revolution, he can't draw the circle on his death sentence, all kinds of actions; Juan Sheng and Zijun from anti-feudal love to helpless sacrifice; here, full of dramatic action.
[Ah Q This person is "very familiar"]
In the adaptation of Mr. Lu Xun's novel, the most frequently adapted is "A Q Zheng Biography".
From December 4, 1921, "A Q Zheng Biography" was serialized in the "Morning News Supplement", published once a week or every other week, and when it was just published in the fourth chapter, Shen Yanbing, who was the editor-in-chief of the "Novel Monthly" and a reporter at the time, pointed out that he felt that Ah Q was a person "very familiar", and it can also be said that he first clarified the typicality of Ah Q's image. Later, Feng Xuefeng identified Ah Q as "a collective" and "the embodiment of 'national inferiority'" in his comments.
"As early as October 13, 1930, in a letter to Wang Qiaonan, he wrote: "My opinion, I think that "Ah Q Zheng biography" really has no elements to adapt the script and the film, because once it is staged, there will only be funny, and I have written this article, which is really not for the purpose of being funny or mournful, and the scene in which I am afraid that the 'stars' of China at this moment cannot be expressed."
Nearly six years later, more than two months before Lu Xun's death, some people wanted to put "A Q Zheng Biography" on the screen, and Lu Xun's letter to Shen Xiling on July 19, 1936, put forward the views obtained after fourteen years of observation: "The original intention of "The True Biography of Ah Q", I pay attention to various comments, I think there are not many people who can understand, after moving to the screen, it is probably not inevitable, for people to laugh, quite boring, it is better not to do it'. In fact, after Mr. Lu Xun's death, his novel "A Q Zheng Biography" has never stopped, Chen Mengshao's six-act play "A Q" in 1931, Xu Xingzhi's "A Q Zheng Biography" adapted in 1934, Tian Han's adaptation of "A Q Zheng Biography" in 1937, Zhu Zhenxin's "A Q Zheng Biography" in 1937, the American Slson Coolo's adaptation of "The Interesting History of A Q" in 1937, the burlesque play "Ah Gui" adapted by a Shanghai burlesque troupe, 1956, Zuo Lin's "The Reunion of A Q", Chen Baichen's 7-act drama "A Q Zheng biography" adapted in 1981, Mei Yan's 4-act drama "Hotel" adapted in 1982, Chen Yongquan's 1993 Henan opera "A Q Dream", Diao Yinan's 1996 adapted drama "Comrade A Q", 1996 Huang Huanggang's avant-garde drama "Comrade A Q", Taiwan Fuxing Drama Society's Peking opera "A Q" in 1996, Zhong Wennong's 2001 peking opera "A Q", In 2002, Chen Yongquan adapted the Yu opera "A Q and Kong Yiji", in 2004 Chen Jiahe adapted Hebei Zizi's "A Q Zheng biography", and in 2005, Cui Zhizhi directed the small theater drama "Circle". Until this Shaoxing theater exhibition to commemorate the 140th anniversary of Mr. Lu Xun's birth, "Life in Heaven and Earth" still explores the contemporary meaning and artistic expression of Ah Q's image in the form of a one-man show.
In "The Farewell of The Shadow", Lu Xun wrote: "I am just a shadow, and I want to be silent in the darkness without you." Yet darkness will swallow me up, but light will make me disappear. But I don't want to be between light and dark, I might as well sink in the darkness." "I will wander into the darkness and have no land." The brilliance of Lu Xun's thought and the value of art will never disappear, and with the passage of time and the accumulation of culture, it will show more and more profoundness and distinctiveness.
Shaoxing seminar site.
[The avant-garde Lu Xun's new drama is endless]
In 2001, the Beijing People's Art Theater performed the small theater drama "Impermanence Hanging" written by Zheng Tianwei and directed by Wang Yansong, which made new collages of Lu Xun's works "Death by Injury", "On the Restaurant", "The Story of Hair", "Impermanence Hanging", etc., and explained the new meaning in a new artistic way.
In January 2003, Lin Zhaohua's avant-garde drama "New Story Compilation" was staged at the Beijing Beibing Terracotta Theater. In fact, its earliest appearance with the audience should date back to the winter of 2001, because it was a fandom observation held in a factory storehouse, so few people saw the performance.
"New Story Compilation" is a small theater drama adapted from Mr. Lu Xun's novel collection "Story New Compilation", which splices and interprets multiple stories of the original novel, such as "Ben Yue", "Li Shui", "Cai Wei", etc., with "Cast Sword" as the main line in tandem. On the stage, about ten tons of coal blocks are piled into coal piles, the actors pick up shovels from time to time to shovel coal, on one side of the stage, there are several boilers that seem to be burning, wafting out the aroma of roasted sweet potatoes, and there are also scenes of actors sitting on coal piles eating sweet potatoes, and opera actors participate in the performance. The play attaches importance to the sense of life of the participants, the director attaches importance to the intuitive feeling conveyed in the formal sense of the play, the dark and heavy coal on the stage, the horror and bloodiness of the hell scene on the big screen, the ascension of Chang'e drinking, smoking, the gloomy and miserable revenge story in the narrative, when they are put together, the drama breaks the traditional narrative method, the theme is polysemic or even vague; the characters are neutral, and the same characters are played by men or women, it almost doesn't matter; the plot is broken, It seems that the director follows the feelings as a result of the formation of fragments of consciousness. It is both novel and bizarre, and whether the audience understands it or not, the director insists on showing a cross-section of his own inspiration. In terms of artistic techniques, drama and opera join hands, narrative and performance are intertwined, and multimedia images on the big screen interact with the performances of actors on the stage, you can say that it is a plate of mixed flavors for the audience, or you can say that it is the product of postmodern non-theme variations.
In 2016, Li Jing's "Mr. Big" written by Li Jing and directed by Wang Chong was staged in Beijing, and in 2017, Polish director GrzegorzYYar directed "Cast Sword". In May 2018, The Successful French director Michel Dietim, who had directed Molière's classic play "Moaning Without Illness", used his perspective of "eternal human nature" as a starting point to stage a new drama "A Q".
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