Author: Cao Xingren
Shanghai Drama School was the most influential drama school in Shanghai 40 years ago. In just 5 years, hundreds of outstanding Peking Opera actors and students of the "Zheng" generation have been created, and to this day, many people are still active in the cultural front of the motherland.
In the winter of 1983, Guan Zhengming led the Wuhan Peking Opera Troupe to Shanghai to perform, and in the old days, they were in the same window, gathering nostalgia, exchanging tears, and could not help but think of some classmates who left the mainland for Taiwan. In the spring of 1986, in the popular theater (formerly known as the Golden Theater) where the drama school performed for the first time that year, the students of the "Zheng" generation jointly performed three plays, and a group of elderly people who had been separated for 30 or 40 years rushed to Shanghai from Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan, Jiujiang, Wanxian, Nanjing Huaiyin, Nantong, Suzhou, Jinan, Yong'an and other places.
Among these old actors, many of them are not only old and weak but also have not been on the stage for a long time, like Zhang Zhengjuan has not been on stage for more than 20 years, Wang Zhengkun has long retreated to the second line because of leg disease, and many students have retired or changed their careers, but they just don't obey the old age, and perform some good plays that have not been performed on the stage for many years, one move and one style, word by word, can be emulated for young people. In particular, Zhu Zhengqin and Zhou Zhengwen's eldest sister, participating in this performance also had "drilling pot" work (originally not, temporarily learning to play the role), the performance effect was good, and some audiences even thought that The Jiang Huayou played by Zhou Zhengwen was difficult for anyone on the Stage in Shanghai today to compare, which shows how hard they studied art and how solid the basic skills were!
Kwan Chung-ming's Genealogy
As for several students who are still often staged now, they are even more outstanding, Guan Zhengming and Cheng Zhengtai are the first-class old actors of the contemporary era, 55-year-old Sun Zhengyang staged 5 out in 3 days, 59-year-old Huang Zhengqin staged 4 out in 3 days, everyone agreed that if Gu Zhengqiu in Taiwan can participate in the performance, it will definitely be more sensational.
The Shanghai Theater School was born in 1939. At that time, the four suburbs of Shanghai were invaded by the Japanese army, the concession was reduced to an "isolated island", and the market was withered away and only entertainment flourished. Under such social conditions, Xu Xiaochu, Yu Yungu, Liu Songqiao and others, after a period of preparation, established the Shanghai Drama School. The school was located at No. 41 A character of Malang Road (now Madang Road), with Chen Chengyin as the principal, Guan Hongbin as the director of the department of surgery, Liu Songqiao as the director of training, Yu Yungu as the director of general affairs, and teachers such as Liang Lianzhu, Chen Binyu, Rui Debao, Wang Yifang, Zheng Chuanjian, etc.
Above the gate of the drama school hangs a rooster that leads to a high voice, as the school emblem, symbolizing the students' soaring, which may also contain the meaning of hoping that phoenixes will soar out of the chicken nest. The school equipment is very simple and the learning conditions are very difficult. Enrollment began in November, and most of the students enrolled were Pear Garden students and Qinghan students, and as a result, 50 boys and 27 girls were admitted. The first male student is Guan Decai, who changed his name to Guan Zhengliang after entering school, and now often travels between the United States and Taiwan. The top girl on the list is Gu Zhengqiu, who was later praised by Taiwanese audiences as the "Queen of Chinese Opera".
Mei Lanfang and Gu Zhengqiu's master and apprentice took a group photo
The education management of the drama school is very strict, students practice at 7 o'clock in the morning, rehearse the play at 8 o'clock, slightly do not meet the requirements, immediately corporal punishment of a dozen boards, all who do not obey the drama can not learn, the performance of the wrong have to be boarded, the saying at that time is "the play is played out." Now the students of the drama school recall that except for Teacher Zheng Chuanjian, who never beats students, and Teacher Chen Binyu and Shen Tingchen, who rarely beat students, other teachers are accustomed to using corporal punishment as an educational means, and even open up the church, although Gu Zhengqiu, who has a strong ability to accept, is sometimes not spared.
Due to the strict school education, students have made rapid progress in learning drama. Once acted in "Three ChurchEs Trial", Gu Zhengqiu played Su San, Guan Zhengming played Liu Bingyi, Zheng Zhengxue played Pan Bizheng, and Xue Zhengkang played Wang Jinlong. When singing to the slow board, Gu Leak sang a sentence, and Zheng Zhengxue still asked Gu Fangcai according to the original word to find that it was wrong, did not know how to turn the circle, Hu Qin pulled a few doors without opening his mouth, and some viewers called it good. It should be forgivable for those of them who have just appeared on stage, but after the performance, they were all beaten.
The theater was opened only 10 months ago, that is, on October 12, 1940, students were organized to perform at the Golden Grand Theatre, and in 1946, the theater school ended in just about 5 years, and there were 1,000 performances in various theaters in Shanghai and in Nanjing, Tianjin, Bengbu and other places, plus church performances and voluntary theater performances, when about 2,000 performances.
The most prominent of these young actors is Gu Zhengqiu, who is the most attractive young actor in the drama school, taking the first few plays performed by the drama school as an example, she has played important roles. She played the princess in "Silang Visiting Mother", Song Qiaojiao in "Famen Temple", the barbarian girl in "Iron Cage Mountain", Li Yanfei in "Erjin Palace", Pan Jinlian in "Eight Five Flower Cave", Ti Hao in "Ti Qian To Save The Father", the fairy in "Qi Tian Dasheng", and Sun Shangxiang in "Dragon and Phoenix Chengxiang". Although she brought art into the school and had a good foundation, these plays were learned after entering the school. Learning these weighty dramas in just 10 months, for a little girl who is only 13 years old, even if her receptive ability is very strong, her tenacious learning spirit is indeed valuable.
Among the more than 700 performances performed by the drama school in Shanghai, most of the performances were picked by her, from the perspective of the performance, "Han Mingfei" 62 times, "Yutang Spring" 56 times, "Shilang Visiting Mother" 48 times, "Red Mane Horse" 43 times, "Golden Lock" 33 times, and more than 10 other performances as well as "Farewell" and "Jade Lion Pendant", etc. From the above figures, we can clearly see how popular she was with the audience at that time.
In addition, she also filmed the drama film "Song of Ancient China" with Guan Zhengming, Chen Zhengyan, Zhou Zhengwen, Zhu Zhengqin and other students with the theme of Wang Baojun and Xue Pinggui.
"Song of Ancient China" directed by Fei Mu
Gu Zhengqiu formed his own class after leaving the school, except for the performance in the Golden Theater in 1946 and Li Zongyi hanging the head card, the rest were self-hanging head cards, until October 1987 in Taiwan farewell performance "Wen Ji Gui Han" for more than 40 years, the grand situation continued. As an actress, it is rare in the Peking Opera world.
Some people say that Gu Zhengqiu is a natural actor material, although she is not tall and introverted, but as an actor, the quality is still first-class. First of all, there is a good appearance of lifting the curtain to appear on the four seats, and with the "eighteen changes of the girl", it will become more and more glorious in the future. And the most valuable thing is that there is a crisp and pleasant voice, the tone is high and beautiful, and the singing is undefeated. Like the performance of the whole book "Yutang Spring" for more than 4 hours, singing is always full of spirit and in one go. Among them, the first sentence of the flowing water board, "Su San left Hongdong County..." The word "Su San" was sung like a pearl falling on a jade plate, and the most popular with the audience at that time had the reputation of "one Sentence Su San Zhen Four Seats". There are also "Han Mingfei", "Golden Lock", "Leifeng Pagoda" before the "water bucket", after the "sacrifice tower"), are very heavy repertoire, but she acted with ease. After more than 5 years in school, his voice has been in good condition and he has never lost his voice and bad voice. Huang Guiqiu once compared her vocalization to the mountain spring going down the river, which means that it is as clear and recognizable as the spring water, which makes people feel comfortable.
It should be admitted that Gu Zhengqiu's martial arts practice is worse than that of learning literary and opera kung fu, but after all, he is from a science class, coupled with more than 200 performances every year, so martial arts still has a fairly high level. Like "Fan Jiangguan", "Mu Tianwang", "Qipan Mountain" and other Daoma Dan plays, "Hujiazhuang", "Zhan Jinshan", "Hongqiao Gift" and other Wudan plays, many female actors are daunted, she can take it down.
In 1987, she also performed "Han Mingfei" in Taiwan at the age of nearly a flower, which was extremely heavy in singing, doing and dancing, which showed that her skills were quite solid.
For actors from other places who come to Shanghai, the drama school tries to use various connections to invite them to come to the school to "preach for the grandfather" and leave their own masterpieces. For example, Li Hongchun taught several old dramas that were on the verge of being lost, such as "The Battle of the Jade Qilin Wheel", "Xiaoshang River", "Qiwu Mountain", "Truncated River Battle", and "ZhuangyuanYin"; Fu Dewei taught "Siping Mountain" and "Battle against the Knife Step"; Zhao Dexun and He Jinhai taught "Hujiazhuang", "Zhan Jinshan", "Yang Paifeng", "Jinshan Temple", Ding Yongli taught "Serial Set", Chen Furui taught "Zhong Kui Marrying Sister", and Su Lianhan also taught "Tongtian Rhinoceros" and "Chessboard Mountain" two completely different flower faces and Huadan plays. Teaching basically adopts the method of big lessons, no matter who plays who is on the stage, the drama is learned by everyone together, and when it comes to playing Liangshan opera, Gu Zhengqiu, Zhang Zhengfang and other top students also have to play roles such as Sun Erniang and Gu Dajie. In addition, for example, Professor Huang Guiqiu's plays such as "Spring and Autumn Matching", "Double Official", and "The Record of Sand" were studied by Gu Zhengqiu alone in the Huang Mansion, And Furong Cao (Zhao Tongshan) taught "Fan Jiang Guan" as a big lesson, while "Deyi Yuan" was taught by Gu Zhengqiu (learning to play Lang Xiayu) and Zhang Zhengfang (who learned to play Di Yunluan) to study in the dormitory of Zhao zhao of the "Golden Old Pavilion". There is also "The Biography of Children's Heroes" was first taught by Teacher Zhao's student Li Wenxi, and finally guided by Zhao Jia.
In addition to studying at the school, students often go to the theater to observe and study. Because of these favorable conditions, when he left the drama school, Gu Zhengqiu's plays (the plays that the actors will play and use for the theater troupe) had reached about 200. In terms of genres, there are mei school "Bie Ji", "Cosmic Feng", Cheng school "Jade Lion Pendant", "Jade Hairpin", "Tears of the Barren Mountain", "Mandarin Duck Tomb", Xun School "Xun Guanniang", Shang School "Qiankun Fushou Mirror", Huang (Guiqiu) School "Spring and Autumn Match", "Three Niang Godson", "Traces", Zhang Pai "Han Mingfei" and so on.
Gu Zhengqiu's "Noble Concubine Drunk"
From the perspective of the industry, the Qingyi opera has "Wang Baojun", "Royal Monument Pavilion", "Peacock Southeast Flying", "Ti Qian Saving Father", etc., the flower shirt drama has "Visiting the Mother", "Yutang Spring", "Playing The Golden Branch", etc., the Dao Ma Dan has "Chessboard Mountain", "Mu Tianwang", etc., the Huadan opera has "WulongYuan", "Cuiping Mountain", the Wudan opera has "Hujiazhuang", "Zhan Jin Shan", "Hongqiao Gift Pearl", the Kunqu opera has "SiFan", "Water Bucket", "Horse Seller" (Blowing Cavity), the new rehearsal drama has "Lin Daiyu", "Hard Lizi" has "Four Soldiers", "Proud Edge", " Thirteen Sisters", and some fragmentary characters such as Li Guilan in "Falling Horse Lake", Sun Erniang in "Ding Jia Mountain", the fairy in "Qi Tian Dasheng", the barbarian girl in "Iron Cage Mountain", etc., are really wenwu Kun chaos, and the six major genres are both good at it.
Although from the perspective of the drama, she is the culmination of each family, but in fact, neither school is, she is a disciple of Mr. Mei Lanfang, but she has never claimed to be a descendant of the Mei Sect, and soon after arriving in Taiwan, she was considered the "Gu Sect". She is popular with audiences with her generous, loud, sweet and smooth voice and gorgeous, soft, rhythmic singing voice.
Gu Zhengqiu organized his own class immediately after leaving the department, and most of the original members were drama school classmates, including Zhou Zhengrong, Wang Zhenghua, Huang Zhengqin, Liu Zhengyi, Zhang Zhengfen, Zhu Zhengqin, Zhou Zhengli, Sun Zhengqi, Zhang Zhengyuan, Sun Zhengyang and so on. After 5 years of cooperation with Gu Zhengqiu, they cooperated closely on stage and were handy, and although they were replaced several times in the future, the students of the "Zheng" generation still accounted for a considerable proportion. Gu Zhengqiu has also performed with tan fuying, Ma Lianliang, Yang Baosen, Li Zongyi, Ji Yuliang and other famous actors.
When it comes to Gu Zhengqiu's growth, we must not forget Guan Hongbin and Aunt Xiaoqiu. Guan Hongbin, the original clown, retained a lot of scripts, and he could rehearse plays according to the scripts. After Gu Zhengqiu entered the school, most of the first few plays were taught by him, and later he organized classes for Gu Zhengqiu, and he never stopped until he went to Taiwan together. As for Aunt Xiaoqiu, although she is not a person in the pear garden, nor is she a drama school, but the drama school from teachers to classmates get along well with her, and the classmates still think of her from time to time. She is very concerned about Gu Zhengqiu, Gu Zhengqiu treats people and things social activities have been guided by her, once Zhengqiu was late, because of the emphasis on objective reasons and was physically punished by Teacher Liang Lianzhu, Aunt Xiaoqiu not only did not add ancestral protection, but also took Zhengqiu to kneel down to Teacher Liang to confess her mistake. It can be seen that she hopes that Gu Zhengqiu will become a cut.
In 1982, Huang Zhengqin, Sun Zhengyang, Wang Zhenghua and Mei Baoyue, Mei Baojiu, and Tong Zhiling went to Hong Kong to perform, Gu Zhengqiu specially flew to Hong Kong, and almost watched all the plays, but unfortunately, due to political relations at that time, the stage was close to the end of the world, and it was impossible to reach.
Once Tong Zhiling performed "Iron Bow Edge", Huang Zhengqin played Kuang Zhong, Sun Zhengyang played the mother-in-law, Gu Zhengqiu seemed to be very excited on the spot, and someone saw her take out a handkerchief to wipe her tears. Huang, Sun, etc. are her classmates, and she is a member of the first group class, the left and right hands at the time of the performance, now they are more than 30 years, the fish and geese are difficult to pass, the sound is blocked, it is rare to see each other again today, the old people are still rich, just on the stage, the contact is difficult, how not to make people have mixed feelings, touch the scene and hurt, and then Zheng Qiu wrote a small Cambodia, entrusted people to bring three classmates, to the effect that: I miss you very much, but consider it again or again or do not meet as well... The titles at the beginning are Xiao Huang, Xiao Yang (Zheng Yang), Lao Dao (Zheng Hua), and the affection jumps on the paper.
In the past few years, the climate between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has changed, and the feelings of the theater school students for the students who stayed in Taiwan, represented by ZhengQiu, are increasing day by day. Although Zheng Qiu has already made a farewell stage performance, if an actor with special influence like her can report to the old folks on the artistic progress of the past 40 years, let the old audience comment on the "National Opera Queen" who is nearly a flower armor and the small actors who tied bows when they were thirteen or fourteen years old, then all the "zheng" students must be like the stars and the moon. For example, in "Yutang Spring", Zheng Qiu plays Su San, Zhang Zhengfang plays The Bustard, Huang Zhengqin plays Wang Jinlong, Guan Zhengming or Zhou Zhengrong plays Liu Bingyi, Zheng Zhengxue plays Pan Bizheng, Sun Zhengyang plays Shen Yanling before and Chonggong Dao, still the old partners of the year, "a sentence of Su San zhen four" wants to not only shock four seats, but also shake Shanghai to shake the whole country. The "Zheng" generation of the drama school has also said many times that they are willing to go to Taiwan to perform together with Zheng Qiu and Zheng Rong, etc., and if they can realize it, it will also be a happy event in the Peking Opera circle and the best memorial to the opera school.
(20th Century Shanghai Literature and History Archive, Vol. 7)