The re-performance of the "Dream of Dreams" drama is still in the aftermath, just turned over the New Year, Xiao Ge heard a burst of news, Lai Shengchuan is going to shoot a network drama - "Prince Fu Sorrow" plays the mode of national screenwriters, while filming and broadcasting, and at least 100 episodes to shoot! Seeing that the stage drama IP of "Charlotte Troubles" and "Donkey Got Water" has become the fragrant food of the film and television circle, Director Lai is also a bit unable to sit still.
In fact, as early as the 1980s, Lai Shengchuan's image as a "subversive" had already begun to emerge. At that time, Taiwan's theater circle had ushered in a "golden age", and the famous "That Night We Say Crosstalk" and the famous work "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" that toured for more than 30 years have become classic IP in the theater industry. Lai Shengchuan himself seems to have become a phenomenon and symbol, and his "dramatic life" is equally interesting and worth playing.
The green onion years - the buds of the drama
Long hair, round beard, black-rimmed glasses, wearing any clothes like wearing pants, always speaking with a Taiwanese accent, the whole person has a fairy wind and bone momentum. This is probably what Lai Shengchuan looks like in everyone's mind.
Speaking of Lai Shengchuan, he had to mention Ding Naizhu, Xiao Ge has always felt that the two of them have a bit of Jin Yong's meaning of Guo Jing and Huang Rong, and they do not abandon and accompany each other in the rivers and lakes. Ding Naizhu's tenacity was a kind of heroism, so much so that Lai Shengchuan always recalled it with a bit of adoration in the future, thinking: "Wow! The wife I'm going to marry is such a woman!"
Ding Naizhu
Lai Shengchuan was born in the United States and returned to Taiwan at the age of 11 with his father, who was a diplomat, in order to borrow his father's transfer to let him learn more Chinese. Unexpectedly, when he was 13 years old, his father suddenly died of illness in Taiwan, so he was "stranded" here. Years later, he recalled the experience and called it an arrangement for meeting Ding Naizhu.
Lai Shengchuan and Ding Naizhu's green years
In college, Lai Shengchuan has always been obsessed with music, often hanging out with his classmates in restaurants to perform. I often hear friends talk about Ding Naizhu, a prominent figure in Taiwan University, but I have never had the opportunity to meet. Until one day in 1974, through the introduction of friends, he met Ding Naizhu for the first time. Lai Shengchuan said: "Aditya (Western restaurant) is very small, I went upstairs, at that time I thought, I have seen her! And we've known each other for a long time. Then I thought she was my wife. The two can talk together very well, so they often talk about the world. But at that time, both had boyfriend and girlfriend, so there was no development. It wasn't until Lai Shengchuan's senior year that they naturally ended their respective feelings and came together.
In 1978, the two married, and then both went to the United States to study, Lai Shengchuan studied drama (doctorate), Ding Naizhu read education administration (master's degree). Since the two families are not very wealthy, the money for studying abroad is basically saved by the two in China. Unfortunately, he was deceived by his friends, and he could not even pay the tuition fee. So the two began a part-time career.
At that time, Ding Naizhu was calm to a certain extent, which made me really feel that she was in my life and she was the word "happiness". She can bear it alone. She just said to me, 'Now we're going to find a way to make money on our own.' At this time, she seemed calm and composed, without any fear. ”
In this way, the two worked as waiters in the restaurant, busy from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. The two often get tired after a busy day and only sleep. The hard days survived, but for the sake of Lai Shengchuan and the child, Ding Naizhu gave up his doctoral studies. Lai Shengchuan wants to study for 5 years, and in the next 3 years, Ding Naizhu is working with children and at the same time.
Summarizing Lai Shengchuan's evaluation of Naizhu, it is not difficult to see that Ding Naizhu is very strong, but not strong, but naturally accepted, probably because of this heroic woman, there is Lai Shengchuan of the Xianfeng Dao bone. If drama requires patience to sow seeds and wait for the harvest, then the emergence of Ding Naizhu provided Lai Shengchuan with a stable climate for sowing and budding. This tacit understanding has always been maintained after the arduous study abroad trip, and they have also participated in and witnessed the "golden age" of Taiwanese drama.
The Golden Age - "Ganlin" in the Desert
"It's the best of times and the worst of times." The theatrical environment in Taiwan in the 1980s can actually be described by this sentence. Taiwan, which has not yet lifted the strict law, is a real "theater desert", with neither decent theaters nor any people watching plays. Lai Shengchuan felt that it was a golden age of Taiwanese drama and an era of idealism in which literature and art were gradually awakening.
Oh, my God! Young Jin Shijie
Like Lai Shengchuan, one of the earliest pioneers of Taiwan's modern theater was Jin Shijie. At that time, Jin Shijie was extremely fond of drama and took over the Cinxin Experimental Theater Troupe from Zhou Yu, the predecessor of Lanling Opera Workshop. He continued to grow the drama team, rehearsing one play after another, Du Kefeng, Li Guoxiu, etc. were the earliest members of the Lanling Opera Workshop, and the Lanling Theater Became the first experimental small theater troupe in Taiwan.
Early member of the Lanling Opera Workshop
In 1983, at the age of 29, Lai returned to Taiwan from the United States to teach acting and the history of Western theater at the newly formed "National Academy of Arts." Through Du Kefeng, Lai Shengchuan met Jin Shijie and Li Guoxiu of the Lanling Opera Workshop, and since then they have formed a relationship.
Lai Shengchuan and Du Kefeng
After the performance of Lai Shengchuan's first work, "We All Grew Up Like This", it won the attention of many young people of insight at that time, including Li Liqun and Li Guoxiu. Everyone was amazed at the natural flow of the stage actors' performances, jumping out of the rounded performance style and the theatrical theme of loyalty and filial piety at that time. Li Liqun loved the theater very much, and when he and Li Guozhen conceived a cross-talk performance, they invited Lai Shengchuan, who met at the Lanling Opera Workshop, to join him. In this way, the three people were like-minded and founded a performance workshop together. Start by listening to a crosstalk tape and learn and dissect the rules of comedy. Later, the first work was launched, that is, the famous "That Night We Say Crosstalk".
Li Guoxiu, Lai Shengchuan, Li Liqun (from left to right)
"That Night" is a very experimental new stage play, using the philosophy of comedy to save taiwan's withering cross-talk art at that time, and also set a record for the performance of Taiwanese stage plays. At that time, Taiwan's unusually "dry" theatrical desert planted a piece of "Ganlin".
Stills from "That Night"
The following year, the workshop launched "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden", which was more successful than "That Night". It stars Jin Shijie, Ding Naizhu, Li Liqun and Gu Baoming. The theater is still very simple, and when it premieres in Taipei, it is raining outside. The heroine Yun Zhifan's first words are: "So quiet! Never seen such a quiet Shanghai! But in fact, the front of the stage has been dripping water, and it is not "quiet" at all.
The first edition of "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden"
Ding Naizhu said: "It was an era where there was nothing, no good theater, no good set, but there was the courage to be afraid of nothing. ”
"Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" broke the previous record of consecutive performances, from the original plan of 12 additional performances to 23. The role of Yun Zhifan changed hands several times, and was followed by Xiao Ai, Lin Qingxia, Yuan Quan, and Sun Li. The original drama has been adapted into gezai opera, Yue opera and other forms, and there are Hong Kong versions, cross-strait and three-place versions, and American versions. It has become the most influential stage play in the Chinese area.
Lin Qingxia took over the role of Yun Zhifan
Huang Lei and Sun Li's version of the performance
The emergence of "That Night" and "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" is not accidental, they appeared in the era when Taiwan's modern theater culture began to form, which is the long-term accumulation and outbreak of theater art. Lai Shengchuan, Li Guoxiu, Li Liqun, Jin Shijie and others took on the responsibility of pioneers, so that many Taiwanese people walked into the theater for the first time in their lives and began to contact theatrical art.
The path of practice – a "play" and a bodhi
When it comes to Lai Shengchuan's drama, one aspect that has to be talked about is Buddhist practice.
Lai Shengchuan liked Chinese music when he was young, and Naizhu was also interested, so they learned pipa together, and then met a master who played Bagua boxing, through which he came into contact with Tibetan Buddhism. At that time, they were surprised to find that their teacher had a relationship with Grandpa Naizhu, who studied Buddhism, and from that time on, they began to believe in the ingenuity of karma, and the place of marriage was also chosen at The Five Peaks Mountain, where they were related to the Buddha.
After arriving in the United States, I always encountered people related to Buddhism. According to Lai Shengchuan, the neighbor at that time was a lama, and the cries of his peacocks could often be heard at home. Later, when they returned to Taiwan, the husband and wife successively invited some living Buddhas to their homes to pass on the Dharma, and for a month or two, when they lived in Yangmingshan, people wearing monks' robes often walked around their homes.
Until 1999, Lai Shengchuan traveled in India. One day, he sat under the thousand-year-old Bodhi tree where the Buddha had enlightened, and saw believers from all over the world walking around the tower, flowing clockwise, some joining, some withdrawing, and the river of time quietly flowing. At that moment, he was inspired and began to draw drafts under the tree, and the stories hidden in his head jumped out one by one, and the images of the doctor who was looking for the meaning of life, the fifth patient who wanted to find the truth, the prostitute, the nobleman, and the stowaway gradually became clear... The idea that shocked the Chinese theater circle was "Like a Dream".
Whether it is the content of the play itself or the theater form of the "Lotus Pond", the connection between Buddhist practice and drama seems to be opened up at this moment, but a few years before this drama came out, Lai Shengchuan actually encountered a low point in his life. In 1987, After Li Guoxiu finished performing the third work of the watchhouse, "The Tale of the Circle", he decided to leave and founded a screen acting class. In 1995, Li Liqun also left the watch shop. The three have not cooperated since. Subsequently, Lai Shengchuan's adaptation of the movie "Flying Man Ada" was treated with unprecedented cold treatment, and he himself was in a mid-life crisis, which made him not want to continue to create for a while. Although he was experiencing a low ebb in his life, at this time his path of cultivation was gradually opening up...
When things happen, Naizhu was never afraid, and perhaps Lai Shengchuan, who was at a low ebb at the time, did not understand the meaning of life very well, but Naizhu could still give him a calm revelation. She helped him switch tracks and create a TV series that got out of that difficult time. With this experience, the "Centennial Celebration" storm that followed (Taiwan's "Centennial Celebration", coinciding with the election period, Lai Shengchuan's celebration activities planned and directed by Lai Shengchuan were caught by the Green Camp and lashed out, so he fell into the "fraud case" storm and the accusation of "climbing the magnate". Lai Shengchuan also became more and more indifferent.
Returning to the head to think about the experience of that year, Lai Shengchuan said, "If you do something wrong and are scolded, you have to review; If you haven't done anything wrong and been scolded, that's called practice. For us, practice is an important part of the pursuit. My life is wonderful. Drama, Dharma, and family are completely connected. ”
Spending 8 hours to tell a story spanning 80 years, in addition to the obvious meditation Buddha's purpose in "Like a Dream", Xiao Ge also saw some clues from "Treasure Island and a Village" in 2008. The large and diverse "villagers" from the first generation to the second generation gradually identified with identity and land are expressed on the stage. What seems to be a story about "home" actually outlines a capitalized symbol of pursuit. Setting the family in the perspective of "being sought" is a process of cultural identity and spiritual identity, and it also breaks the relationship between life, family and practice.
"Treasure Island One Village"
As a father, Lai Shengchuan often talks about Buddhism and performance with his eldest daughter, and paints and plays with his younger daughter. His theory is that everyone has their own season of "blossoming" and therefore needs freedom and inclusion to be done. Coincidentally, this tolerance also provides the possibility for his wild ideas. The deeper level can also be seen as a guide to practice and growth.
It was not until 2011 that the three giants of the watch shop reunited, and Li Liqun described the reunion of the three people many years later more than once, "When I took Li Guoxiu's hand and walked toward Lai Shengchuan with great emotion, I was about to cry, and I met the leader of the theater to say hello halfway, and I only then stopped my tears." Two years later, Li Guoxiu died. In 15 years, Lai Shengchuan cooperated with Li Liqun again to rehearse the drama "Winter Journey", which tells the story of two old friends who face the hurt and betrayal of the past and use their lives to feel the difficulty of repentance and forgiveness. The two in real life are over sixty years old, and although there is no similar plot, it is a kind of reunion after many years of separation on the theatrical stage.
Lai Shengchuan, Wan Fang, Li Liqun
Life is impermanent, lai shengchuan, who is over sixty years old, should also be deeply conscious, and it is very interesting that a sentence when he was young jumped out again, "Nothing, it means that anything is possible", this sentence seems to have always existed in his thinking, acted on his creation, and is still hidden in the steps of practice.
Winter Journey
Throughout Lai Shengchuan's dramatic life, from the early experimental dramas, to the heyday of "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden", to the later creative "Dream Like a Dream", and now the attempt to integrate stage drama with emerging media. In fact, it is the process of sprouting seeds, growing into Ganlin, and then understanding the true meaning, suddenly enlightened. The same is true of the practice of life, the process of returning from nothing to the source, and the stage of drama is also the same.
Chinese talking about searching for roots, Lai Shengchuan's pursuit of drama and the world may have planted a gradual continuity of cause and effect from a long time ago. People say that life is like a drama, and drama is like life, and it is probably still the same truth.
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