Source: People's Daily - People's Daily
Figure (1): Stills from the national opera "Yimeng Mountain". Picture (2): Stills from the national opera "Ying Xiong". Photo by Liu Haidong
Stills of the remake of the classic national opera "Little Two Black Marriage". Profile picture
Core reading
Creators should find the true appearance of the characters in the historical record, and find the magnificent and romantic emotional surging in the thousands of troops and horses, and the atmosphere is magnificent, which is the process of entering the creation and the entry point of artistic creation
The creation of red-themed drama should start from the aesthetic needs of contemporary audiences, explore the diversified performance methods of the stage with drama as the main body, pay attention to the combination of audiovisual art, and mobilize all the comprehensive means of expression of stage art under the premise of adhering to the drama ontology
The drama creation of red theme tells the story of heroes and shows heroic spirit, no matter the change of times, the spiritual characteristics contained in red stories can move people, infect people and inspire people.
More than 40 years of military service have given me more opportunities to contact such subjects and gain a more comprehensive and profound understanding of the century-old history of the Communist Party of China. The Chinese Communists on the centennial journey have integrated their spirit into the rivers of the motherland, the stars of the nation, and into the awe-inspiring and eternal atmosphere of heaven and earth, and their spiritual strength and the truth, goodness and beauty of human nature have infected me, and I am eager to present their great spirit to the audience through artistic creation.
In the past 6 years, I have created and rehearsed the national opera "Ma Xiangyang Goes to the Countryside", "Yimeng Mountain", "YingXiong", "Red Boat", "Under the Ginkgo Tree", "Half a Red Army Quilt", the drama "Spring Promise", "Heavenly Grassland", "Deep Sea", "Memory Code", the red theme modern Peking Opera "Mother", the rearranging of the classic national opera "Little Erhei Marriage" and so on. I have deeply realized that the creation of dramas with revolutionary historical themes and realistic themes always requires creators not to forget their original mission and conscientiously cultivate their artistic skills.
Respect history, pay attention to the interpretation, excavation and shaping of "people"
Most of the red-themed dramas have character archetypes or are based on real historical events. The ornamentation of art comes from vividness and truth, and in the creation, finding "people" who have recognition and empathy with contemporary audiences is the key. Drama is "anthropology", focusing on the interpretation and excavation of "people" and the shaping of "people", which is a creative proposition that is inseparable from its origins.
Make the works and character images believable, approachable, visible, perceptible, and respectable, and highlight the spirit of the characters through real details and artistic reproduction. Creators should find the true appearance of the characters in the historical record, and look for the magnificent and romantic emotional surging in the thousands of troops and horses, and the grandeur of the atmosphere, this process is the process of entering the creation, and it is also the entry point of the creation.
The national opera "Ying Xiong" tells the story of Miao Boying, the first female party member of the Chinese Communist Party, and her husband, He Mengxiong. A hundred years ago, in their 20s, they were obsessed with breaking the dark old world and creating a beautiful new world. At that time, those young people were the leaders of the times, and today, our young people are striving to realize the Chinese dream through struggle. On the road to the pursuit of ideals, do we have the passion, bravery, tenacity and dedication of the youth of a hundred years ago? In search of this spiritual commonality, I found the core and contemporaneity of the subject matter. In order to further reproduce the real Miao Boying, the latest script focuses on a modified scene, adding the content that Miao Boying and the newborn child cling to and have to say goodbye. Entering the hearts of heroes, they are living ordinary people, facing difficult choices, and their "sacrifice" is even more noble.
The vividness of the stage presentation comes from the creator's discovery and refinement of life. In-depth, multi-creative style is required. When rehearsing the national opera "Yimeng Mountain", the creative team followed the route of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army to the east, and carried out in-depth collection of places related to the heroic deeds of Yimeng's children, such as the old Revolutionary Area of Yimeng, the Memorial Hall of the Battle of Menglianggu, the Site of the Breakthrough Battle of Daqingshan, the Memorial Site of the "Yimeng Mountain Minor", and the Hometown of the Red Sister-in-law, and the emotions of the military and the people "blending water and milk, life and death and sharing" were gradually enriched under the support of a large number of materials. When rehearsing "Mother", I came to Ge Jianhao's hometown, the deep mountains of Shuangfeng County, Hunan Province, and only when I got there could I imagine and feel how such a revolutionary mother walked out of the mountains with a pair of small feet to find the truth of the revolution, and how she independently raised and trained her children to become the early leaders of the Communist Party of China. This sense of empathy, which restores the magnificent history to the living characters, is the source of creation.
In the process of creation, we must grasp the principle of "big things are not vain, small things are not informal". Creators think about events and actions to explore whether these are "possible" to happen to the characters. "Possibly" means that everything must conform to the character's belief pursuit, conform to the character logic, or the image of a similar group of people is highly concentrated and reflected in a character in the play.
In the national opera "Yimeng Mountain", the character of Xia He is fictional, but she is also "real". In the play, Xia He feeds her daughter with blood before her sacrifice, names her Xiaoyimeng and entrusts her to Haitang to raise her, which is based on the true story of the mother and daughter of the anti-Japanese hero Chen Ruoke. Xia He hugged her daughter before her sacrifice, and a song "Yi Meng's Daughter" sang the audience to tears. "Farewell to the lotus flowers on all sides and willows on three sides, the lake is half the city and the mountain is a city." The fragrance of books has been stained by cannon fire, and it is difficult for the comfortable heart to calm down. "The real character archetype makes Xia He's character image more distinct and representative. For another example, in the national opera "Half a Red Army Quilt", the story of "Half a Quilt" on the Long March Road has been well known to the public, but the historical materials are limited and not enough to set up a big drama. How to present this theme in an artistic way? We started from the departure of the three female Red Army soldiers who cut half a quilt for their compatriots, and showed the fate of these three people and the "fate" of the other half of the quilt in the work, which is the space of artistic imagination.
Shouzheng innovation, focusing on the performance-centered "overall drama" presentation
The richer the means of stage presentation, the more comprehensive the integration and performance of artistic categories, the more diversified the audience's aesthetic requirements, the more the creation should pay attention to the performance-centered "overall drama" presentation, the pursuit of one play and one grid. The so-called "overall drama" means that the stage presentation is not only musical, literary, and performative, but also a synthesis of space and time art such as art, architecture, light and shadow, and sound. From this point of view, the creation has innovative significance, which will bring a comprehensive aesthetic pleasure in the context of modern art.
In order to develop contemporary drama, the issue of "contemporaneity" should arouse great attention, and creators should pay attention to the multiple "elevations" of artistic content, artistic styles and artistic personalities. The creation of red-themed drama should start from the aesthetic needs of contemporary audiences, explore the diversified performance methods of the stage with drama as the main body, pay attention to the combination of audiovisual art, and mobilize all the comprehensive means of expression of stage art under the premise of adhering to the drama ontology.
In the creation of stage art, the types of drama carrying red themes are diverse, drama, opera, opera... No matter what kind of drama genre, the director should grasp the work from the first creation to the second creation, and present the stage in a way that conforms to the aesthetics of contemporary art. For example, the national opera "Red Boat" takes the theme of "Red Boat" as the theme, focusing on the groundbreaking event of the birth of the Communist Party of China. We chose a non-linear narrative method, using 18 3-meter-wide and 10-meter-high large boards, constantly changing on the stage, forming a montage-like transformation through the organic use of pushing and pulling curtains, projections, and lighting, driving 50 scenes and spaces through two turntables, and smoothly presenting multiple historical moments in front of the audience. For another example, the drama "Deep Sea" tells the story of Huang Xuhua, the founder of China's nuclear submarine industry and the recipient of the "Order of the Republic" for decades, who has made outstanding contributions to the development and leapfrog development of China's nuclear submarines. We take the nuclear submarine diving 300 meters deep as the narrative vertical axis, and his lifelong struggle as the narrative horizontal axis. On the stage, the highly symbolic diving depth and air pressure coordinates are used, which are both the coordinates of the submarine and the coordinates of Huang Xuhua's life. The design of sound and optoelectronics integrates film means, with the help of light and shadow changes, which not only highlights the dramatic suspense, but also reflects the inner changes of the characters.
In the creation of drama, the director's creative work should be "moved forward" and should be involved in the creation for a while. When creating the national opera "Yimeng Mountain", the director entered the creation with the screenwriter and composer from the beginning of the planning, and conceived the stage from the beginning of the creation of the theatrical text. For example, we hope that the national opera "Yimeng Mountain" will be more symphonic and choralized, and we hope that it will have more artistic tension, so we will discuss and study from the script structure, chorus and heavy singing character settings, which is different from the traditional national opera creation. The whole play has 40 singing, a considerable part of which are duets, trios, quartets and multi-part choruses, forming the musical characteristics of the magnificent atmosphere and epic symphony of the play. We also worked hard to establish dramatic situations and create dramatic scenes, such as refining, concentrating, and recreating many true stories, and majorly changing the script plot of the first act "War and Wedding" and the third act "Life for Life".
Creators should also explore the context of establishing performance interaction with contemporary audiences, and find creative ideas in the general direction of "shouzheng innovation". In the creation of "Mother", I tried to find a door that would attract young audiences into Peking Opera, a door to art. On the basis of adhering to the traditional Peking Opera performance and singing, it integrates the chorus of opera and the accompaniment of the symphony orchestra. In terms of stage presentation, the high degree of freehand of Peking Opera is combined with the visual stage design with impact, so that the freehand form of one table and two chairs becomes flexible and changeable. This not only meets the aesthetic needs of contemporary young audiences, but also completes the creator's exploration of the stage presentation of Chinese contemporary opera.
(The author is the former head of the General Political Opera Troupe and a national first-class director)
Draft: Zhao Kairu
People's Daily (November 18, 2021, 20th edition)