Author: Rong Dingchang
In China, critics have a precedent, "every foreign must be good", or "antique" as the top, the old drama has been criticized for a long time. One faction despises "the old Chinese drama and is what the masses like they despise", so they use the principles of dramatology learned from England or France to criticize the old drama, and think that she cannot put up doors and windows on the stage, because their minds are shaken by the Soviet Grand Theater, and they cannot feel the satisfaction of the set in the national drama.
There is another school of people who are moving forward, blaming the inopportunization of the national drama, in fact, they do not know art too much, and the recent Soviet Union staged Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is regarded as a representative work of the revolutionary theater, and an ancient Romans script must surprise them.
There is also a faction that despises the old drama and respects kun opera, because the song and music of kun opera are elegant and tame, and they are pleasing to the scholar class, while the old drama words are slang and vulgar, not enough to ascend to the elegant hall, this kind of blind speech is even more childish, Mr. Hu Shizhi often plays his theory of literary evolution, to the effect that Tang poetry in the period of absolute sentences, the flag pavilion painting wall, became the ordinary material of folk singing, so it is the most prosperous. Later, he was gradually controlled by the scribes and masters, and died, so the words of long and short sentences were improvised, and the Northern Song Dynasty Liu Qi Qing "Yang Liu An Xiao Feng Remnant Moon", most of them were sung by The Advocate You. Therefore, the words flourished greatly, and then gradually became the era of imitating the filler words, the words were dead, the yuanqu was replaced by the revival, and gradually became the thick and complex of the southern song, and it became the song of the hall, and the remaining Kunqu opera also became the mourning of death.
Hu shi
In this way, we should also be thankful for the old drama, because although it has gone through its heyday, although there are grand new dramas choreographed by scribes such as Chen Moxiang and Qi Rushan, it has always been maintained by the public and has preserved the noble status of its folk works, which cannot be said to be a miracle.
Mr. Zheng Zhenduo likes to collect old books, and has a profound study of "Yuanqu", "Miscellaneous Opera" and "Zhugong Tune", but he does not want to sort out old dramas, I think it is probably too difficult to collect materials. Mr. Liu Bannong, who died a few years ago, liked the old drama very much, and there were two texts about historical materials. When Mei Huanhua traveled to the United States, Mr. Liu and his brother Liu Tianhua (musician, deceased) had compiled a very large book for Mei Shi and translated many old drama tones, and Huan Hua's success in the United States was probably mostly due to this.
The above is probably the criticism of a group of people who are too subjective, incurable, and not worth talking about, such as Mr. Gu Yu's refutation of Xu Xi's article, which is to represent such blind drama talkers.
Liu Tianhua
There is also a large number of people, because of the bad impression of intuition, and always hate the old drama, which must blame the environment of the old drama is too bad, not its own fault, which can be represented by the old man of Zhitang, such as in the winter of "The Good or Bad of Beiping" (1905) and twenty-three classmates to beijing military training office to study abroad exams, lived along the West River for a month, once watched several plays, rented red paper plays, wooden sticks as narrow benches ... I still remember a little bit. ”...... Diary: "On the ninth day of the first month of December, in the afternoon... When I went to Zhonghe Garden to watch the drama, I saw that when I saw the little called the heavenly performance, it was already dark. On the afternoon of the tenth day of the first month... Guangde Lou watched the drama, Zhu Suyun played "Yellow Crane Tower", Zhu Potong Wen Moyun. ”
Looking at the above, it shows the feelings of a southerner who has just arrived in Beijing, does not understand the language, and sees the narrow bench, the dark stage, etc., these things seem to have improved recently, such as the Chinese Theater in Tianjin, that is, it can get the benefits of the modern stage. The audience probably won't have these dislikes. Mr. Zhou Zuoren also put forward several specific comments:
"(1) The corrupt ideas of China's super-class promotions and polygamy are everywhere, and they are the most intense and conspicuous in the novel dramas; (2) I don't like the hypocritical rituals and pretense, and I feel that the flesh is numb, and no matter how many people praise the actions on the stage, I always see it unpleasantly; (3) the tone of the singing, especially the non-drama oratorio singing in the street in the room, somehow I always feel that there is something to do with the eight strands, opium, and so on, there is a kind of paralysis, and the stomach is not used."
Wang Yaoqing and Zhu Suyun's "Yanmen Pass"
To sum up, the first one, I replied: Because the old drama is a description of life, born in such a society, there will never be any utopia that can be created. On the other hand, it is said that it can leave very valuable descriptions in many places, which are enough for sociologists and linguists to refer to, and moreover, in the creation of a great old drama, the work of indiscriminate works must not be absent, and this cannot overturn the value of all old dramas. The second point, I think it is all the intuitive role of the author, the exhaustion of the visiting ceremony is nothing more than a joke, if you do not use the ideal of rules, that is, if there is a righteous spirit in your heart, at most it is just too much, not to make people sad. As for other performances in the range, such as pretending, I still don't want to sing. The third point is that the subjectivity is too great, and there is no sufficient foothold.
I remember that ten years ago, there was a "Mei Lanfang" in the "Literature Weekly", which insulted Mei Shi, probably always focusing on his personal history, which was also too despicable, and I did not want to comment on Mei s personal personality. Moreover, in such an era, I always held the opinion of only looking at art, because of the private affairs of people, non-public discussions should be done, and some people praised Cheng Yanqiu's treatment of Luo Yangong, which seemed to be quite eventful. All in all, the old drama has been affected by the environment a lot, and many tasteless idleness is born from here.
Mei Lanfang's "Overlord Farewell"
Then there is another point: Xu Zhimoshi is a new poet, and his life can be said to have lived for the pursuit of "beauty", the ideal of beauty, and the character of beauty. He is very fond of old dramas, especially loves to listen to Yang Xiaolou's "Serial Set" and other plays, which can be said to be a counter-evidence that people with aesthetic concepts who have been baptized by the West can appreciate old dramas, new writers are not all Xu Zhi and the like, Huanhua went to the United States to Russia to ask Zhang Pengchun to help, for his speech drama, Zhang Shi is a professor at Nankai University in the United States, has a profound study of drama, and the author of the new drama "Thunderstorm" Cao Yu (that is, Wan Jiabao) is the playwright who has been promoted by Zhang Shizhi and loved by Zhang Shizhi. Zhang's love and study of Peking Opera is quite unfamiliar, and Yu often hears him persuade people to listen to Huanhua's plays. Naturally, it is not a business economy, because there are many opinions on the participation of the canal, which has the meaning of making people criticize.
Mr. Feng Zikai also talked about Mei Lanfang, more sarcastic, probably caused by the environmental impact, but he talked about Qingyi's singing voice (including Hua Danyan): "I think the singing voice of Qingyi in the flat opera is rich in femininity, and it is not necessary to understand the lyrics, but as soon as you listen to the tone, a woman's posture will emerge in your brain." This is not the case in Western music. Tsing Yi's singing voice can be described as 'full of women', and every time I hear it, I feel that it is most appropriate to use the Japanese word Onnarashii (Note: 女らしい) to describe it, in fact, since ancient times, women have never used singing pronouns, and singing so euphemistically and tortuously. However, in the woman's ordinary tone, there is indeed such a euphemistic and tortuous musical motive lurking. In other words, the music of Tsing Yi's singing voice is based on the ordinary tone of the woman, expanding, amplifying, and intensifying. ”
In 1947, Feng Zikai took a group photo with Mei Lanfang, photographer Lang Jingshan (second from left) and reporter Chen Jingxuan (first from left) in Shanghai Meiyu
The criticism of readers is difficult to agree with. But the words that make sense are always good. No gibberish, indeed, cannot be disciplined. As for those who pick up abusive words and force them to explain people, they are not worth reading.
(Ten Days Drama, Vol. 1, No. 25, 1938)