In the center of the stage stands a ruined house, overgrown sofas, floor garbage piled up... On the evening of December 2, british dramatist Philip Ridley's masterpiece "The Nail Rake Rider" was premiered Chinese at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, and participated in the 7th Shanghai International Comedy Festival.
In the early 1990s, the development of British theatre stagnated, and a group of young screenwriters who ignored tradition emerged, the most representative of which was Philip Ridley. His Knight of the Nail Rake guided contemporary experimental theatre and influenced an entire generation of British playwrights. "Nail Rake Knight" mixes science fiction, thriller, fantasy, suspense, and comedy elements, telling the story of 28-year-old twin siblings Presley Stree and Harley Stree who have been living in seclusion for many years, and the death of their parents in an accident ten years ago has left the brothers and sisters unable to get out of their trauma. Seeking security from chocolates, drugs, and fantasies about nuclear explosions, the appearance of the blonde Man, Cosmo Disney, is like a bolt of lightning that slams into the bleak room. Yet this aggressive "Mr. Perfect" has its worst nightmare.
Tang Shi, the producer of the Chinese version of "Nail Rake Knight", is also a translator of the script of the play. When she first read this play that combines science fiction and horror elements, her intuition is shock; after the epidemic, work is suspended, people's understanding of the world is constantly subverted and refreshed, and then read "Nail Rake Knight", she suddenly understands the characters in the play. The director of the play, Lu Rui, has directed "Counterfeit Life", "Evolution", "A Blow of the Fox", etc., in his view, the presentation of "Nail Rake Knight" depends on the creator's own resonance with it.
Liu Xuanrui, who plays Presley Stree, grows a beard and messy hair from rehearsal, accompanied by sloppy makeup and torn clothes, bringing the audience into the fantasy world. In a three-and-a-half-page monologue "Both a Temptation and a Challenge," he recounts Presley's worst nightmare: a little boy who grows old overnight, is abandoned, hunted down, and ends up waging a nuclear war to protect himself. Compared with Presley's "isolation", the blonde man Disney is another extreme state of entry into the world - in order to make money, you can eat anything. He is narcissistic, mean, but also fearful. Actor Liu Peng dyed his blonde hair and created disney's ultimate stylized image. The two diametrically opposed characters collide with each other, and the meaning of humor and irony arises spontaneously. Liu Shiqi portrays Harley's vulnerability, helplessness, pathology, and her "control" and "dependence" on Presley just right. Guo Pengyu, who has a thick and low voice, creates a stage image of "nail rake" gothic horror: low intelligence and funny, but there is a gentle other side in his heart.
Walking out of the premiere theater, the audience responded enthusiastically, "Obviously it is a story that happened in a room, it was grand and tragic, as if floating alone in the universe", "I was scared at the beginning, laughed at the middle, and was actually full of emotions after the end" "The screenwriter is too clever, leading the audience's nose the whole time, and finally you will find that your reaction has long been guessed through the mouth of the character".
Column Editor-in-Chief: Li Junna Text Editor: Li Junna Photo Editor: Shao Jing
Source: Author: Zhuge Yi