Theatrical adaptation of literary works requires creative transformation and expression

Author: Mao Fuguo

Adapting literary works into dramas and putting them on the stage has become an important part of domestic drama stage performances. In 2021, domestic dramas adapted from literary works include "Diary of a Madman" (directed by Christian Lupa, based on Lu Xun's novel of the same name), "The Dust Has Settled" (directed by Hu Zongqi, based on Alai's novel of the same name), "The World of People" (directed by Yang Jiayin, based on Liang Xiaosheng's novel of the same name), "Activity Transforms Into Human Form" (director Li Bonan, based on Wang Meng's novel of the same name), "Red Starting Point" (director Tian Qinxin, based on Ye Yonglie's reportage of the same name), "Dream of the Red Chamber" (director Cao Yan, Based on Cao Xueqin's classical novel of the same name), "Ben Yue" (director Sanhuang, based on Lu Xun's novel of the same name) and "Song of Youth" (director Wang Xin, based on Yang Mo's novel of the same name), etc., plus the adaptation of "White Deer Plain" (directed by Hu Zongqi, based on Chen Zhongzhong's novel of the same name), "Ordinary World" (directed by Gong Xiaodong, based on Lu Yao's novel of the same name), "Revolutionary Road" (director Jiang Tao, based on Richard Yates's novel of the same name), "Erma" (director Fang Xu, Based on Lao She's novel of the same name), "Hypnosis" (director Zhang Fuyuan, based on Ma Xiaoli's novel of the same name) and "The Life of the Abandoned Pine Nuts" (director Zhao Miao, based on Yamada Soki's novel of the same name), this year's literary and drama adaptations can be described as lively.

The drama adaptation of literary works, the theme ideas, plot structure and character image of the original work are relatively mature, and the adaptation that does not need to be reconceived undoubtedly saves a lot of time and cost for the creative team, and can make full use of the existing popularity of the original work, with invisible publicity advantages. Therefore, the drama adaptation of literary works generally adopts the name of the original work. On this year's drama stage, the adapted literary works include "Dream of the Red Chamber", one of the four famous works in China, "The Diary of a Madman", which is known as the beginning of modern literature, as well as two Mao Dun Literary Award-winning works "Dust Settled" and "The World", as well as contemporary literary masterpieces "Song of Youth" and "Activity Transforms into Human Form", all of which have been adapted into dramas of the same name.

A successful theatrical adaptation is a creative transformation of an original literary work

Literature and drama as two different art styles, on the surface, the adaptation can make full use of the original existing plot and characters, appropriate editing and refining, the performance of a certain theme of thought, seems to be more labor-saving than the original drama, but the original simply staged is only the minimum requirements for adaptation, adaptation is not a simple presentation of the original, successful adaptation is by no means more labor-saving than the creation of a good script. Therefore, the successful adaptation in the true sense requires the adaptor to have creative originality, which can not only reflect the characteristics of the original work, dig deep into the drama of the original work, but also inject the understanding and interpretation of the adaptor, and carry out artistic secondary creation and improvement of the original idea.

The drama "Dust Settled" adopts the linear narrative of the original work, the whole play carries out dramatic conflicts in the personal fate and the changes of the times, through the perspective of the "fool" of the Maiqi Toast family, lets the audience see the struggle of good and evil in human nature, the alienation of human nature in the power family, presenting the whole process of the decline of the toast system, covering the themes of life and death, wisdom and foolishness, power and desire, family affection and love, magic and reality, etc., fully conveying the literary and ideological nature of the original work. The visual language of the stage is extremely impactful, and the dark stage background is very magical and mysterious, showing a sense of the weight of vicissitudes of history. In terms of costume design, the actors wear traditional Tibetan headdresses and traditional Tibetan costumes, with bright colors and full of texture, which properly restores the nobility and luxury of the Tuji family. The stage scene switching is flexible, and the movable official village stairs and attics are composed of different stage scenes through the roller wheel, sometimes the official village, sometimes the toast palace; the rising moon, meteorites, etc. bring the audience philosophical thinking about metaphysical life and death. The whole play strings together the relevant events with a large monologue of "Fool", "Fool" is both the narrator and the person in the play, using the presumptiveness of the drama to "jump in and out" between different characters, which is a character who is both stupid and prophetic, who has the foresight of the prophet when narrating, and shows the stupidity of the "fool" when he is a person in the play. This treatment not only retains the charming language of the original work, but also drives the development of the plot. But it is inevitable that the protagonist's large monologue makes the narration obvious, and to some extent the stage performance becomes a supporting role in the commentary.

The difficulty of adapting a play is to trade off, deconstruct and recode

Adapting a novel into a play requires reasonable trade-offs and deconstruction on the basis of a careful interpretation of the literary work, and then reorganizing the encoding. In a sense, adaptation is a kind of research and interpretation, which requires understanding the basic situation of the writer's life, thoughts and creation, as well as a thorough understanding of the adapted work, and the dramatic conflict on the stage.

Drama must undoubtedly be literary, but the art presented as a stage and literary works must be very different. The novelist's brushstrokes can touch different times and places at will, use language to depict the environment and psychological activities, etc., and show the characters and plot in an all-round way. Compared with literary works that are not limited by time and space, the dramatic stage is a relatively limited time and space, and its time, place, characters, storyline, etc. need to be highly concentrated. Therefore, drama adaptation needs to be adjusted and processed according to the plot in terms of scenery, characters and plot. For long novels, due to the length of the performance, it is inevitable to delete some of the storyline and characters of the original work. For example, "Dream of the Red Chamber" has many characters, although it is adapted into a six-hour drama, it must also be deleted as necessary. The 1 million-word "Human World" writes about the changes of the times in China in the past half century and the great changes brought to the lives of ordinary people. With Zhou Bingkun as the narrator, the drama connects related characters and events to form the focus of the stage narrative. Capturing the plot of the original work and presenting it on stage through dramatic language is undoubtedly a huge challenge for writers and directors. In contrast, when the short stories "Diary of a Madman" and "Running Moon" were adapted, they needed to stretch and extend the story of the original work.

Contemporary expression of the drama adaptation

The drama adaptation of literary works can not only be added or deleted on the basis of being faithful to the original work, so that it conforms to the dramatic expression, but also presents the ideas of the editor and director, subversive rewriting, converts the text into a comprehensive stage narrative of multiple media, and carries out dramatic transformation and contemporary expression in the storyline, character shaping and plot conflict of the original work.

The classic point of the novel "White Deer Plain" lies in its personal and folk narrative stance, focusing on restoring the real and ordinary people of historical figures, and to some extent overcoming the facial tendency of the character shaping of previous historical novels, but at the same time there are some situations of excessive reversal, such as overemphasizing the contingency of the historical process, and using it as the driving force for the development of the fate of the characters and the historical process. The biggest problem in adapting into a drama is to maintain the classicity of the original novel and reflect the contemporary nature of the adaptation. The drama "White Deer Plain" adds the plot of Bai Ling's joining the party to the plot to buffer the dissolution of the grand narrative in the original work; in the original work, Mr. Zhu contains Chen Zhongzhong's deification and yearning for the ideal Confucian culture, and the adaptation dilutes Mr. Zhu's content and adds more ordinary people's personality. In the presentation of the drama stage, the use of the song team is very distinctive, from which the voice of the people can be seen, which has played an important role in setting off the atmosphere of the times. The adaptation of the drama "Erma" continues the delicate and humorous language style of Lao She in the early stage of creation, and the whole drama revolves around the love clues of Lao Ma and Mrs. Wendu, Xiaoma and Mary, and the dramatic conflict is concentrated on the collision of Chinese and Western cultures, and the cultural conflict and prejudice make the two relationships fruitless. The adaptation abandons the father-son conflict between the old horse and the pony in the original work, and the ending ends abruptly with comedy.

The drama adaptation of literary works can be seen in the editor's understanding of literary works and the ability to control adaptations. Successful adaptations should have their own characteristics, and there is no doubt that the adapted plays must have places beyond the original and inferior to the original, which is determined by the strengths of the two artistic styles. How to give full play to the strengths of the drama stage, convert the literary language into dramatic language, convey the creator's own expression and thinking, communicate and collide between actors and actors, actors and audiences in the theater, and bring the audience to think, the drama adaptation of literary works this year provides successful experience. (Maofu Country)

Source: China Culture Daily