The drama "Li Bai" Pu Cunxin talks about interpreting poetry immortals for thirty years

Stills from the drama "Li Bai". Photo by Li Chunguang

On December 10, the Beijing Renyi drama "Li Bai" staged the last performance of this round, and also ushered in the 30th birthday. From its premiere on December 10, 1991 to the present, a total of 237 performances, starring Pu Cunxin and Gong Lijun, have not landed from the age of 20 to 30 to 50 or 60 years old, this play has not only become a classic of human art, but also an important part of their lives.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, more than two hours before the performance, the backstage of the Capitol Theater gradually became lively as usual. On the small table in the backstage corridor, the human art "Shenshui" honeysuckle tea has been brewed, the coffee machine is activated, wafting out a rich coffee aroma, a large cake made by fans for "Li Bai" for thirty years is printed with a group photo of the crew, and the sunflowers sent by fans shine with golden light...

Director Tang Ye, starring Gong Lijun and Wang Gang were all participating in the beijing renyi young actor assessment and review on the same day, and they came early. Pu Cunxin arrived at the theater at five o'clock, and as usual, there were still several reporters waiting for the interview.

"Don't make me shout any slogans, it's okay to talk about art." Pu Cunxin said that he was not afraid of interviews, he was not afraid of drama, he was afraid of saying those clichés and big words. "Li Bai" is undoubtedly a very important play for him, but also an endless play, "after a year to perform this play, or often perform new, this new is from the secular life into artistic creation, ready to give up on the stage to create, forget all the things in life." ”

Some people say that he is now acting in "Li Bai" in a state of "light boat has passed". He said that when he was young, he always had to act hard, and now he can't sweat when he performs. "The reason why I was able to go deep into Li Bai's spiritual realm was because I had similar pain, sitting on the top of the mountain and grazing on the wheat stack when I was a Zhiqing, I could not say a word every day, and I had lived the kind of days when I did not speak for many days, so I could understand Li Bai's life by the Yangtze River. I'm shaping Li Bai, and Li Bai is shaping me. ”

Tang Ye on the side said, "Brother Pu, you are sitting there gasping for breath now, just like Li Bai is panting." Tang Ye said that Pu Cunxin played Li Bai in his thirties, and he had to work hard to find the feeling of being sixty years old, at that time he had not even been the leader of the group, and it was difficult for Li Bai to deeply understand the state of mind of wanting to enter the shi, and now that he had been the vice president and the chairman of the Chinese Drama Association, he had also experienced smooth and unsuccessful moments, and that mental journey would be transplanted to Li Bai, and there would be a new interpretation of the role.

Pu Cunxin, who is now in his sixties, is older than Li Bai in the play, and his mood is close, but his hands and feet are not as flexible as when he was young. On the arm of the sofa between his makeup, there were rolls of bandages. When playing "Thunderstorm", Pu Cunxin's feet were broken, and it has not been good, and he must wrap bandages around his ankles before performing "Li Bai". At the end of the play, when the moon rises, Li Bai has a movement of lifting his legs high and slowly stepping into the moon shadow, which is now changed to a turn and step in. Tang Ye said that once after a performance, Pu Cunxin asked her if the moon had become larger, "You can imagine how difficult those few steps are for him." ”

"Where to find the soul of poetry?" To Tu Shan, quarrying, green lotus, broken leaves, mention what to take off the boots and hold the bricks well, I am afraid that it is difficult to choose in the end..." The curtain has not yet opened, and the opening poem recited by director Su Min sounded, which immediately dragged the audience into Li Bai's world. Pu Cunxin said that in the first performance of this round, everyone said that he played extraordinary. "I've been capturing Li Bai's truth, the kind of truth that I want whether it's right or wrong, but that truth doesn't happen every day, and that day I heard my father chanting and immediately entered the state." His father's recitation was both like a key that led him into Li Bai's world, and like a ruler, demanding on his performance, "As soon as that voice comes out, it is an aesthetic standard that makes you not slack." ”

Gong Lijun, who has worked with Pu Cunxin for a full thirty years in this play, is also Pu Cunxin's most tacit partner, "When the two of us discussed what adjustments to make, we don't need to be particularly specific, on the stage he changed, I can give feedback immediately." When there was no play of her own, Gong Lijun stood on the "master" on the stand on the side of the stage, "As soon as he made the move, my heart was tugged." "Because of the pain in his feet, Li Bai originally had a backward hard fall action changed to shake it, and when the light dimmed and then lay on the ground, the original lying fish under the whole can only do half, but Gong Lijun feels that this does not affect the color of this play," Li Bai's feeling has been integrated into his blood, he is now collecting the performance, the collection is very content, the things conveyed are more profound, more in line with Qi Hong's teacher's Li Bai. ”

At the end of the curtain, Pu Cunxin took a white robe and led the actors to bow to the audience three times to greet them, and countless applause rang out from the audience. Pu Cunxin specially invited the director to the stage to meet the audience, and in the face of warm applause, Tang Ye proposed to dedicate the applause to the screenwriter of the play, Guo Qihong, the director Su Min, and many older generation artists in Beijing who are unable to attend now, "It was they who jointly created "Li Bai". ”

Pu Cunxin said: "Thirty years ago, we did not act very well, the audience has been paying money to buy tickets to pay for our tuition, 237 shows are the audience to accompany us to support our progress, I hope that the audience will continue to support us in the future." As for the question of whether "Li Bai" will be performed again, he said that there is no performance plan next year, and it will be said in the next year. ( Reporter Niu Chunmei)

Source: Beijing Daily