The vitality and creativity of the endless opera burst forth here

"The chinese small theater opera exhibition is witnessing the creative transformation and innovative development of young opera people, which is a demonstration of the vitality of opera in the new era." Gu Haohao, secretary of the party committee and president of the Shanghai Xiqu Art Center, said so. The "2021 China Small Theater Opera Exhibition" co-sponsored by the China Dramatists Association, Shanghai Xiqu Art Center, the Propaganda Department of the Huangpu District Committee of the Communist Party of China and Wen Wei Po Will be held from today to the 16th, and more than 10 small theater opera works will be displayed in a concentrated manner.

In 2015, the "Shanghai Small Theater Opera Festival" turned out to be a success, and this year is the third year that the "Little Theater Festival" has been upgraded to a "national brand". 327 declared plays and nearly 70 performances, behind the gratifying number is the growth and experience of the platform in the past seven years. Exhibition platform, incubation base, practice place, "China Small Theater Opera Exhibition" wears several positions, providing a good opportunity for young opera talents across the country to show their skills, and a number of excellent works are moving from Shanghai to the world. At the same time, this year's performance venues have been extended from the Yangtze River Theater located in the core area of the "Performing Arts World" to the Wanping Theater, helping to promote Shanghai to become the source of good opera and the wharf for the dissemination of opera, and further polishing the "Shanghai Culture" brand.

Constantly recruit new members and boldly explore creative boundaries

How hot is the creation of small theater opera in the country? From the declaration data of the exhibition, it can be seen at a glance, this year's exhibition and performance received a total of 96 works from 20 provinces and cities across the country, the number of plays increased by 41% over last year, more than 40 declared dramas, and nearly 20 appeared on the declaration list for the first time, such as Han opera, Pu opera, Shangdang Luozi, Yao opera, Chao opera, Qingyang opera, qu opera, Gan opera, Mao cavity, bowl cavity, Tang opera, Linxian Daoqing, Chuanbei lantern opera, Lü opera, Sizhou opera, Push opera, etc. In the end, the Peking opera "The Death of the Little Official", "A Pot of Gold", the Kun opera "Bai Luo Shirt", the Huai opera "Xiu Cai Zhen Wife", the Dian opera "Pink Waiting", the Pu opera "Odi Wang", the Cantonese opera "Golden Lotus", the Huangmei opera "Beauty", "Mr. Blue Robe", the Yu opera "Nanhua Jing", and the Liyuan opera "Chen Sanwuniang" were selected, of which Pu opera landed on the exhibition for the first time.

As one of the ancient zizi cavity dramas in China, pu opera is high and urgent, ups and downs, good at expressing passionate emotions, paying attention to workmanship, and making good use of stunts to express characters. As soon as it was unveiled, Pu Opera brought a surprising work - "Oedipal King". Adapted from the ancient Greek tragedy "King Oedipus", the repertoire starts from the stage performance style, breaks through the traditional concept of time and space of drama, and while retaining the "locked"structure of the original work, it has carried out local deconstruction, cleverly maintaining the unity and coherence of the dramatic plot and rhythm. In the plot, the work dilutes the mythological color in the original work, and uses exaggeration to lead to the internal cause of the tragedy, that is, the mutual influence and fermentation of all the characters' own personality defects, ways of thinking and behavior.

Similar bold stage exploration can be seen everywhere in this exhibition: the Peking Opera "The Death of the Little Official" is based on Chekhov's short story "The Death of the Little Civil Servant", using the form of a one-legged play to interpret literary masterpieces, portraying the subtle mentality of the small character Yu Danxin, a small character of jiupin Xiao official, with a comedic technique, and the musicians also have to have a dialogue on the spot, suddenly speaking Yangzhou dialect, playful and witty, suddenly reciting rhymes, imposing and majestic, making full use of the presumptive principles of Peking Opera to create a unique comedic atmosphere; Huangmei Opera from Chen Zhongzhong's novel of the same name "Mr. Blue Robe" borrows the flexible performance style of the play, adds pop music elements to the traditional music of Huangmei Opera, and shows the protagonist's ups and downs of life; the Yu opera "Nanhua Jing" is based on "Zhuangzi Xiu Drum Basin Into the Avenue" and "The Great Split Coffin", in accordance with the aesthetic principles of opera minimalism, returning to the tradition of one table and two chairs in opera, and reflecting the current male and female emotions with traditional program performances...

Fresh blood surged and young opera artists appeared one after another

"As the only national platform for small opera theaters, the exhibition has had a huge impact on the whole country." Cui Wei, Secretary-General of the China Dramatists Association, said, "The exhibition releases the creativity of young opera talents while also meeting the aesthetic needs of young audiences, showing the gratifying scene of actors accumulating strength and the audience continuing to be new, providing a good window for the integrity and innovation of traditional opera culture." "The innovative exploration of contemporary opera is inseparable from the participation of young opera artists, who have always been a beautiful landscape in the exhibition. According to Lu Su, the star of peking opera "A Temple of Gold", the actors, directors, stages and singing voice designs of the play are all post-80s and post-90s. In the small theater, although the stage is small and the main creators are few, the presentation of works and the configuration of opera are definitely not sloppy. Taking "A Temple of Gold" as an example, although there are only five actors, it covers the four lines of shengdan net ugliness, and the genre also includes "Qi School", "Speech School" and "Zhang School". The script is also quite innovative, drawing inspiration from the history book "Qi Cheng", telling the story of Fan Zhongyan, who found a pot of gold in the cellar of the temple when he was a young man studying at Liquan Temple, but he was not moved by money, presenting the audience with an unfamiliar side of the famous northern Song Dynasty.

It is worth noting that the increasing popularity of the exhibition and performance has also driven the creative enthusiasm of the opera people. Young screenwriter Qu Caojie has participated in three exhibitions, and each time she has been selected with new creations. This year, she continued to bring her good works on women's themes, using the Huangmei opera "Beauty" to create a three-dimensional image of the mink cicada, one of the four beauties of ancient China. At the same time, the Kunqu opera "Bai Luo Shirt", which has been created for nearly half a year, will make its debut appearance to this exhibition. "A chance encounter, two shirts, nothing else in the sun", in the case of the old script Zhu Yu in front, it is not easy to turn the Kunqu opera classic into a small theater repertoire. In the view of director Ding Yun, the small theater opera no longer takes narrative as the main goal, but resonates with the audience with a series of fragments. Starting from Xu Jizu's perspective, the new work focuses on his wandering and struggle between love and law.

"Through the activity brand of Chinese small theater opera exhibition, young opera artists and young audiences are becoming the main practitioners and promoters of the development of opera." Gu said well. Constantly narrowing the distance with the audience group is always one of the purposes of the exhibition, as the performance kicked off, the "Xiqu Baby" WeChat emoji produced by Shanghai Xiqu Art Center was also launched, trying to promote traditional opera in a more lively and playful way for The Z generation audience - with the cartoon image of various characters in various trades, vividly interpreting "watching the drama to go", "I come too", "good" and "farewell", etc., which is unbearable. (Reporter Wang Xiaoli)

Source: Wen Wei Po