Even before reading The Merchant of Venice, the miserly sherlock in the book is "world-famous." As a classic comedy of Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice" uses the absurdity of "one pound of meat" to measure the good and evil of integrity, justice and the human heart, and has been performed unremittingly around the world for more than 400 years. In 2022, the Shanghai stage will usher in a new comedy "The Merchant of Venice", co-produced by Happy Twist, Chen Yiyi Art Center and Shanghai Grand Theatre. On April 20 and 24, it will be staged at the Shanghai Grand Theatre.
"Every year, many artistic genres of 'Shakespeare' are staged at the Grand Theatre. Director Chen's works have also been coming to the Grand Theatre, and this year's drama "Going North" is impressive. Happy Twist is also the prelude to entering the Shanghai performance market at the Grand Theatre. Zhang Xiaoding, general manager of the Shanghai Grand Theatre, described the collaboration as "old friends getting together."
Wang Haigang, co-president of Happy Twist and CEO of Shanghai Happy Twist, said, "Comedy should have wisdom and pursuit. The common values have brought the 83-year-old famous director Chen Liyi and the 18-year-old Happy Twist together to collide with a very "trendy" stage work.
The industry has always circulated such a saying, director Chen Liyi has "two musts", one is the stage synthesis before the performance, and the other is the director's elaboration when the group is established, which will benefit the younger generations in the industry endlessly. At today's press conference, the "group building" link was specially moved to the stage, so that Chen Liyi, who loved Shakespeare and admired Shakespeare all his life, talked about the "Merchant of Venice" in her eyes.
"In 1986, I rehearsed "Othello" for the Railway Literary and Labor Corps, and the director explained for eight hours," Chen Yiyi said with a smile and picked up the microphone, "so today I am concise and concise, but there are some things that must be said." Classics should be thicker and thicker, not thinner and thinner. When she read the director's play in the Chinese play, she analyzed 40 themes in the face of Hamlet, "Shakespeare's plays have a wealth of themes and characters, and the reader can find many appreciation angles, but the only constant is that he always evaluates the value of the characters with virtue." ”
Engaged in directing for more than 50 years, Chen Yiyi has seen a lot of "Shakespeare", but none of the dramas, film and television works of "The Merchant of Venice" have really touched her. These works either weaken Antonio's charm and turn him into a complete little man, or interpret the text from a single point of view, either politically, religiously, or sexually.
"I want to restore the real theme of The Merchant of Venice!" After creating the Cantonese opera "Rich and Rich" for the Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Troupe, Chen Yiyi once again faced the stage adaptation of "The Merchant of Venice". The former, with Portia as the first protagonist, is a big female protagonist, and this time, the restoration will be more plump and pure. "I must not hesitate to praise Antonio, not to paint other colors on him, and to the cold and cruel Shylock, I will never give him sympathy." She wants to tell the world through the stage: the truth, goodness, beauty, false evil and ugliness are clearly distinguished.
Keeping promises, being charitable, and being jealous and hateful is both the way to be a businessman and the way to be a human being, and it is the positive energy that society needs to carry forward and advocate, which makes today's rearrangement of "The Merchant of Venice" full of meaning. Zhang Xiaoding believes that Shakespeare, who is always young and not outdated, not only loses the spiritual thickness but also has a sense of trend, which can allow more young audiences to enter the theater to feel the call of the classic.
"I love Shakespeare because he is not Shakespeare, but a symbol and pioneer of an era, he represents the great era of mankind - the Renaissance." Chen Yiyi devoted his life to doing "the drama of giants", "giants are those frank, enthusiastic and selfless people in the vast galaxy of human history." ”
Just as the Renaissance was "very fashionable" during the birth of The Merchant of Venice, this new version of The Merchant of Venice also strives to present a very "cool" performance for the audience, and the stage design invites the Romanian stage designer Dan Potra, who will "magic" the stage. The entire stage will be designed to match the plot as a framework of a large box, a gondola presenting the venetian water city with a skateboard, and a deconstructed collage of character costumes, etc., which will become the highlights of the play. Chen Yiyi also let the actors "step on the skateboard" to enter, "I was a roller skating master when I was young, I hope you are all better than me!" ”
As one of the highlights of the play, how to play skateboarding has also become a compulsory course for actors every day. In the cast, Chen Liyi boldly chose the "mix of old and young", and the famous Peking Opera artist Guan Dongtian will play Sherlock, leading the post-80s and post-90s "twist flowers" to appreciate the performance state of "deleting the complex and simplifying the three autumn trees, leading the new February flowers", integrating some of the Peking Opera style innovations into the works and completing a public aesthetic innovation.
At the press conference, Wang Haigang, co-president of Happy Twist and CEO of Shanghai Happy Twist, officially hired director Chen Yiyi as the artistic director of Happy Twist Xinqiao High Theater (tentative name), and held a medal awarding ceremony. It is understood that the Xinqiao Gao Theater (tentative name) located in the Caohejing area of Xuhui, as the happy twist resident theater, will open in mid-2022 to usher in the first performance.
Photo courtesy of Happy Twist
Author: Tong Weijing
Editor: Wang Licheng
Editor-in-Charge: Xueying Wang
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.