A non-partisan person, a famous Chinese playwright, lexicographer, essayist, "Bashu ghost talent" Wei Minglun. Photo by AnYuan
Wei Minglun: Drama is not the art of regret I hope that someone will look up at the drama in the future
Chengdu, December 30 (China News Network) "Film is the art of regret, once it is released, it is difficult to change, but drama is not the art of regret." In the view of Wei Minglun, a non-partisan personage, a famous Chinese playwright, a lexicographer, and an essayist, and a "bashu ghost talent", unlike the creation of novels, essays, movies, and TELEVISION series, the exchange of audiences under the stage is an important part of drama creation. In one performance after another, according to the feedback of the audience, continuous improvement, after thousands of hammers, the final formation of a high-quality drama.
Three absolute literary stele plays, a lifetime of fox ghosts and demons. 7-year-old to learn art, 9-year-old on stage, 14-year-old to publish a study, on-stage play the role of the end of the ugly, off-stage self-study poetry and song endowment... Since more than 70 years of art, Wei Minglun has created many plays that are well-known at home and abroad, "Changing Faces (Excerpts)" has been included in the Renjiao edition of language textbooks, and "Pan Jinlian" has been translated into many languages and published overseas... He also received the honorary title of "Lifetime Achievement Dramatist of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles" in 2021.
In Wei Minglun's view, his most satisfactory work is "Xizhao Qishan". "Dare to 'invite Zhuge Liang to the altar', this is the most mature, complete, and literary taste of all my plays."
Wei Minglun consulted the materials in his study at his home in Chengdu, Sichuan. Photo by AnYuan
"A drama must not only be fascinating, but also moving and thought-provoking, and the combination of the three is a good play." Wei Minglun explained that fascinating is the foundation of the drama, if you can't let the audience into the play, you can't call it a drama; moving is to require the drama not only to look good, but also to make the audience emotional; thought-provoking requires the audience to think about history, reality, and the future through this drama.
Wei Minglun used "four endless" to describe his creative pursuits. "The language is not surprising and the death is endless", "the drama does not catch people and dies endlessly", "the emotion does not move people to die endlessly", Wei Minglun said that this theory is the rationality of the plot, and it is also the philosophy that extends to life.
As one of the most exploratory playwrights in the contemporary opera industry, Wei Minglun, who is over eighty years old, is still working hard to promote drama. The Wei Minglun Drama Museum will open in Zigong, Sichuan in 2022, which is the third museum after the Chengdu Wei Minglun Literature Museum and the Neijiang Wei Minglun Inscription Museum, which is divided into six districts and 15 exhibition halls, each hall is named after Wei Minglun's fine plays. The museum collects more than 1,000 pieces of Wei Minglun's various photographs, calligraphy works, precious manuscripts, etc., and uses high-tech means such as sound memory and holographic projection to exhibit Chen Wei Minglun's Sichuan opera artistic achievements and the artistic achievements of the Zigong Chuan Opera Troupe.
"Bashu Ghost Talent" Wei Minglun Exploration Hall Wei Minglun Drama Museum. Courtesy of respondents
Wei Minglun sighed that his childhood was the golden age of drama. From the computer age to the mobile phone era, the times have changed, and the way human entertainment has changed. No matter how much people today revitalize theater, they have to admit that the golden age of theater is over.
"I have written about the place of contemporary theater, and although the golden age of theater has passed, this does not mean that theater does not exist, and theater has become a flower bed in a hundred gardens." Wei Minglun said that although it is not the golden age of drama, the crisis is exactly the time for talents, and now many drama scripts are far more than in the past, and the level of many well-known theater actors has also surpassed their teachers.
"In terms of developing drama, we have proposed 'people out of drama to produce fine products', in fact, this is not allowed, the most important thing is to produce the audience, can not be revitalized on stage, offstage deserted." Wei Minglun introduced that the Wei Minglun Drama Museum plans to open in the Lantern Festival in 2022, and there is a small sculpture of a 9-year-old child looking up at the play, and he who was born in a drama family is 9 years old on stage and soaks in the play from a young age. "I think this sculpture means inheritance, and I hope that someone will look up at the play." (End)