The Cantonese opera "Golden Lotus" of the small theater has won five awards, including Best Repertoire, Best Actress, Best Lighting Design, Best Music Design, and Best Popular Work.
On the last day of 2021, the Cantonese opera "Golden Lotus" of the Small Theater won five major awards such as Best Repertoire, Best Actress, Best Lighting Design, Best Music Design, and Best Popular Work in the "Good Tone • 2021 Small Theater Opera Season".
Best actress Jiang Wenduan created a different artistic image of Pan Jinlian, and integrated the performance art of the industry into the shaping of the character, one tone and one tone, one move and one style, which is perfect. As the award speech said: "Whether it is the innocence and delicacy of the girlhood, the throbbing and anxiety when the love sinus first opened, or the painful struggle when forced to get married, Jiang Wenduan used her delicate performance to outline a living golden lotus who was ignorant and unconscious under the tragic fate." It can be said that Jiang Wenduan really gave Jin Lian the soul, and her eyes that were tormented by love and shyness, as long as she looked at it, even if it was a stone, it would give birth to a heart of love and pity. ”
As a winner of the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Drama, what attracted her to make this subversive attempt? What was the most difficult part of this show? A few days ago, Jiang Wenduan accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from Nandu.
Jiang Wenduan created a different artistic image of Pan Jinlian, one tone, one move and one style, which is perfect.
Protagonist Dialogue ——
In the small theater, you can perform drama and Cantonese opera
Nandu: What made you appear in this play?
Jiang Wenduan: I have always paid attention to the performance form of small theaters. In Guangzhou, the performance of small theaters is mainly drama, and it seems that it is rare to see small theaters with opera. I know that in Shanghai and Beijing, it is already relatively mature, but in Guangdong, I think it is not yet. In fact, I have always had such a desire, or the idea of trying.
By chance, I got the script by screenwriter Chen Yunsheng. At that time, I heard the name "Golden Lotus" and felt that the theme of "Pan Jinlian" had been performed by many opera actors before, could I be qualified for this profession? Haven't tried it after all. But when I saw this script, I felt that this script had a very large performance space for us, and it was very suitable for our opera performance. We ourselves are also acting in Cantonese opera, so we have mastered a lot of opera performances. I hope that it is still based on Cantonese opera performance, this foundation we will definitely not loosen, and then in the form of a small theater to perform what kind of effect will it be? I think it's really possible to try.
Apply your experience in filming TV dramas to the Cantonese opera stage
Nandu: What was the hardest part of rehearsing this play?
Jiang Wenduan: The main creative team of our drama actually has a very deep foundation in opera, the music and singing design are completed by my father and mother, and Feng Jianning, a musician who graduated from Xinghai Conservatory of Music, is the arranger, adding modern and fashionable elements to traditional opera music; director Hu Jiawei is also a graduate of our Cantonese opera school, he studied acting, and then went to Beijing to study directing. He will dabble in many ways in many ways, different art disciplines. So when we created and rehearsed "Golden Lotus", he used a lot of drama means, but it also gave me enough space for opera performance. So when we rehearsed this play, when it comes to the opera part, we feel a little more handy. However, the control of the entire rhythm and the jumping out and jumping in of the character's time and space are instantaneous changes. This grasp is really a new attempt for me, and it is a big challenge.
This form of performance is also a big challenge for me, because in a 70-minute time period, I must be able to show different situations, different emotions, different ages, different psychological changes. So here we have to make a few changes, and it's instantaneous, and the pace is very tight. It was a challenge for me, but I had experience in filming TV dramas before (Jiang Wenduan had gone to Hong Kong to attend an artist training course sponsored by TVB, and had cooperated with stars such as Li Ming, Gu Tianle, Zhang Zhilin and other stars to act in nearly 20 TV series such as "Criminal Investigation Files", "Facsimile of Serious Cases", "Legend of the Eagle Shooter", "Iron Courage Liang Kuan" and so on) that my performance was to be able to get in place immediately and enter the role immediately. This exercise was a great experience for me and could also be applied to the performances of this small theater.
The audience's breath can change with the actor's breath
Nandu: How is the small theater performance different from your previous stage performance?
Jiang Wenduan: The space of the small theater is a very open space, and our performance and the audience can be said to be zero distance, and it is really performing next to the audience seat. So every look we make, every psychological change, every breath of our actors, because the audience is watching from zero distance, so they will follow your breathing, emotions to change, this is a very intuitive communication. When I performed in Shanghai, I was shuttling around the audience. It was a theater open on three sides, and I walked almost all the four corners of the auditorium. Every corner I can use as a fulcrum for my character's performance. Audiences on three sides can see and can feel it up close. But this is very difficult to do for the framework stage. There is a plot where Wu Song and Jin Lian happen to be in a diagonal of the theater, which is an echo, a counterpoint. The audience on Jin Lian's side will feel my emotions, and the feeling of distance from Wu Song is actually the same as mine. This is immersive, and this experience is different from our framed stage.
In the form of small theater performances, the audience's breathing can change with the breathing of the actors.
The performance form of the small theater gives the audience more speculative works
Nandu: What do you think of the future of Cantonese opera in small theaters?
Jiang Wenduan: I think the development of Cantonese opera should uphold the spirit of "shouzheng innovation", and the performance form of small theater is also a direction of innovative development. I hope that in the future, more people will pay attention to this form of performance, and the performance of the small theater is thought-provoking, and it can also give the audience a lot of speculative works. I think this form should be accepted by many people, especially young audiences are more receptive to this model. Opera is a comprehensive art that organically combines singing, doing, reading and playing, and how to apply this comprehensive art to the performance form of a small theater is worth exploring and trying. I hope to attract a lot of young people to the theater to watch the performance. This mode of watching the performance, I think, can go on and is worth exploring.
Just as when we finished our performance in Guangzhou and held the exchange meeting, some experts suggested that the performance form of this small theater was very good. After everyone finishes work, they will eat something to watch the performance, and after the performance, they still have time to have a drink and chat, and they can sit down and talk about the play while eating, communicate and think about it. I think this kind of life is quite fulfilling. Therefore, I think that small theater opera is worth trying and developing.
The performance form of the small theater can bring more speculative works to the audience.
Expert Voice ——
Wang Kui, Director of the Xiqu Research Institute of the China Academy of Arts and President of the China Xiqu Society:
On the contrary, tradition has made Cantonese opera fashionable
Pan Jinlian's theme is rare for me to dislike, but the performance of the small theater Cantonese opera "Golden Lotus" has no acceptance obstacles, and even because of the delicate performances of the two leading actors, because of the independent thinking of this young team. The play only selects Pan Jinlian's emotional throbbing momentary human purity, focusing only on her passive personality being defaced by Zhang Dahu for her slavery, and the passive immersion in emotions that cannot be dominated by emotions for women, so she gets a respect and understanding at first sight of Wu Song, even if it is polite, and rises a moment of touch, thus achieving her freedom to let her mind chase true emotions. From Jin Lian's heart to excavate a part of her truth, from Jin Lian's action a little freedom to excavate her pure feelings, this has a completely different image texture from the previous Pan Jinlian. Therefore, the work is not the well-known "Pan Jinlian" to overturn the case, but to focus on the human nature of a woman before she went to alienation. Jiang Wenduan's performance and singing are stunning, or her artistic interpretation of the image opens up the space for the expression of theatrical structure and dramatic literature, and more deeply presents the emotional subtlety that the character image should have. On the contrary, tradition makes Cantonese opera fashionable, which is the most valuable artistic attitude of young creators.
On the contrary, tradition makes Cantonese opera fashionable, which is the most valuable artistic attitude of young creators.
Professor Wu Guoqin of the Department of Chinese of Sun Yat-sen University:
Very modern Cantonese opera, shaping a different Pan Jinlian
The Cantonese opera "Golden Lotus" focuses on the relationship between Pan Jinlian and Wu Song. The appearance of the handsome brother Wu Song made Pan Jinlian's heart violently shaken, and the play used various artistic means to express Pan Jinlian's strong emotional changes and inner activities, using dreams, canonical narratives, flashbacks, interludes and even stream-of-consciousness methods, and also used Brecht's distancing effect to intersperse interpretations with narrators, so this is a very modern Cantonese opera, and the director's handling is very smooth.
Jiang Wenduan created a different artistic image of Pan Jinlian. Jiang Wenduan plays a wide road, Boudoir Dan, Hua Dan, Qingyi, Dao Ma Dan are all experts, she plays the Golden Lotus, it is difficult for us to say which industry, she integrates the performing arts of the line into the shaping of the character, the body movements are just right, especially the eyes are agile, very energetic, but wonderful. Jiang Wenduan's performance has two characteristics, one is that the feelings are sincere, the performance is very engaged, and the eyes are tearful in some scenes; the other is that it is natural, and the performance is not pretentious and unpretentious, and it will come naturally. These two characteristics are related to her previous two years of film and television dramas in Hong Kong, film and television shooting requires real and natural, although it and Cantonese opera belong to different categories, but the art theory is the same.
Jiang Wenduan used his experience in filming TV dramas on the stage of the small theater.
Professor Dong Shangde of the Department of Chinese of Sun Yat-sen University:
Instead of writing a "reversal article", it is a "solid color" golden lotus
The Cantonese opera "Golden Lotus" changes the "linear narrative" of the opera tradition to a "focus narrative", focusing on the psychological reality of Jin Lian after the first encounter with Wu Song, showing the feeling that a bitter young woman instinctively pursues the "maiden's first love" that has been lost, and her demeanor and dreams are all quite illusory "psychological compensation". I don't think it's about writing "overturned articles". The public may think that the editors and creators are "overturning the case" for Jin Lian. In fact, it is not appropriate to understand it in this way, so it seems shallow. Jin Lian is a woman living without "choice space", her emotions, desires and the right to be loved are completely "suspended" by the society at that time, "Golden Lotus" presents such a cruel fact, so the performance has a certain speculative color.
The drama "Golden Lotus" is only a psychological reality in a short period of time and space after cutting Jinlian into wu Dalang, and it is a "pure color" Golden Lotus.
The small theater is the theatricalization of the church opera, and it is also the simplification of the performance method of the grand theater. The former retains the audience's closeness to the actors, while the latter provides a sense of theater that is not necessarily present in the congregational play. The two are combined to complement each other. The small theater cannot be regarded as a miniature version of the grand theater, because the small theater has its own prescriptiveness.
Link——
Small Theater Cantonese Opera "Golden Lotus"
The Cantonese opera "Golden Lotus" in the small theater is produced by Duan Yifang, written by Chen Yunsheng, directed by Hu Jiawei, and starring Jiang Wenduan, winner of the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award.
The whole play of "Golden Lotus" focuses on Pan Jinlian's psychology and humanity, restoring a real tragic female image for the audience. The first time after the opening was the trial of Jin Lian, who listed three major crimes for seducing her uncle, adulterizing Ximen Qing, and murdering Wu Da. After that, the story begins with a night when the snow is falling and Jin Lian prepares a table of food waiting for Wu Song to return home, telling her inner struggle and hope.
What is more special is that "Golden Lotus" adopts the form of a small theater to create an immersive experience atmosphere, allowing the characters in the play to interact with the audience outside the play. During the performance, some of the actors broke through the original stage frame area and came to the aisle of the auditorium. This setup creates an "open court of adjudication" that returns the judgment of Jin Lian to the audience in the theater. At the same time, "Golden Lotus" has innovated in the use of stage images and the combination of Chinese and Western music, such as the use of the piano in performance.
The Cantonese opera "Golden Lotus" adapts a highly controversial theme into a small theater opera with both highlights and characteristics in a delicate way, and in 2021, it has a warm response when it is performed in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and it is difficult to find a ticket.
In recent years, the "fickleness" of Cantonese opera has been often seen in many examples of young audiences: there is the world's first "online game + Cantonese opera" experimental drama "Decisive Battle of Tiance Fu", and there is also the Popular Cantonese opera movie "White Snake Legend and Love". The slightly niche "Golden Lotus" has also attracted the attention of young audiences with its subversive performance form.
Written by: Nandu reporter Zhou Peiwen intern Chen Yue Chen Qianqian
Photo courtesy of Duan Yifang