Presented by Kering Women In Motion 跃动她影
"As long as you are jumping, your shadow will jump with itself, it is a living, rhythmic melody." 」 At the end of 2021, Huang Xiangli, known as the "Queen of One-Man Drama", performed the drama "Fox Angel" at the Hive Theater in Hangzhou.
Fox Angel
One person walked on the stage, one person completed a two-hour performance, and Huang Xiangli said that there was a huge energy in it - loneliness. "Loneliness is good, and when you go to accept loneliness, you can get along well with it."
Since 2013, Huang Xiangli has entered such a state, a person, a stage, more than a thousand performances; in 2021, she experienced some changes, the first electrocution on the big screen, starring in the movie "Lyceum Grand Theatre" directed by Lou Ye, and also participated in the multi-person drama "Song of the Sad Cafe" for a long time, and returned to the state of being on stage alone at the end of the year. It was a year when she was "intense, creative, and needed to build up energy." ”
When the curtain opened and the lights came on, Huang Xiangli had long been accustomed to playing alone, performing on the stage for two hours; she bent down, bowed to the only virtual opponent in her heart, the audience, turned around, and closed the curtain alone. This is the performance norm that Huang Xiangli, who has been acting as a one-man show for eight years, is most familiar with.
"Letter from a Strange Woman" is Huang Xiangli's first one-man show, everything was unknown before she took the stage, uncertain performance, uncertain audience reaction; now eight or nine years have passed, with the launch of "Hello, Sorrow", "Nine and Half of Love" and this "Fox Angel", four one-man shows have allowed Huang Xiangli to experience a long and difficult rehearsal, but also gained unexpected excitement and enjoyment.
"Letter from a Strange Woman"
"Before performing at the Poly Theater in Beijing, it was a theater of 1,600 people, so big that there was only one actor standing on the stage. Some of the light went straight to my eyes, and what I saw was black, and I even wondered if there was no one in the theater, because the audience was also very engaged, and everyone's breathing was very light, so light that a needle fell on the ground and could be heard. During these two hours in the theater, they followed me so trustfully, followed my performance into the world of actors, which was amazing, and I would instantly feel like a magician. ”
At the turn of last spring and summer, a play adapted from the book of the same name by American female writer Carson McCullers broke the old state, and Huang Xiangli welcomed the rival actor on the stage for a long time, and she was no longer alone. This drama that is avant-garde in drama, text and music unfolds with the thick twilight of Aranya, the big hand of fate reaches out to the eternal theme of human loneliness, love is irresistible, loneliness is irresistible, Huang Xiangli transforms into the heroine Emilia, in the song of the sad café and the sound of endless waves, swept into a story of love and loneliness.
"The Song of the Sad Cafe"
She sees the successful appearance of "Sad Cafe Song" as one of the most celebratable events in 2021. The thrill of returning to the multiplayer stage brings to Huang Xiangli is obvious, and the challenge that follows is the inner writing of the few characters in the original novel. "The heroine Amelia has all her joys and sorrows, all her emotions are hidden in her heart, and she is not a very exposed person. The descriptions in the original novel also did not describe the emotional changes of the characters to the fullest, they were all forbearing and restrained, so what did I play? From a creative point of view, it is particularly difficult. She recalls the situation encountered during the creative process, "I want to do everything I can, rack my brains, to express Miss Emilia's inner loneliness and desire for love, and all the different emotions through singing, body language and other different ways, and at the same time make the audience feel that she is really Emilia." 」 She sighed lightly, "It's so hard. ”
Necklaces and rings are Pomellato
When the poignant trumpet sound echoed on the surface of the sea, and the ambiguous feelings of sadness flowed in the air, Huang Xiangli on the stage saw several pairs of spectators hugging each other tightly in the rain. At that moment, she felt goosebumps on her body. "That strong emotion of being impacted, the audience was struck by what we were going to express, felt, it was all so beautiful!" Silent hugs replaced a thousand words of praise, and she felt that she had received great affirmation, "Creation is difficult, and every time we create, we want to break through ourselves and find new meaning." "The Song of the Sad Cafe" inspired me to be more bold, unbridled, and need to accumulate more energy in the future. ”
People often use "one-horned, multi-faceted, versatile" to describe Huang Xiangli, she is more or less angular.
Nine years ago, Huang Xiangli starred in the fifth edition of "Rhinoceros in Love" directed by Meng Jinghui, playing the heroine of this classic drama "Mingming". Over the years, a number of actresses who play "MingMing" have successively taken advantage of the east wind of "Rhinoceros in Love" to turn to the film and television circle, but Huang Xiangli stayed on the small stage and lined up one drama after another. "I could be Cecil in Hello, Sorrow. Friends I know say that I am very easy-going, easy-going, and have a good temper, but my heart is quite screwed, I don't want to go the same way with others, nor is it to not take the same road as others, I don't take that road. I have my own criteria and principles for choice, and I only do what I find meaningful and valuable. ”
"Hello, Sorrow"
After many years of accumulating strength, Huang Xiangli waited for the movie "Lyceum Grand Theatre" directed by Lou Ye. At that time, the casting director selected matching drama actors for the film, and she was included in the list for many years who were active on the drama stage, and not long after seeing Lou Ye, the role was quickly fixed, she starred in Baiyun Dress, and had a large number of rival plays with Gong Li, Wang Chuanjun and other actors. It's not easy to switch from drama to film, "completing the transition between stage performance and performance in front of the camera." The performance in front of the camera is more special. Like the play directed by Lou Ye, what he wants is a very natural, especially real performance. In the process of making movies, I have been thinking and learning how to be real. ”
Stills from "Lyceum Theatre"
On the first day of entering the crew, she placed herself clearly, "Every day is a learning process." She marveled at the professionalism of the crew, "I really didn't expect it to be such a professional and first-class team beyond my imagination." From the director in front of the monitor to the field worker who moves the chair, from top to bottom, everyone is trying to create the atmosphere of the film for the whole shooting. When I went to the set, the assistant director probably said about the work, and quickly, the staff all disappeared, and only the people, characters, and props that should have appeared in that scene were there. ”
She says she's lucky enough to work with the best directors, both in the theatre and film circles. Talking about Meng Jinghui, who has been a partner for many years and has led himself to the theater world, Huang Xiangli said, "Director Meng is like a sun, as long as you see him, the idealistic aura on his body is shining, and it is released. His energy is also amazing, he radiates his theatrical ideals, theatrical aesthetics, and everything related to drama into everyone' body, enveloping you. On the other hand, she was deeply attracted by Lou Ye's pure focus and unique expression of the film, "He is a person who thinks about the movie 24 hours a day." He is so unique that he has his own understanding, opinions and attitudes towards the world. Director Lou Ye's professionalism has greatly affected me, and the artist has to be brave enough to say no and make a lot of choices. Sometimes, he is like a black hole, not making a sound, he will 'um' absorb all the energy into him, and you will be caught up in it. They are all very good artists. ”
"Lyceum Theatre" has returned to the audience's field of vision after the withdrawal of the file, and Huang Xiangli, as one of the leading actors, is particularly happy, which is also another big event she feels worth celebrating. "The film finally met the audience, and we waited for three years. The screening of Lyceum Theatre meant it was finally bearing fruit, and we reaped the rewards. ”
Huang Xiangli's fourth one-man show "Fox Angel" was created at the time of the spread of the epidemic, and the sudden outbreak of the epidemic made her temporarily leave the stage for eight months after getting used to being with the audience for one session. "It was a magical year, and as creators, we were eager to express it, and we wanted to do a play about freedom, with particularly gorgeous and magical costumes, and very good songs."
Huang Xiangli is extremely concerned about the presentness conveyed in the drama, which is the connection that must be generated between the individual creation and the world as a theater worker. She said of the Berlin Theater Festival that she most admires, "Foreign drama must be very closely related to the presentness of society, it has a lot of thinking, the core of the drama can directly impact people's hearts, so that the audience will cause thinking and discussion after watching the play, not just saying that they have watched a drama of love and love." For them, if your work cannot express some of the problems and thoughts in the current society, then it is meaningless. This is also my task when creating. ”
The feeling of being separated from the audience for 8 months and returning to the stage, Huang Xiangli remembers clearly. "I've never stopped going on stage for 8 months, and I feel like I'm in a trance." She thought she would be nervous and would encounter many obstacles, but when the curtain slowly opened and she saw the audience, she instantly felt that she was back in the past. "It's as if nothing has changed, 8 months have been taken away, and I will cherish this stage even more, cherish the audience that appears in front of me." She smiled, "The epidemic is under control, and the audience can go back to the theater and back to the theater, which is something I should celebrate." ”
Looking back at 2021, Huang Xiangli flicked a beautiful short hair to express his affirmation, "2021 is a beautiful job!" She used three words to describe it as "a year of intensive, creative explosion and the need to accumulate energy", and she hopes that this burst of creativity can continue to live in the coming year, creating more vital and social works for the field of drama that has been deeply cultivated for many years, revealing a new chapter.
The actress in front of me has little ambition, but has a small hope, "For me, the work is equal to my achievements." In terms of performance, it is difficult to measure it with a ruler that is particularly accurate, and it does not have a universal standard. I want to be able to have the qualities I see in those European theater actresses – the charm on stage, the love of theater and the understanding of theater life– and I want to be as good actors as they are. ”
Presented by
Kering Women In Motion jumped her in the shadows
In 2015, at the Cannes Film Festival, Kering launched the "Leap Her Film" project to recognize female filmmakers in front of and behind the camera. The "Moving Her Film" project continues to grow and expand from the field of film to photography, art and literature, as well as dance and choreography. Through a series of awards, the "Leaping Her Shadow" project recognizes outstanding people and talented women who have made important contributions to the industry, and in 2021, Leaping Her Shadow in China was officially upgraded to a global social platform focusing on the interaction and reporting of female artists, exploring the voices and faces of women behind artistic creation, as well as their unique hearts and minds.
Over the past seven years, the "Leap Her Film" project has also become a pioneering platform for changing perceptions, calling on society to reflect on the role women play in major arts fields and whether they are getting enough attention and recognition.
Editors: Zhang Jing, Mia Zhang, Zhou Hezi
Author: Xu Lu
Fine Arts: Roland