The picture shows the stills of the review drama "Mother".
The picture shows the stills of the Peking Opera "The Story of the Red Army".
Core reading
The creation of revolutionary historical theme opera can focus on the character's mental journey, show the power of faith with human nature, and make the red culture vivid and perceptible by creating a warm and convincing character image
Chinese opera is a highly poetic art, singing and dancing, and poetry can be entered everywhere. Revolutionary historical theme opera can give full play to the aesthetic characteristics of opera, enhance the artistic expression and ideological penetration of works
On the one hand, it is to explore the theme from the perspective of contemporary people, and have new ideas in character shaping and ideological expression; on the other hand, it is eclectic and strives to create a new stage art style
My hometown is in Gannan Province, which is a thick soil full of red culture. I grew up listening to the red stories, and I was familiar with those people and those stories in the glory years. As a Communist Party member and artist who was born in Sichuan, grew up in Sichuan, and matured in Sichuan, red has been cast in my blood as the background color of life. Over the years, in the field of stage art creation, I have continued to cultivate the theme of revolutionary history, and am committed to expressing the epic character and noble spirit of red history and culture with charming opera works, touching and inspiring the audience.
Convey the great spirit with a vivid image
Opera is good at lyrical, good at shaping simple character images with grounded artistic techniques, showing the hearts of characters with delicate singing and dancing, and moving people with emotion. Therefore, the creation of revolutionary historical theme opera can focus on the characters' mental journey, express the power of faith in accordance with human nature, and make the red culture vivid and perceptible by creating a warm and convincing character image.
For example, the tea picking drama "Mountain Song Love" focuses on the tenacious character and dedication of the people in the Southern Jiangsu District through the life choices and characters of the characters in the play. In the play, the revolutionary songs of "farewell to the Xingguo Division" and "Hitting Ganzhou and Ji'an" ran through the whole process, and it was with this fiery and simple and sincere feeling that the people of the Soviet Union joined the revolutionary contingent led by the Communist Party with this fiery and simple and sincere feeling. Among them, The couple, Zhenxiu and Mingsheng, use the mountain song as a medium and fall in love with each other, but Zhenxiu's adoptive mother marries her to Mancang, which brings deep emotional damage to the three protagonists. But in the face of the enemy's butcher's knife, they put aside their emotional entanglements and fought for the towel of the "King of Mountain Song" who meant sacrifice, so as to protect others and save the revolutionary team. The three express their feelings with songs, realize the sublimation of personality, and also push the whole play to a climax.
From the perspective of a mother, the drama "Revolutionary Family" tells the story of the gathering and dispersion of an ordinary family in the beacon years, showing the process of The simple and ignorant village girl Fang Cheng approaching the revolutionaries and gradually growing into a Communist Party member. With Fang Cheng's growth, historical events such as the Hunan peasant movement, the Shanghai workers' movement and the student movement led by the Communist Party were naturally introduced into the play, promoting the protagonist's gradual political maturity. The play pays attention to showing family affection, especially the love of husband and wife, mother and child, mother and daughter, which is closely related to the fate of the country and the future of the nation. The audience relived history in empathy with the characters and was shocked by the sacrifice and dedication of the revolutionary martyrs.
Use artistic tension to show the power of faith
Perhaps related to the old revolutionary areas, most of the revolutionary historical drama works I directed are full of passion. On the stage, I try my best to render emotions through artistic techniques, creating drama and visibility that belongs to the stage, so that the audience can fully feel the power of the red spirit to shake people's hearts.
Chinese opera is a highly poetic art, singing and dancing, and poetry can be entered everywhere. Revolutionary historical theme opera can give full play to the aesthetic characteristics of opera, enhance the artistic expression and ideological penetration of works. Kunqu opera "Qu Qiubai" is composed of a four-fold structure of "tracing the source", "Bingzhi", "engraving the heart" and "taking the meaning". Each fold is divided into two parts: "day" and "night": "day" corresponds to Qu Qiubai's life course; "night" shows the protagonist's inner world through a stage technique that is both real and illusory. The image of Qu Qiubai in the play reflects the masculinity and exuberance of a communist with firm faith, and reflects the passion and romance burning in the character's heart. Externalizing this spirit of the characters on the stage can give full play to the advantages of opera in replacing reality with fiction and creating unlimited space for expression on a limited stage.
From the Autumn Harvest Uprising and the Three Bays Adaptation to the Gutian Conference and the Battle of the Xiangjiang River, the Xiang opera "The Road to Loyalty" tells the growth path of the revolutionary Chen Shuxiang in such a historical context. Historically, Chen Shuxiang left almost no personal video data. At the end of the play, Chen Shuxiang's former comrade-in-arms and founding general Han Wei recognized Chen Shuxiang in many sketches drawn by his descendants, and then stood up from his wheelchair: "Report to the division commander!" At this time, the projection on the stage appeared chen Shuxiang's sketch portrait, which was both plain and magnificent. The old general turned his back on the audience and saluted the sketch portrait. The actor who played Chen Shuxiang came from the depths of the stage and saluted the audience. This poetic expression better conveys the admiration and remembrance of heroes.
Inherit the red culture with meticulous works
In the process of directing revolutionary historical opera, I "kept and advanced". "Keeping" means not only returning to the ontology of opera, but also referring to the return to life, to inspiration, expression, and discovery of different types of drama. "Jin", on the one hand, is to explore the theme from the perspective of contemporary people, and has new ideas in character shaping and ideological expression; on the other hand, it is eclectic, absorbing various artistic elements such as folk songs and dances, shadow puppetry, and striving to create new stage art styles.
For example, in the soundtrack of the Kunqu opera "Qu Qiubai", there are both traditional flutes and symphonies need to be added because of the plot to echo the significance of the "Internationale" to the characters' ideals and beliefs. At the same time, eight "dream shadow" scenes are used to show the lingering inner feelings of the characters. In the Peking Opera "The Story of the Red Army", the actor's performance is both traditional stylized, throwing up his hands and feet, showing the indomitable strength of the characters in the difficult situation, and at the same time, it is full of life, close to today's audience aesthetics. Based on the heroic mother Deng Yufen, the commentary drama "Mother" shows the disasters suffered by the nation during the War of Resistance Against Japan and praises the indomitable national spirit. The whole play recalls the war from the perspective of the mother, brings a sense of time and space transformation through the actor's performance, breaks the traditional linear narrative structure, and allows the audience to closely follow the emotional narrative of the characters into the history of singing and crying.
As a member of the Communist Party of China and as a literary and art worker, on the road of creating and arranging operas with revolutionary historical themes, I have walked into the depths of a hundred years of history time and again, and have been shocked and sublimated again and again. In the course of the party's hundred years, there are too many touching stories and too many rich resources to be discovered and expressed. Opera is longer than lyricism, long at showing the rich inner world of the characters, not limited by time and space, can express thousands of troops and horses in every inch, the hypothetical aesthetic characteristics of ancient and modern travel, and the poetic inner charm, these are the unique advantages of opera in expressing revolutionary historical themes. There is still a lot of room for exploration to tell the story of the revolution well on the opera stage, inherit the red culture with meticulous works, and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture.
(The author is a drama director)
Draft: Zhao Kairu
Author: Zhang Manjun
Source: People's Daily