The "snow" in Chinese poetry and opera is varied. Han Yongxue's poems are innumerable and endlessly recited; and the operas related to snow are also famous and often performed. The snowy world in classical Chinese conveys the eternal and gentle snuggling and blind date between the human heart and the snow, and in the cultural memory passed down from generation to generation, the relationship between "love" between man and nature is reconstructed - the green concept of the Winter Olympics is in the same vein.
The repertoire related to snow in the opera is divided into two types: the name is not real and the real is not named. The well-known names of "A Bunch of Snow" and "June Snow" have "snow" in the title, and there is no snow on the stage - "a bunch of snow" is the name of a wine glass, and the audience does not pay attention to whether it snows on the stage when watching "June Snow".
The "snow" that impresses the audience is another kind - although the repertoire is not titled "snow", "snow" makes the performance a wonderful content through the actors, such as "Cai Lou Ji", "Commenting on snow and identifying traces" and "South Heaven's Gate" (also known as "Walking snowy mountains").
It can be said that in this kind of drama, the relationship between modern opera texts and stage performances is highlighted. "Snow" is almost like a witness, proving that the opera performers on a stage beyond the text, expand out of another complete, vivid "dimension" composed of skillful performances. If the skillful performances are taken away, these plays will be deformed by the vacancies, lost in history because of their discoloration, and will not be seen by us, or even will not exist at all.
The plot of "Cai Lou Ji" is: The prime minister Liu Cuiping Cai Lou chooses a son-in-law, and the hydrangea hits the poor scholar Lü Mengzheng, who disobeys her father's orders and returns to the cold kiln in the mountains with him. When it snowed heavily in winter, Lady Liu ordered the old servant and the servant to send chai rice. Lü Mengzheng returned to find the footprints of two pairs of men and women in the snow, suspected that Cuiping was unchaste, but was teased; later Lü Mengzheng knew that he was wrong, and the husband and wife reconciled. In various dramas, "judging the snow and identifying traces" is a key scene, and Kunqu opera is particularly famous. Although the text is derived from Wang Shifu's miscellaneous drama "Lü Mengzheng Wind and Snow Breaking the Kiln", the play as a Kunqu opera is completely transplanted from Sichuan opera - Kunqu opera actor Shen Chuanzhi borrowed a lot from the performance of Sichuan opera, changing the singing of Sichuan opera to the singing of Kunqu opera, and changing the recitation of Sichuan opera to the recitation of Kunqu. Sichuan opera actor Zeng Ronghua was also invited to the Shanghai KunQu Troupe to teach this masterpiece.
Deep in the mountains, the ice and snow, the cold air in the cold kiln attacked people, Lu Meng was frozen and hungry, and the "cold" was deepened by "hunger", so the final performance still fell on the word "cold". The actor's whole body trembles when he plays, and even the muscles on his face are trembling. However, Lü Mengzheng is also a reader, and he is hired by a small student, who must be "cold and generous, cold and stylish." In addition, he was now suspicious of his beloved wife's infidelity, and he guessed that the sourness of jealousy should be greater than anger. For example, Liu Cuiping taunted her husband: "Aren't you cold?" Lu Mengzheng replied, "What is cold?" Don't you hear that the big husband is cold but not cold, you see... I'm still sweating! The actor said "sweating" on his lips, but his body was trembling and trembling, and this cold war wanted to play the embarrassment of the characters to cover themselves up but couldn't help themselves, which was very comedic. "Hungry" is more difficult from the perspective of performance, because the feeling of hunger is in the stomach, and the opera actor has a wonderful way - Lu Meng is shrinking his shoulders and collapsing his chest, using his hands to stroke his stomach slightly, he will wrap his hands around, a tight, indicating that he is tying the trouser belt, ignoring hunger, so that it is clear that it is hungry, not "stomach pain", which is very witty.
Zeng Ronghua said that to "evaluate the snow and identify the traces," we must master the three words of "sour, cold, and hungry." There is even a saying that practicing "cold" work should be practiced in the summer, three volts of hot summer practice, the body and face can not sweat, the characters are extremely cold, and even the actors themselves will be "cold" in the hot summer to get goosebumps.
Lü Mengzheng's big business is a small student, subdivided into poor students, mostly a young and unhappy poor student, also known as "shoe skin student", referring to the character who is so poor that the heel of the shoe is broken and still wearing, and he has to drag the shoes on the stage. The three words "sour, cold, and hungry" are also important methods for poor students to perform. "Cold" is not only the coldness of the external environment, but also the coldness of the characters themselves - sour, poor and cold, inhuman. The actors acted well, and in the laughter of the audience, there was not only ridicule, but also love and pity.
The plot of "South Heavenly Gate" ("Walking on the Snowy Mountain") is: The Zhongliang Cao family was killed by the traitors, the old servant Cao Fu protected miss Cao Yulian and fled to Guanghua Mountain, the snow was flying, the master and servant were difficult to walk, Cao Fu took off his coat to give the lady a cold, but he froze to death. The play's old students and Qing Yi sing with equal emphasis and characteristics, and have performed a lot, Lei Xifu, Ma Lianliang, Xi Xiaobo, Yan Jupeng, Tan Xiaopei, Lin Shusen and other generations of veteran actors have been recorded and passed down, and there are voice effects of Zhou Xinfang (Xiao Wang Guiqing) and Li Yuru (Chen Chaohong).
Some performances are performed by the old student first, falling on the butt seat, and then lifting up the dan horn, which looks big. In the "audio and video", the young lady and Cao Fu followed closely, Danjiao opened his belt bag to walk the round field, Cao Fu fell "hanging hair" in the Danjiao round field, which not only performed the cold winter season, the road was frozen, rushed to escape, and fell a big fall, but also made the field more lively and the atmosphere more tense. The two actors performed at the same time, cooperating with each other, just like falling out of a hot fire in the ice and snow, throwing out the image of an old but loyal and eager righteous servant. When she came to Guanghua Mountain, the young lady could not walk, Cao Fu pulled with "kneeling", the master and servant supported each other, step by step in the snow, and the old student used various steps and slow movements to show the style. Subsequently, Cao Fu took off his clothes and covered the young lady's body, one was frozen and trembling, and the other looked back miserably, forming a small appearance of a tall and a short, which was very beautiful. After undressing, the old student's legs and feet were stiff, and he was forced to walk. The actor's hand performance is closer to the body than before, and even hides his hand in the water sleeve, only exposing his fingers, appearing extremely cold, unable to extend his hand, and occasionally the water sleeves are crossed with each other, making the audience feel more nervous.
Before Cao Fu died, he hallucinated and saw that "there were eight cave immortals in mid-air", at this time his hands were all outstretched, his body was stretched back, laughing and crying, and then he died. Most of the actors will drop a "zombie" here, and the "sound matching image" only gently falls to the ground, but it makes the audience who is already sour in their eyes and nose and feel relieved for Cao Fu. This kind of temperance is very popular, including Cao Yulian, who is paired with Chen Chaohong, and it is also just right, tepid. She sat down and rubbed her feet with a delicate figure, and untied the foot wrapping belt very subtly, pointing to the end, not falling into vulgarity. I have seen a southern veteran actor "last" shoulder in the costume, highlighting the shrinking old posture, although flattering, but too deliberate, too "down the river", and outdated.
"Snow" plays are mostly plays in which actors sell their work. This kind of performance-based old student drama is called "decaying old student" in Peking Opera, and there are two interpretations: or to play many old and frail decaying characters, such as Zhang Yuanxiu of "Qingfeng Pavilion" and Zhang Guangcai of "Sweeping Songxia Book". Or because the characters are mentally stimulated, emotionally tense, and in a decadent state, such as the white locust of "Lost Seal fire", and Zhang En, the yicheng of "Spring and Autumn Pen", etc.
The "snow" drama in the opera is very popular and often performed, because the life atmosphere of this kind of drama is particularly strong, the cold, hunger, walking, snow plowing and other contents are familiar to ordinary people, and the requirements for the actor's performance are high - both delicate and real, but also exaggerated and effective, but also can not be overheated and false. Secondly, the skills of the "snow" play are rich, the footsteps, body, water sleeves, hair, eyes, including the heel are all used specially, the actors sell their strength, and the audience is addicted. But the audience loves to watch "snow" plays, the most important reason is that these plays are emotionally rich, tragic and decaying, and there is deep affection in the sour and cold stems. The loyalty and righteousness in the text, the fiery passion on the stage, are consciously or unconsciously organized until they are inseparable and reach the hearts of the people.
Just think about it, in the real winter night, after watching a "snow" play, when leaving the theater or encountering a cold wind, or snow at night, at this time the gong and drum are like in the ear, the story jumps in the chest, I feel that the heat is not scattered, the wind and snow are not afraid, I also stride forward, step into it, praise a really good "snow" also!
(Original title: "Snow" Drama Ya Rhyme)
Source: Beijing Daily author Yan Xiaoping
Process Edit: u027
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