As a film screened in the "SIFF Rhapsody" section of the Shanghai International Film Festival, the Kunqu documentary film "Peony Returns the Soul - Bai Xianyong and the Revival of Kunqu Opera" met with the audience for the first time and was screened in five theaters in a row. Compared with other works screened, "opera documentaries" seem a little niche and unfamiliar, but the gratifying results of almost full attendance prove the prosperous appearance of Kunqu opera at present. As Bai Xianyong lamented in the movie: "Kunqu opera has no other, it has a 'beautiful' word!" The beauty of rhetoric, dance, music and human feelings are the concentrated embodiment of Chinese aesthetic ideals, the product of the highly developed classical culture of China, and the world-class art, and all of us must cherish it. ”
"Peony Returns the Soul - Bai Xianyong and the Revival of Kunqu Opera" records the story behind the scenes of the youth version of "Peony Pavilion". In April 2004, the youth version of "Peony Pavilion" created by Bai Xianyong and Suzhou Kun Theatre was born, which "follows tradition without following tradition, respects modernity but does not abuse modernity". Bai Xianyong cut the essence of the original 55-fold play to 27 folds, according to the contemporary aesthetics, using the new concept of modern theater, so that the classics passed down from generation to generation are displayed to the audience in a youthful and beautiful form. The youth version of "Peony Pavilion" has been performed more than 100 times around the world so far.
Tang Xianzu once said: "I have four dreams in my life, and my pride lies only in "Peony". "As a masterpiece of romanticism in the history of Chinese opera, "Peony Pavilion", "West Chamber", "Peach Blossom Fan" and "Hall of Eternal Life" are called the four classical dramas in China. The story tells the story of everyone's girlfriend Du Liniang who fell in love with Liu Mengmei, the student in her dream, but she died of injury, turned into a soul to find a lover in reality, fell in love with people and ghosts, and finally rose from the dead to life, and finally married Liu Mengmei yongxin.
It is reported that director and screenwriter Deng Yongxing conducted a four- or five-hour interview with Bai Xianyong at the Suzhou Kun Opera Theater to deeply understand Bai Xianyong's in-depth insights into the revival of Kunqu opera in the past 18 years, and then edited the interview into the backbone of the documentary to trace the revival process of Kunqu opera.
"From the very beginning, I wanted to make the film itself a Kunqu opera. Taking the four hundred years of history as the time span, Tang Xianzu's text, Bai Xianyong's teacher, the workmanship of Kunqu opera, the mission of inheritance, etc. as the material, arrange when they will play and when they will be invisible. In his view, this is not a documentary with a timeline to record, but more of a video record with "Kun flavor" and poetry.
Author: Wang Xiaoli
Editor: Zhou Minxian