On March 4 and 5, the drama "Alcoholic Mo Fei", produced by Drive Media, directed by European theater giant, Polish theater master Christian Lupa and starring Wang Xuebing, will soon land at the Harbin Grand Theatre, which is the second stop after the play's 2022 debut in Shanghai. Since its premiere in 2017, the play has been staged nearly 30 times, covering Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Harbin, Guangzhou and other cities. The "Alcoholics Mo Fei" staged this time is the "European TourIng Version" rehearsed in 2022, which is condensed and sublimated on the basis of the initial version, and returned to Ice City after being staged in Shanghai with full praise.
A Spiritual Visit by Polish Director to Chinese Writers: Telling Chinese Stories in World Theatre Vocabulary
Adapted from Shi Tiesheng's work "The Idea of a Drama Set in a Movie", the drama "Alcoholic Mo Fei" tells the story of Mo Fei, an alcoholic who was found dead for seven days, who walked between reality and illusion, past and future, downstream from the urge of alcohol. The play is one of Christian Lupa's trilogy of Chinese stories, and the initial exploration of "telling Chinese stories in the vocabulary of world drama" is a spiritual visit to Chinese writer Shi Tiesheng. Born in Poland in 1943, Lupa has studied and trained in different fields such as physics, fine arts, film and theater, and is known as the "giant of the European theater world" with his unique style of work. In the history of Polish theater, Lupa inherited the pivotal status of Canto, Grotowski, and then Varikovsky, and was regarded as a national treasure by the Polish theater industry. He was awarded the Austrian Cross In 2001, the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts and Letters of the French Ministry of Culture in 2002, the Svennaski Prize, and the Schiller Prize.
Commenting on the European tour of the play 'Alcoholics Mo Fei', Lupa said: "'The Alcoholics Mo Fei' was a wonderful experience for me, we tried to delve into the problem of alcoholism from the perspective of an addicted and suffering person, and in order to understand and repair this pathological world, we must listen to such voices. This is another theatrical adventure after Diary of a Madman, and this one comes with new inspiration that allows us to gain a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the sufferings and dreams of people on the fringes of society. ”
Wang Xuebing's father and son went into battle together to interpret the philosophy from "Mo" to "Mo Fei"
The drama "Alcoholics Mo Fei" is starred by actor Wang Xuebing, in which he plays a social "marginal person", who is a loser in the eyes of others, hopeless, self-defeating and incompetent drunkards. He did not identify with the existing order of the world and wanted to remove the "emperor's new clothes", so he put himself in the position of a rebel, wanted to "lock himself in a closed and opaque hexahedron" - so that only with the help of alcohol could he temporarily forget everything. Wang Xuebing's eager and restrained performance, with a dream-like monologue to reveal the truth of contemporary loneliness, touched countless audiences, and won the "Best Actor" award at the 2nd Chinese Drama Festival in 2018.
Wang Xuebing, who has cooperated with Lu Pa in two plays, once said: "Mr. Shi Tiesheng borrowed the identity of an alcoholic to tell everyone about the spiritual difficulties that everyone will encounter, and I believe that if you come to see this play, although not everyone is an alcoholic, you can see yourself from this drunkard, and I think this is the wonderful place of the drama." In the original book, protagonist A imagines talking to himself as a child, when he was named B, and when he grew up, he changed his name to A. Everyone has two sides of AB, and in the drama "Alcoholic Mo Fei", Lu Pa named the childhood protagonist "Mo", and added the word "non" after growing up, named "Mo Fei", leaving an infinite reverie for the audience. In this appearance, "Mo" will be played by Wang Xuebing's beloved son, Dida, interpreting people's past, present and future examination and thinking about "self". In addition to the innocent lines and the unbridled and cute performances, the interaction between father and son will also become one of the biggest highlights of the show.
The "Hymn to the Tragedy of the Heroes" recapital once again triggered a big discussion in the theater circle
As a 2016 annual funding project of the National Arts Fund, the drama "Alcoholics Mo Fei" won the best repertoire, best actor and best supporting actress at the 7th International Drama "Academy Awards" in 2017. As a performance in the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, Beijing Lao She Drama Festival, Guangzhou Arts Festival, and Xiamen Cross-Strait Arts Festival, it has shined throughout the country and has repeatedly attracted the attention of audiences and industry insiders at home and abroad. After the end of this round of performances in Shanghai, on February 14, the "Alcoholics Mo Fei" Repertoire Seminar jointly sponsored by the Shanghai Theater Academy and the Shanghai Grand Theatre was held in Shanghai. More than 20 experts from Shanghai Theater Academy, Central Academy of Drama and Nanjing University attended the seminar and conducted in-depth discussions on the repertoire.
At the seminar, Professor Yang Yang, vice president of the Shanghai Theater Academy and vice chairman of the Shanghai Writers Association, frankly said: "The performance of "Alcoholics Mo Fei" reflects the lack and weakness of the originality of contemporary domestic drama; Professor Lu Xiaoping of Nanjing University sharply proposed: The current Chinese drama is to a large extent "locking itself up", and Lu Pa's entry into China is to knock a hole between China and the world, so that the west tide will gradually make the younger generation of contemporary academic circles open the door to take a look Huang Changyong, dean of the Shanghai Theater Academy, said: When we face things like Lu Pa and Mo Fei, what is more important is not to learn from him, what we are more terrible is to imitate, the most important thing is to learn the spirit and concept of drama used for exploration, so that there can be innovation and (Chinese drama) can walk in the forefront. Professor Peng Tao, director of the Department of Drama and Literature of the Central Academy of Drama, believes that "Alcoholics Mo Fei" is Lu Pa's opening of a period of reflection on society, history, and self, China is bound to become the world, Chinese drama must also be part of the world drama, and "Alcoholics Mo Fei" is a modern and open China can only appear in the work. (China Daily Heilongjiang Reporter Station)