When it comes to Beijing Renyi, the first thing that comes to mind is who will it be?
Maybe Song Dandan? Maybe it's Yingruocheng? Maybe that's it?
And what I think of is Mr. Lao She.
He was the first "People's Artist" after the founding of New China, and the person who founded the Beijing Renyi Opera School.
I think that without Lao She's contribution, there would be no unshakable position of Beijing Renyi today.
A large number of drama works he created for Beijing Renyi, such as "Dragon Sugou" and "Camel Xiangzi", are rare theatrical treasures.
In particular, "The Tea House" is known as the "miracle of oriental drama".
I remember Wang Meng once said that "The Tea House" is the best work since the founding of New China in 1949. This work is not sensational, the language is plain and colloquial, but it can best express deep feelings and can make people can't help but cry.
What Wang Meng said was the most real feeling I had after watching this drama.
On March 29, 1958, "The Tea House", directed by Jiao Juyin and Xia Chun, was performed on the stage of Beijing Renyi, which caused a strong response. For a time, it seemed that the whole city of Beijing was performing "The Tea House" and discussing "The Tea House".
So why is "The Tea house" so popular?
I think the most important reason is that Mr. Lao She used his best tone to write a group of people he knew best.
"The teahouse is a meeting place for three religions and nine streams, and can accommodate all kinds of characters. A big teahouse is a small society. Although this play is only three acts, it has written about the changes in the past 50 years. In these changes, there is no way to avoid political issues. However, I am not familiar with the high-ranking officials in the political arena, and I cannot describe their promotion and retreat in a positive way. I don't know much about politics either. I only know some small people who often go to the teahouse. So, if I gather them in a teahouse and reflect the changes in society with the changes in their lives, won't I reveal some political information on the side? So I decided to write Teahouse. ”
In the "Yutai Tea House", in addition to Wang Lifa, the owner of the tea house, there are also bannermen such as Chang Siye and Song Erye who often come in and out, as well as Qin Erye, who wants to save the country through industry, as well as eunuchs who come out of the palace, habitual criminals who wander on the street, and poor people in the countryside who cannot eat enough. Although there are many characters, but each image is distinct, basically three words and two words, you can let the audience have an understanding of the identity, occupation, personality and so on of this person.
The drama "The Tea House" was first seen with the audience in early 1958 and received rave reviews. In May 1963, it was rehearsed again, and it was also praised by the audience.
At that time, it was proposed to make it into a movie, but because of the arrival of the movement, the matter had to be shelved. Until 1980, Beijing Renyi rehearsed "The Tea House" again, and the audience flocked to it. This time, the plan to bring "The Tea House" to the screen was restarted again. Everyone turned their attention to Xie Tian, who was good at shooting stage art films after filming "Sweet Career" and "Seven Sesame Officers".
Making a play into a movie is not without precedent before that. But most of them are not very popular, and the box office usually does not do well.
This time, however, "The Tea House" is an exception.
In 1982, after Xie Tian made it into a movie, it not only received good box office, but also the reputation was too good. Until now, its Douban score is 9.5 points. More than 70,000 people scored for it, and more than 78 percent gave it a five-star rating. What is this concept?
You know, on Douban, the highest-rated movie is only 9.7 points, which is "The Shawshank Redemption". And "The Tea House", which has a score of 9.5, is completely one of the best movies in China.
Moreover, it is also a work based on the play of the same name.
In this movie, there are neither dazzling special effects, nor ever-changing camera transitions, and even the scenes are limited to the surroundings of the "Yutai Tea House". Director Xie Tian only used the street scene of Ding Si Arch built when the North Film Studio filmed "Camel Xiangzi" to transform it into the archway in front of the "Yutai Tea House", so that the audience has a more real understanding of the background of the times and social landscape at that time.
More often, however, the play is all about actor dialogue.
This is actually the best part of the film.
A wonderful drama, in addition to testing the level of the screenwriter and director, the wonderful presentation of the actors is even more indispensable.
I think that from the dance to the screen, in addition to the screenwriter Mr. Lao She, in addition to the efforts of directors Jiao Juyin (former stage director), Xia Chun (former stage director), Xie Tian and others, the superb acting skills of the actors of Beijing Renyi are also very important reasons why we like it.
Despite what we see on screen, they are generally no longer young. When the characters are young, they are obviously suspected of "playing tender". However, through their amazing acting skills, they have broken through the limitations of appearance, let us feel the charm of the role, and let us appreciate what is a real high-level performance.
After watching "The Tea House", I had to sigh - the main actors in "The Tea House" are the real Chinese performance masters.
I think "Teahouse" Douban scored 9.5 points, half of which was for Mr. Lao She, and the other half was for directors and actors.
In the movie "Tea House", a large number of outstanding performing artists from Beijing Renyi are gathered. Some of them played Wang Lifa, who was 55 years old at the time; Zheng Rong, who played Chang Siye, who was 58 years old at the time; Lan Tianye, who played Qin Zhongyi, who was 55 years old at the time; Huang Zongluo, who played Second Master Song, who was 56 years old at the time; and Ying Ruocheng, who played Liu Mazi and Xiao Liu Mazi, who was 53 years old at the time.
It can also be said that a group of old artists with an average age of more than 50 years old have staged a really good play for us.
So, 39 years later, do you remember this old movie? Do you, like me, often turn it over and relive it? For the performances of the old artists in the film, do you also admire the five bodies? So, after 39 years, are they all okay? Are you still acting? Today, let's take a look back.
I want to start with that.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="438" > thus playing Wang Lifa</h1>
My first impression of this came from Yu Yongze in "Song of Youth". Later, I watched the Cheng madman he played in "Dragon Sugou". Oh, I think, this is really a good actor who plays what he does. It wasn't until I watched "The Tea House" and watched him play Wang Lifa that I knew what a real "performance master" was.
He plays a teahouse keeper, a diligent and shrewd person who looks at the six roads and listens to the eight directions. So almost every movement and every look of Wang Lifa was designed, including the outstretched hands when walking, which is also the professional habit of a teahouse owner, and the different tones of his lines in front of different characters are so appropriate.
Some people say that the character of Wang Lifa is the soul of the entire "Tea House", which is not unreasonable.
And it is through his own performance that he injects soul into this play.
In his life, the most acted in the play was "The Tea House". When people mention him, the first play that comes to mind is also "The Tea House". Later, he became a master worshipped by many later actors, mostly because of "The Tea House".
The Wang Lifa he portrayed really has an endless charm of evocative taste.
So he always thought that Wang Lifa would be a role that would accompany him throughout his life. Unexpectedly, in 1992, when he performed "TeaHouse" on the stage, he frequently forgot words. The mouth kept muttering, as if the words came to the mouth, but they couldn't say it. It is useless to let the blue sky wild of the supporting play hint at it.
The scene came down, so he said, "It's over, this time it's really over," and then he couldn't cry.
A great actor, just like that. On July 16, 1992, he starred in "The Tea House" for the last time. On that day, he bowed to the audience and refused to stand up for a long time.
In 2013, he died at the age of 86.
Many viewers who liked him, after hearing the news, rushed to Beijing Renyi to send him off, and then everyone pulled up a banner with the words "People's Actors" written on it.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="437" > Zheng Rong as Chang Siye</h1>
Speaking of Zheng Rong, everyone is more familiar with his role as Taishang Laojun in the 86 version of the TV series "Journey to the West". However, his greater artistic achievement was on the stage of drama.
And most of the people he plays are tough steel guys with rough personalities. For example, Chang Siye in "The Tea House" is one of them.
Fourth Master Chang was originally a flag man, very patriotic, and full of a sense of justice, daring to be bold. He was arrested by the Qing court for saying that "the Qing Dynasty will be finished". Later, after his release from prison, he supported himself by growing crops, but his life was still difficult. His greatest wish is that Chinese will no longer be bullied by foreigners.
Zheng Rong portrayed the character of Chang Siye very well, and the biggest difference between him and other characters is that the Chang Siye he portrayed has a very sharp gaze and a particularly bright eye, which, in our current words, is "there is light in the eyes".
Later, I saw many roles played by Zheng Rong, such as Dong Biwu in "Chu Tian Fengyun", such as Zeng Guofan in "The Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces" and Kong Rong in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", etc., the performance was simple and thick, vigorous and powerful, and the characters portrayed were so vivid.
Today, the old man is 97 years old, and the picture above is a photo of the old man on his 96th birthday.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="436" > Lan Tianye as Qin Zhongyi</h1>
Blue Sky Wild played too well in "The Tea House". Qin Zhongyi, who he played, appeared twice before and after, and the feeling was completely different, almost like two people.
The first time was in the last year of the Qing Dynasty, when Second Master Qin was still a young man with a proud heart, flesh and blood, high morale, and a beautiful imagination of China's future in his heart. He naively thought that as long as the economy was up, he could defeat the foreigners. Therefore, he is bent on "industry to save the country". For Second Master Qin at this time, the design of the blue sky wild is full of spirit and brisk steps, especially from the door to the seat, just like a gust of wind.
The second time was the opposite. At this time, 50 years later, his entity has been confiscated, his ideals have been shattered, and he is in his 70s, and his human spirit is also decadent. The performance brought by the blue sky and wild is staggering, looking confused, and even the clothes are no longer bright, which is in stark contrast with the self of 50 years ago.
He is also very good at handling the details. One of the plots is that a mother and daughter who have fled to the tea house beg, and Second Master Qin first subconsciously sends his hand to his arms, ready to take out the silver, but reaches halfway and stops, because he feels that giving money in this way will not solve the fundamental problem. This action of preparing to pay money into the arms is the design of the blue sky and the wild, which immediately reflects the psychology of the characters.
Blue Sky Wild is also an old artist who acts like nothing. In addition to Qin Erye in "The Tea House", Jiang Ziya, who played him in "The List of Fengshen Gods", Wang Zitao, who played in "Longing", and Xiao Hansheng, who played the elderly Xiao Hansheng in "Proof of Memory", all left a deep impression on us.
On June 29 this year, the 94-year-old Lan Tianye was awarded the "July 1st Medal" by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. This made him feel extremely honored and excited.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="388" > Huang Zongluo as Second Master Song</h1>
In this "Tea House", the Huang Zongluo we see is also full of drama.
He plays the second master of Song, timid and afraid of things, but has a kind heart, treats people and anger, and loves birds as fate. From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, his life has undergone tremendous changes, he has changed from a bannerman who "eats imperial food", to a poor and destitute tramp, and finally even the coffin board, which was donated by his good friend Chang Siye.
Such a role is not the protagonist, but Huang Zongluo has made Second Master Song vivid through his performance.
It is said that in order to play this character well, Huang Zongluo almost reached the level of "crazy demon".
He started from the study of the customs of the flag people, not only learned a lot of the unique movements of the Eight Flags disciples, but also kept his fingernails and deliberately refined his fingers into orchid fingers. He put on the costumes in the play, carried the bird cage to the sky to go to the Longfu Temple, di'anmen generation of brewing teahouses, day by day, everyone still thinks that he is a Manchu Qing relic.
The so-called falsehood is true, I think it is just that. How can such a serious creative attitude and the characters deduced not be real and credible?
Later, we saw Mr. Ding Hua played by him in "The Field is the Green Yarn Tent", and then saw the Tang Siye he played in "Drum Book Artist", and then saw qiu Man hoard played by him in "Optimus Prime", and saw the laid-off old man he made a cameo appearance in "I Love My Home", and saw the Chang Gonggong he played in "The Gate of the Big House", all of which were small supporting roles, but they were all vividly interpreted by him. I think it's very accurate to say that he is a "master performer who runs out of the dragon suit". He has used his life to prove that "there are only small actors, no small roles".
On June 30, 2012, Huang Zongluo died of illness at the age of 86.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="435" > Yingruocheng as Liu Mazi and Xiao Liu Mazi</h1>
YingRuocheng came from a family of scholars, and also studied at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and was a truly learned person. But he can interpret Liu Siye, who is full of banditry in "Camel Xiangzi", and Liu Mazi, who is flowing in "TeaHouse", etc., to be exquisite. This shows the depth of his performance skills.
Ying Ruocheng played two roles in "The Tea House", namely Liu Mazi and Liu Mazi's son Xiao Liu Mazi, neither of whom were good people. One is a human trafficker who buys and sells people, and the other is an imperialist pug. The two are father and son, but the identity and personality are different, relatively speaking, Liu Mazi is more ignorant, the little Liu Mazi is more pompous, and Ying Ruocheng distinguishes them very well.
Ying Ruocheng is not only quite accomplished and accomplished in performance, but also a translator. In 1979, he translated Mr. Lao She's play "The Tea House" into English and published it abroad, and in 1983, he translated Arthur Miller's famous work "The Death of a Salesman" into Chinese. In 1995, he also translated the Chinese drama "Dog Grandpa Nirvana" into English.
In 1986 he was appointed Vice Minister of Culture of China and Director of the Film and Television Production Office, leaving office in May 1990. Since then, he has starred in film and television dramas such as "Siege of the City", "I Love My Home", "Chinese Restaurant" and so on, all of which have achieved good results. Sadly, he died on December 27, 2003, at the age of 74.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="478" > Tongchao as Pang eunuch</h1>
Speaking of Tong Chao, the actor, I think the first thing that comes to mind will be Lei Junchang in "Wreath Under the Mountain" directed by Xie Jin. The majesty and grandeur he showed in the film all left a deep impression on us.
I didn't expect that in "The Tea House", he successfully created a character completely different from Captain Lei Junchang- the 70-year-old Pang eunuch.
What is a revamped performance? I think that's it.
In fact, Tong Chao's face-changing performance is by no means limited to the two characters of Commander Lei and Eunuch Pang. In addition, like Liu Zhensheng in "The Death of a Famous Master", Yang Zirong in "Wise Tiger Mountain", Wang Fusheng in "Sunrise", and Er qiangzi in "Camel Xiangzi", they are all so distinctive and brilliant. His performance is natural, simple, subtle, delicate, and the shaping of the character has completely reached a degree of immersion.
On March 24, 2005, Tong Chao died at the age of 80.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="527" > other old artists who appear in The Teahouse</h1>
There are too many old artists to appear in "The Tea House", and there are simply too many to count.
Among them, the actor who played Kang Shunzi was Hu Zongwen. Her acting skills are solid, her performance is natural and subtle, her play path is very wide, and at the same time, she is very good at portraying the heart of the character. Her line skills are also very deep, and some people describe her as speaking as "as good as singing". On April 13, 2015, Hu Zongwen died of illness at the age of 92.
In "The Tea House", I also saw Lin Liankun (playing Wu Xiangzi and Xiao Wu Xiangzi), Niu Xingli (playing Kang Liu), Li Xiang (playing Li San), Zhang Hitomi (playing Tang Tiezui), Wu Shukun (playing Pang Si's grandmother), Zhu Xu (running dragon set) and other figures.
It's just that they've all left this world one after another.
And Li Guangfu, who ran the dragon set inside, was still a "small fresh meat" at that time. Although he was in his 30s at the time, his appearance in it was so handsome. And now, he is also a 74-year-old drama bone.
The images they left behind in "The TeaHouse" have also become our eternal memories.
Later, someone asked me, what are the best movies in China? "The Tea house" is one of the ones I am bound to mention. I think it's the kind of good movie that you'll regret if you miss it. Because, such an actor cast co-starring so many national treasure-level old artists will not be available in the future.
Have you seen this "Teahouse"? How does it feel? Everyone is welcome to interact with more fans through the message area.
This article is original by ©the DJ Yaqing team, please do not copy without permission! Violators will be prosecuted!
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