Every spring, it is the season of peach blossoms, and it is also the season when "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" meets the audience at the theater. Last night, the upper theater ushered in the premiere of the "Secret Love Peach Blossom Garden" Exclusive Edition 15/10000", attracting the audience to flock to it.
A few years ago, out of curiosity, Lai Shengchuan, artistic director of the Shanghai Theater, asked on Weibo how many people had rehearsed "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden", and according to the statistics of the replies received, there may be more than 10,000 folk performances. The production of this round of upgrading is the 15th time that Lai Shengchuan personally directed it, because it still belongs to the "exclusive version" of the resident theater, lai Shengchuan named this production "exclusive version 15/10000".
In response to the call for a resident performance in Shanghai and to show the innovation in the heritage of classic theater, Lai Shengchuan, artistic director of Shanghai Theater, has designed a new stage art, and the cast has also been renewed. Painting masters Pei Jiajun and Qiu Ting joined the original art of this version, plus a new "post-00" performance lineup stationed in the theater, creating one of the drama performances that must be punched in Shanghai.
"Time passes happily", generations of actors take over the baton to pass on the classics
Since its premiere on March 3, 1986, "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" has opened up a new theater form, planting a drama flower for the audience that can still be absorbed, felt, and nourished today, and as the play says: "Time has passed happily", the way people watch and taste the play has changed greatly, but this "peach blossom garden" is still there.
Since the premiere of "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden", it has been rearranged in 15 versions, and the number of performances has exceeded 1,000 times, which has been well-known in Asia and has traveled all over the world. Jin Shijie, Lin Qingxia, Ding Naizhu, Li Liqun, Gu Baoming, Feng Yigang, Zhao Ziqiang, Ding Naizheng, Huang Lei, Sun Li, Yuan Quan, He Jiong, Xie Na, Yu Entai, Chen Minghao, Zhao Zizin, Liu Wanling, Sun Yucai, Lin Liqing, Yan Nan, etc., as well as the actors of the troupe, have successively starred in "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden". Laughing when watching it, he fell to the ground, but reached out to wipe away his tears at the end of the curtain, and generations of actors brought their understanding and love for this play to the audience, bringing surprises to the audience again and again.
In 2017, the exclusive version of "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" was born in the upper theater. So far, the young actors of the Shanghai Theater Troupe have performed more than 100 times on the stage of the Upper Theater, and "Watching "Crush on the Peach Blossom Garden" in the Theater has become a beautiful agreement for many friends every year. Five years of residency performances have made "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" a theatrical business card in Shanghai.
In the past five years, well-known theatrical actors Sun Yucai, Liu Wanling, Yan Nan, "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" premiered in 1986 Mrs. Jiang played by Lin Liqing, etc., and the actors of the troupe Yang Zhibin, Feng Li, Jin Jing, Wang Meng, Yang Yuguang, Ding Shanshan, Ding Hui, Liu Yilin, Gu Xuewei, Ma Jingwen, Si Wen, Dou Jin, Yuan Xinli, Chen Guohui, Zong Juntao... Co-starred in this work. Together with Lai Shengchuan, they created their own "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" in the upper theater and grew up together.
Classics need to be passed on, and at the end of 2021, the Theater recruited a whole new group of actors to join the "exclusive version" family, most of whom are young actors born between 1998 and 2000. Their youthful vitality represents the interpretation and interpretation of classics by a new generation.
Painting masters Pei Jiajun and Qiu Ting joined the "Exclusive Edition 15/10000" art creation
It is worth mentioning that this time, "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" invited painting masters Pei Jiajun and Qiu Ting to carry out art design for "Crush" and "Peach Blossom Garden" respectively, creating a stage set where Chinese and Western painting styles collide.
Pei Jiajun's "The Wind of May" is a "Shanghai Beach" set created for the meeting of Jiangbin Liu and Yun Zhifan in "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden". Pei Jiajun has been engaged in the integration of Eastern and Western oil painting for many years, creatively integrating Western painting techniques with the meaning and rhyme of Eastern painting, practicing his own attempts and thoughts in the expression of "imagery" oil painting with his abundant true feelings, and placing in the intersection of love and parting in the scene of "Shanghai Beach", there is an abstract tearing emotion displayed on the stage.
Qiu Ting painted a scroll ink painting of "Peach Blossom Garden" with ink paintings, and in Qiu Ting's paintings, walking into the poetic Peach Blossom Garden, the pursuit journey of the protagonist "Lao Tao" gradually changed the scene as the scroll slowly unfolded. The whole picture scroll is a complete Story of the classic Chinese "Peach Blossom Origin", and partial appreciation will have the fantasy feeling of the movie storyboard. The two styles of set set off a story of ancient and modern contrasts of one sad and one joy, and glimpse the tastes of life in laughter and tears, sorrow and joy.
As Lai Shengchuan said: "This play will change." For example, in a certain year, the addition of an actor has one more word, and maybe a certain year, I wrote an extra paragraph. Before, I would think about the old Tao played by Li Liqun, who can play after that? Jin Shijie played Jiang Binliu, who can play after that? Now I find that young people can also act. "Each version of "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" has its own story, and it is this story that makes each version of "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" unique.
"Crush on Peach Blossom Origin" Exclusive Edition 15/10000" premiered last night, and on March 3, a special performance will be made for the 36th anniversary of the premiere birthday. At the same time, the annual "Crush on Peach Blossom Garden" team "conference performance" will be held as scheduled.
Stills are provided by the Upper Theater
Author: Tong Weijing
Editor: Guo Chaohao
Editor-in-Charge: Li Ting
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.