On the evening of February 25, under the guidance of the Propaganda Department of the Jiangsu Provincial PARTY Committee and the Department of Culture and Tourism of Jiangsu Province, the drama "Xinhua Front" jointly produced by Xinhua Newspaper Media Group and Jiangsu Performing Arts Group was staged at the Jiangsu Grand Theatre. The drama is supported by six important figures in the history of the newspaper, such as Zhou Enlai, Pan Zinian, Hua Gang, Xiong Jinyue, Wu Kejian, and He Yun, and completes the painting and praise of the "Xinhua Front". The stage is poetic and majestic, and it is shocking.
Giant "rollers" were brought to the stage and newspapers were "printed" on the spot
"Selling newspapers and selling newspapers, Xinhua Daily", the shouting and selling of newspaperboys on the streets of Chongqing during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, is the collective memory of Chinese, but few literary and artistic works feature the epic battle of a newspaper behind it. Founded in 1938, Xinhua Daily was the first national political organ newspaper of the Communist Party of China to be publicly issued, with glorious red genes and a profound revolutionary history, and was praised by Comrade Mao Zedong as "a front of the party."
On the stage, it was the period of war filled with fireworks, Xinhua Daily was born in danger, and Qin Yijiang, director of the editorial office, Yang Zizhai, reporter of the interview department, Mei Rong, an employee of the proofreading department, and Yu Jinru, an employee of the manager department, used different wisdoms to contribute their youth to the motherland.
"Xinhua Daily" is undoubtedly the biggest "protagonist" of "Xinhua Front", how to present the imagery and image of the newspaper on the stage in the form of a device? The Modern Express reporter saw on the spot that the 10-meter-long printing press "roller" rolled back and forth on the stage, with the multimedia screen, a piece of old newspaper full of historical sense with the development of the plot, on the stage "printed" out, stunning the audience.
Sang Qi, the stage design of the play and director of the Stage Art Center of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, told reporters that after receiving the task, he first studied the background of the newspaper, sorted out the historical events involved in the play, and looked for an image that could represent the "Xinhua Daily". "A printing press exhibited in the Newspaper and History Museum, it itself has the imprint of time, there is a sense of roughness and power, coupled with the impact of the ink on the roller, I was particularly shocked." In his view, the weapon of the "Xinhua Front" is the newspaper, and the action that the newspaper is being printed out one by one is very much in line with the sense of power that the drama wants to express.
Flip through 3231 old newspapers and explore the sonorous power of words
It is reported that "Xinhua Front" has gathered a first-class domestic creative team to edit and create, the famous screenwriter and president of the Jiangsu Provincial Theater of Drama Literature Luo Zhou as the screenwriter, the National Drama Theatre of China's national first-class director Li Bonan as the director, and the director of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center Dance Center Sang Qi as the stage designer. Since the establishment of the group on January 1 last year, the main creative staff has devoted themselves to creation.
How to tell a thick red story in two hours? Luo Zhou set his sights on "1938-1947". In the process of creation, Luo Zhou consulted a large number of texts, pictures, videos and other materials, of which 3231 old Xinhua Daily newspapers from 1938 to 1947 provided her with authoritative and rich materials. Major historical and cultural events such as the attack on the "New Shenglong", the relocation and publication of xinhua daily, the "rice snatching incident", the "Anhui South Incident", and the performance of "Qu Yuan" have become the context and carrier of the whole drama.
"In the wind and waves of the times, the trumpet, this flag bearer, and this lighthouse of Xinhua Daily are always flapped and always stand tall. What I want to write is not only a newspaper, but also a group of newspaper people, their work, their duty, but also their blood, their rush! Luo Zhou said.
In the view of director Li Bonan, the sense of literature and cultural texture are the characteristics of "Xinhua Front" that are different from other plays. Although the four main characters are fictional, the spiritual brilliance emanating from them is the accurate expression of the group image of Xinhua Baoren. "At a time when our country was in crisis, at an important historical juncture of our nation, Xinhua Daily shouldered the mission and responsibility of 'one of the party's fronts'. Their personality style, their historical contribution, in the play have artistic reproduction, vivid and touching. "
(Courtesy of Jiangsu Performing Arts Group Editor Li Weiwei)