Zhai Mo: Lao Dan "hit" out of the new world

Original title: Zhai Mo: Lao Dan "hit" out of the new world

"Snowflakes fluttering, the north wind is tight...", an old woman in a red velvet cloak with a resolute look walked firmly, carrying an oil lamp, stepping on the mud, and persuading the women to come to the city from house to house. Under her leadership, the people of Xiangyang City united to build the inner city and resist the enemy outside the city...

Recently, the Peking Opera "Lady City", adapted from the real history, has been polished for a year and has once again appeared in the Chang'an Grand Theater. Playing the protagonist Mrs. Han in the play is Zhai Mo, a young Lao Dan famous artist from the Beijing Opera House.

"Lady City" picks a girder

As a new drama starring Lao Dan, "Lady City" attracted many fans and professionals to watch it when it premiered last year. Lao Dan is not a provocative profession, but it is indispensable, and most of the time can only play the role of "green leaf". Judging from the history of the development of Peking Opera, there are very few plays with Lao Dan as the protagonist, and it is even more difficult to create new dramas. Taking the Beijing Opera House as an example, since 1997,000, there has been no new choreography of Lao Dan's pickers. Therefore, the appearance of "Lady City" is particularly interesting.

Zhai Mo is the leading figure of Lao Dan in beijing Peking Opera House, and teaches Zhao Baoxiu, a famous Peking Opera performance artist. Zhao Baoxiu's several representative works "Eight Precious Soups", "Golden Turtle Chronicles", "Wind and Rain Tongrentang", etc., Zhai Mo's inheritance and interpretation are quite a teacher's charm, but it is by no means a simple imitation and unthinking copy, but just right, and the moisturizer silently integrates his personal artistic strengths and performance style.

"My teacher's generation of actors created a lot of good plays, what should we do in our generation?" Can't always act in "Eight Treasures Soup", right? I always hope to make Lao Dan's repertoire richer and develop Lao Dan's performance methods. Zhai Mo said.

In the past, there were many crying dramas, many bitter dramas, many tragic dramas in Lao Dan dramas, and even some "scolding" plays, and everyone's impression of Lao Dan dramas was relatively single. Zhai Mo hoped that through his own creation, everyone's impression of Lao Dan's industry would change, so he created "Lady City".

"Lady City" tells that during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Xiangyang City was invaded by the enemy, and han Shi, the mother of the defending general Zhu Xu, was ordered to eliminate the internal traitors, and at the same time united the people to build the inner city, and the people thanked Mrs. Han for building the city to resist the enemy, calling this city wall "Lady City". Different from some of the old Dan images in the traditional Peking Opera, the old dragon bell and trembling, Mrs. Han is not only a strong woman who has experienced the tempering of the years, but also a "great wisdom, courage and great handsomeness" with a patriotic and sincere heart.

More than 20 years ago, when Zhai Mo was still studying in drama school, an amateur author sent her the script of "Lady City" that he created, which made her have an impression of this story. 10 years ago, she bought the script of "Lady City" of Yu Opera on an old book network, and later bought a comic strip. In 2020, the Beijing Peking Opera House decided to recreate "Lady City", and Zhai Mo was finally able to bring the theme that he had always kept in his heart since he was a teenager to the Peking Opera stage.

Perform hard to broaden the industry

"Mrs. Han is not an ordinary elderly woman, nor is she a military general, but the leader of a large army who is in danger and commands a large army. It can neither be played as She Taijun in "Yangmen Female General", nor can it be played as Jiang Guizhi in "Flower Gun". Zhai Mo said.

In order to shape the characters well, in the past two years, Zhai Mo has referred to a large number of historical materials and deeply analyzed and studied the identity of the characters and the background of the times. On the one hand, she follows the performance rules and characteristics of Lao Dan's profession, and on the other hand, she is bold and innovative, fully mobilizes and uses the expression methods and performance means of opera art, speculates on the role day and night, and devotes herself to studying the innovation and development of Lao Dan's profession.

The rich and just right singing style is the basis for Peking Opera to shape the character image. In addition to using some traditional common plate styles, the singing voice of Mrs. Han's character also deliberately designed a very rare "Oh Na Er Huang" in the old Dan line. This kind of vocal cavity has large undulations, high tuning, high melody, thick and simple cavity, and is difficult to control. Zhai Mo has a wide range of voices and a high-pitched and bright voice. With her love and affection, her words are full of emotion, and she is majestic, which well interprets the image of a heroine who is soft but not weak, strong and wise.

Traditional Lao Dan opera is limited to the age characteristics of the elderly, often based on singing, few actions, very limited performance space, and there are not many performance means, Zhai Mo pioneered the design of Lao Dan "up to dominate" and "beat the drum" these two quite interesting artistic means.

"Starting to dominate" is the housekeeping skill of Wusheng, and for an old Dan actor who is known for his singing skills, it is still difficult to complete. After repeated practice and careful speculation, Zhai Mo's performance of "Qiba" is rigorous, relaxed and measured, and has a strong sense of proportion. Under her interpretation, Mrs. Han, who was tied up on a big back, put on a thick bottom, "waving her arm to test the dress", "sprinting to test the footwork", "turning around and pulling the armor", "tightening the armor" and other sets of actions, in one go, smooth and free, won the applause of the audience.

The drum sleeve of "beating the drum" is common on the stage is the drumming of Lao Sheng's "scolding Cao" and the drumming of Danxing's "Battle Of Jinshan", and Lao Dan has never beaten the drum. Zhai Mo carefully designed a set of drum sleeves that combined the classic drum points of Yang Baosen and Mr. Luo Yusheng. When Mrs. Han, who was holding a drumstick, stood on the city tower, in an instant, the dense drum beat sounded, pouring down from the stage, from slow to urgent, from weak to strong, the momentum suddenly arose, the sound was tight, and the surging momentum of "the two armies were fighting and drumming was urgent" was set off.

"From "Yangmen Female General" and "Flower Gun" to "Eight Treasures Soup" and "Wind and Rain Tongrentang", it is difficult for Lao Dan to make a breakthrough. Our generation of actors can't always act in these plays created by their predecessors, but must have some original expressions of their own. Zhai Mo said.

In the past, generations of artists sought development for the profession of Lao Dan, broadened their performances, and accumulated repertoire. Nowadays, Zhai Mo has taken over the baton of her predecessors, and she can always see a strong sense of responsibility and mission. Over the years, from "Wish of Life and Death", "The Gate of the Great Mansion", "Zhao Dynasty Xiaoshao", "Wilderness" to "Lady City", she has always stood at the forefront of creation, shuttling between traditional and modern plays, and tirelessly exploring.

For Peking Opera, the creation and innovation of new opera is full of hardships, but Zhai Mo still insists on forging ahead, she said: "I don't want to take the road that others have walked, and there will be more ideas to practice in the future." (Text/Reporter Zheng Na)

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition