During the epidemic prevention and control period, the theater was shut down, the performances were cancelled... On this occasion, new forms of communication such as short videos and live broadcasts have created a second online theater, providing a new livelihood for opera actors and a new platform for the dissemination of opera culture.
According to the "2022 Douyin Opera Live Broadcast Data Report", the current platform ecology has covered more than 300 kinds of opera types, and the number of live opera broadcasts has exceeded 800,000, with an average of more than 3,200 people watched each time, and each live opera broadcast is equivalent to a medium-sized performance.
Recently, Douyin launched the "DOU has good drama" plan, which will help the opera industry in an all-round way by optimizing product capabilities, strengthening traffic support, creating online programs, providing professional training, etc., and inheriting and promoting traditional opera culture. "In the coming year, we will help at least 10 theater troupes and 1,000 professional opera actors to build an online second theater." Han Shangyou, vice president of Douyin, said.
Han Shangyou, vice president of Douyin, released the "DOU has a good play" plan.
The spread of opera in the live broadcast room: more and more young people
Li Shujian, president of Henan Yu Theater, said that there is now a problem of three more and three less opera performances. "There are more elderly audiences and fewer young audiences; more rural performances and fewer urban performances; more performances in private rooms, fewer people who buy tickets to see performances." This situation is also a common problem facing the opera industry. Opera needs young talents, but it needs young audiences even more, and the opera is performed by people, and if no one watches it, the opera will disappear. ”
But through his experience of contacting the Internet live broadcast in the past 3 years, he found that "while opera people embrace the Internet, the Internet has also inserted wings for the spread of traditional opera." ”
Zhang Yao, vice president of the China Academy of Performing Arts, also stressed that the live broadcast platform has brought a new wind to the development of opera. "The live broadcast platform has broadened the theater space, and the way of communication is more diversified, which has narrowed the distance for the audience to enter the theater to see the play." In the past, I wanted to buy tickets, but now I don't need them, eliminating all intermediate links, and I can watch the drama anytime and anywhere, and I can also watch it back. He said.
At the same time, compared with theater performances, the audience in the live broadcast room can instantly obtain the opera lines and story background through subtitle interaction, which is convenient for young people to understand the opera.
Guo Yuang, a young opera actor, said that many of the plots of Peking Opera are in the form of semi-chinese scripts on the old script, and I will translate them into pure vernacular, and at the same time, the subtitles and plots of the singing will be played on the public screen by the administrator, so that everyone can know what we are singing and can also understand the plot of this play. Slowly, there are more and more young people in my Peking Opera live broadcast room, and whenever I see a young audience member saying to me, "I heard you sing in the live broadcast room, I went to the theater to see the play later", I am very happy, I think Peking Opera should be like the current cross-talk performance, one day can lead the trend of young people.
"The live broadcast room is the stage, praise is applause, and the comment is the evaluation table sent to the audience in the past theater," Li Shujian said, "The short video and live broadcast platform can allow young people and traditional opera practitioners to 'get in close contact', feel the charm of traditional culture at close range, and increase empathy." ”
Young people in Longshan Town, Longli County, Guizhou, practice the Longli Taiping Lantern Show on the top of a hill near the village. Xinhua News Agency
Live broadcasting provides "re-employment" positions for "laid-off" opera actors
Repeated epidemics have impacted the offline performance market, and more and more offline performances, including opera, have begun to explore "cloud models" such as online live broadcasting. Previously, the online performances of young actors of Tianjin People's Art Theater sent cultural food to the audience; the well-known play "Dragon and Phoenix Chengxiang" of the National Peking Opera Also tried online paid live broadcasting for two consecutive years.
Han Shangyou said that live broadcasting has brought new stages, new incomes and new exchanges to the traditional opera industry.
"First of all, live broadcasting can cross the limitations of space and create a new stage, so that more people can see good opera content more conveniently; secondly, live broadcast gifts, paid performances and other forms can bring new income to opera actors who shoulder the mission of inheriting traditional culture; finally, ticket lovers and actors who love opera can communicate with each other and learn and progress together in the live broadcast room through lianmai and other methods."
Li Shujian also affirmed the new value brought by live broadcasting to the opera industry during the epidemic prevention and control period. He said that in the past two years, due to the epidemic, the offline performances of various troupes have become less, and it is difficult to ensure their income. The income of opera actors in many grass-roots theater troupes is not high, and the rewards obtained on video platforms such as Douyin are the recognition of actors by netizens, which can not only supplement the income, but also help the inheritance of opera.
"Now that about two-fifths of the folk opera actors I know are doing Douyin live broadcasting, you can imagine how many 're-employment' positions the platform provides for those of us who are 'forced to lay off' private actors." Chen Yu, a Yue opera actor from Xiangshan, Ningbo, Zhejiang, said. In 2020, affected by the epidemic, offline performances decreased, and she tried to sing Yue opera on Douyin Live. Now, the income from the live broadcast room has become a source of livelihood for her.
Yinchuan, the actor performed the Qin Cavity drama "The Case of Beauty". Xinhua News Agency data map
Live rewards save endangered drama species, and will cooperate with opera masters to create online programs
In the live broadcast room, there are not only Peking Opera, Yu Opera, Huangmei Opera and Yue Opera with a wide audience, but also endangered dramas such as Chao Opera, Lu Opera, Flower Drum Opera, Wu Opera, and Mao Cavity.
Zhang Yao said that one side of the water and soil to support the other side. Due to the influence of language, some endangered drama species are difficult to spread nationwide. However, through the live broadcast platform, more people can understand the diverse cultural forms. "For example, in the case of puppet plays, everyone rarely goes to the scene to see the puppet plays, and now you can watch live broadcasts to understand."
Li Shujian said that through extensive and accurate crowd coverage, live broadcast rewards are also conducive to saving endangered drama species and protecting traditional culture. In the case of the sluggish traditional opera market, it helps folk theater troupes to find a new way to survive and inherit, so that the social and economic benefits of private and grass-roots theater groups can be harvested, and it will provide income support for them to maintain operation and spread opera culture.
Song Ying, head of the "DOU has good drama" program, also said that Douyin Live will support the opera industry from three directions in the future.
First of all, Douyin Live will optimize product capabilities, open paid performances and multi-camera synchronous live broadcast functions for actors and theaters with needs and professional performance capabilities, provide exclusive gifts for ticket friends in live broadcast rooms, and create an online and offline integrated performance experience.
Secondly, in order to solve the problem of insufficient exposure of opera anchors, the first phase of Douyin Live invested more than 100 million traffic resources and launched a variety of operational activities such as "DOU to sing good dramas". At the same time, the platform will also cooperate with famous opera artists to create a "famous actor DOU to sing" column, and jointly create online programs such as ace opera IP "Pear Garden Spring" to jointly promote the art of opera.
Finally, Douyin invited professional teachers from the China Academy of Drama as consultants to provide training guidance to help Xiqu anchors improve their professional level; at the same time, Douyin will also provide official operation docking and live training for Xiqu troupes and Opera actors.
At the same time, Song Ying introduced that the above support policies will be inclined to the theater groups and actors of endangered opera genres, help endangered drama genres accurately reach opera fans, find new income for folk theater troupes to continue their professions, and improve the enthusiasm of inheritance.
Written by: Intern Wang Wei Nandu reporter Jiang Xiaotian sent from Beijing