The low-pitched Kunqu opera singing voice lingers for a long time among the simple and elegant carved beam paintings, condensing the smoke and clouds of more than 300 years of history. On the evening of April 19th, the performance of the "Hall with Drama" was opened in the renovated Zhengyi Ancestral Hall Theater Building, which was hosted by the Publicity Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, guided by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and Xicheng District, and hosted by the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre.
The unveiling site of the Shrine of Justice
The guild hall has a play, innovative cultural relics protection and revitalization
The performance of the literary and art academy troupe into the former site of the guild hall is an innovative move in the cultural construction of the capital. The Beijing Municipal Leading Group for Promoting the Construction of National Cultural Centers has specially studied and formulated a work plan on promoting the performances of literary and art academies and troupes into the old sites of the guild halls, focusing on strengthening the construction of the national cultural centers, focusing on creating a new space for the performance of the guild halls, allowing more literary and artistic masterpieces to enter the lives of the masses, forming a new cultural consumption that the citizens like to hear, prospering the culture of the capital, and giving play to the positive role of the old sites of the guild halls in preserving the cultural memory of the city and promoting the overall protection of the old city.
Since ancient times, Beijing has been a gathering place for opera art, and the large and small guild halls in the city carry a rich and diverse regional culture, giving Beijing a unique historical and cultural heritage. There are 31 guild halls in Xicheng District that are included in the category of immovable cultural relics and protected according to law, while excavating the resources of the guild halls that can be used in the jurisdiction, Xicheng District relies on the characteristics and advantages of its own cultural resources to deeply expand museums, memorial halls and available cultural relics resources, launch the "guild hall has a play" Jingcai Xicheng spring performance season activities, and create an immersive performing arts format with distinct themes, diverse contents and different functions in representative historical and cultural places such as Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall, Baoguo Temple, and Zhengyi Temple Theater Building, and continue to polish the "guild hall has drama" Cultural brand, forming a vivid situation of big drama to see Beijing, good drama in the guild hall.
Stills from the unveiling performance of "Peony Pavilion"
Tailor-made to create a great drama tasting entrance
Located at No. 220, XiheYan Street, Qianmen, Xicheng District, the Zhengyi Ancestral Hall is once the Silver Horn Hall and the oldest and best-preserved pure wooden structure theater building in China, known as the "Living Fossil of Chinese Opera Building". Its fame stems not only from its long history, but also from the rich color it has left in the history of Chinese opera performances. In the past hundred years, Mei Lanfang, Tan Xinpei and other opera masters have sung and appeared here, witnessing its prosperity and glory together. The Zhengyi Temple, which carries the traces of time, also makes the history of the development of opera for hundreds of years to be perceived and touched.
In order to implement the work requirements of the Beijing Municipal Leading Group for Promoting the Construction of national cultural centers and make every effort to create a new brand of "hall with drama" culture to benefit the people, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism handed over the Zhengyi Ancestral Hall Theater building to the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater for repair, operation and use after in-depth research. Relying on the Zhengyi Ancestral Hall Opera Building, the Kunqu opera art that has been inherited for more than 600 years and the ancient opera building for more than 300 years are perfectly combined, showing the charm of China's excellent traditional culture, better playing the cultural function of the central axis, presenting the beauty of the artistic conception of opera art, and making the historical buildings represented by the guild hall shine again.
Culture benefits the people Create a cultural space around the citizens
The opening performance season of the Zhengyi Ancestral Hall Theater Selected Four Acts of Great Drama with Historical Origin to Be Staged, namely the resident drama "Blessing of heavenly officials", the theater version of "Peony Pavilion", the review of its reproduction of "Wall Head Horse" and "Pity Xiang Companion". Among them, the resident drama "Blessing of heavenly officials" was tailor-made for the theater building and debuted as the opening celebration play. This edition of "Blessings from Heavenly Officials" not only inherits the aesthetic charm of Kunqu opera art and the traditional Chinese celebration culture, but also combines the aesthetics of the times and the ancient charm of the opera house to create and adapt, bringing the audience an "immersive" experience with both a sense of history and the development of the times.
Unveiled stills from "Blessings from Heavenly Officials"
Beijing focuses on the characteristics of the guild hall, and constantly polishes and launches "small and fine" and "small and beautiful" performances that not only conform to the atmosphere of the hall but also highlight the charm of traditional culture. In the early stage, the Huguang Guild Hall and the Pigment Hall with relatively mature venue conditions were selected as pilots, and the series of performances of "Meeting Huguang" and "Meeting Paint" of "The Guild Hall Has Drama" were launched, and the Linfen Guild Hall, Fuzhou New Hall, Taiwan Guild Hall and other guild halls also began to perform. On the occasion of the reopening of the Zhengyi Ancestral Hall, Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall, Baoguo Temple, and Zhengyi Ancestral Hall jointly created a series of plays such as "Hall with Drama", "Meet Mei Lanfang" and "Visiting the Garden to Find Plums", immersive opera "Tea House", zhengyi Temple version of "Blessings from Heavenly Officials" and other wonderful programs were staged in turn. At present, 8 guild halls in the city have launched a number of "guild hall drama" series of performances.
The afterglow of the afterglow is scattered in the theater building. In the future, Beijing will also base itself on promoting the protection and rejuvenation of the old city, create and launch more newly created plays with the value of the times and traditional aesthetics and flexible expression methods according to local conditions, build a platform for display and exchange of high-quality works, and give play to the important functions of the guild hall as the "entrance to new drama" and "new stage". At the same time, we will continue to explore the normalized performance mechanism of "the hall has a play", hold the drama exhibition season of the ancient opera building, carry out public lectures and cultural salons of opera, develop the micro-travel route of "the hall has a play", continue to create a cultural circle and art circle around the citizens, enhance the brand attractiveness, communication power and influence of the "hall has a play", continuously meet the needs of the public for a beautiful spiritual and cultural life, and effectively promote the construction of a national cultural center.
(Courtesy of the organizer)
Editor-in-charge: Yang Xiaojun