The following is a summary of the interview
In the eyes of others, he chose to give up
△ Feng Expedition
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
In early April, we met Feng Yuanzheng at the People's Art Theater in Beijing. He is leading the actors to rehearse for the upcoming play "Sunrise". For Feng Yuanzheng, this year is a very special year. In addition to celebrating the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Institute of Humanities and Arts, as the vice president, this year is also his last year in office. The staff of Renyi told us that after the expedition teacher left his post, he officially retired.
Tagawa: What did you do when you first rang the bell?
Feng Yuanzheng: This is the director bell, this bell is particularly interesting, it is actually a vegetable bell, before only Beijing people used to rehearse it. All the actors are not allowed to move this bell, only the director can make it. During rehearsal, the director says "OK, ready", then rings the bell and the actors start acting. If the director rings the bell during the performance, everyone will stop because the ringing means the director has something to say.
When I first entered the theater, I always wanted to touch this bell, and the old actor just reached out and said, Don't move! So I haven't dared to touch this bell in years. Later, one year I went to Hong Kong, and I happened to find something for sale in the stationery store, so I bought one, and when I returned to the hotel, I opened it and pressed it.
Tagawa: Did you have a feeling of being a director at that time?
Feng Yuanzheng: There was no at that time, it just felt fresh.
Tagawa: I think you are a child who rebels in the rules.
Feng Yuanzheng: Right.
△ Drama "Sunrise"
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
On April 20, "Sunrise" will be performed at the New Theater of Renyi "Cao Yu Theater" as a classic play in the 70th anniversary of the founding of Beijing Renyi Academy. This classic play, together with "Thunderstorm" and "Wilderness", is known as Mr. Cao Yu's "Life Trilogy".
Tagawa: You said that several different versions of Sunrise reappeared when we needed it. You've also recently been working on a new version of Sunrise, why do you think we need Sunrise to reappear in our lives now?
Feng Yuanzheng: The era (early thirties) and now told by "Sunrise" have workplaces, stocks, people who climb up in order to survive, people who work hard but don't necessarily end well... You can find the shadows of these characters in real life, so this drama is realistic.
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
In the history of human art, "Sunrise" has been rehearsed many times. The protagonist in the play, Fang Dasheng, Feng Yuanzheng has also played. In addition to students like Fang Dasheng, there are also different characters in the play, such as social flowers, bankers, international students, brothel bustards, and orphans who are trafficked. Cao Yu used the intertwining of the fates of more than a dozen characters to indict the dark deeds of the middle and upper classes in the chaotic world and the tragic encounters of the people at the bottom. He desperately wanted to say goodbye to the deformed moment and look forward to the sunrise.
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After all, man is to live, and he should live happily.
Winter has just passed, and the golden light shines on every grass in the field that is trembling with the wind...
What we want is the sun, it's spring, it's a good life full of laughter, although it's a mess at the moment. So I decided to write Sunrise.
Cao Yu "Trek"
Feng Yuanzheng: In the earliest days, my least favorite character was Fang Dasheng. But as you grow older, as your perception of life continues to change, you will find that the characteristics of Fang Dasheng are precisely the ray of sunshine in everyone's heart. Fang Dasheng told us that people must have ideals and have their own pursuits. If you don't have a little dream or ideal, you may become muddy.
Tagawa: What is your dream?
Feng Yuanzheng: My dream is to be an actor, so I have been dreaming, and I am still dreaming.
△ In 2000, Feng Yuanzheng played Fang Dasheng in the drama "Sunrise"
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
Feng Yuanzheng's actor's dream-seeking journey begins with skydiving. In 1978, Feng Yuanzheng, who was still in junior high school, was selected to join the Beijing amateur skydiving team and practiced for four years. In order to become a professional skydiver, he gave up the college entrance examination and was determined to prepare for the national skydiving competition and prepare for entering the professional skydiving team.
Feng Yuanzheng: I was very interested in skydiving in middle school, and I thought I wanted to do skydiving in my life because it was so exciting. And you suddenly find that you can see the world from another perspective. And skydiving is not so simple, not a simple mind and developed limbs. You have to learn geometry, you have to know how to operate a parachute, it's very scientific. I used to train until as long as the wind blew on my face, I could know how many levels of wind it was.
Tagawa: Do you still have this ability?
Feng Yuanzheng: Now it has degenerated, 20 years ago I went to jump over an umbrella and was scared.
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
In the end, Feng Yuanzheng was selected as a professional skydiving team because of his thin physique. Missing the college entrance examination and dreaming of skydiving, the eighteen- and nineteen-year-old Feng Yuanzheng decided to go to beijing Longtan lock factory and began a period of worker life. It was also during that period that he became acquainted with several literary and artistic co-workers and participated in amateur literary and artistic training classes together.
Tagawa: You spent four years training, and then gave up the college entrance examination, but in the end you still failed to enter the professional skydiving team, I think this thing is actually quite cruel, will you feel very painful during that time?
Feng Yuanzheng: No pain. My life is relatively simple, because I grew up in a military family, so I was completely receptive to rejection.
Tagawa: Is it because your father used to hit you a lot?
Feng Yuanzheng: Yes, he is a soldier. I remember that except when my father hugged me when I was a child, we didn't have any intimate movements when we were older. I remember going to the skydiving team teammates' house at that time, and I was not happy to see other people's children close to their parents, but now that I think about it, it is actually jealousy.
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
In the literary and art training class, the performance illuminated the window to art for this teenager who had just undergone a broken dream of parachuting and lost his direction. In the early 1980s, when everyone was pursuing an iron rice bowl, Feng Yuanzheng worked in the factory for a year and decided to quit his job to study acting. After that, he began a three-year long art life, doing odd jobs, working half-time and studying half-time. Although life was not good at that time, in the poetic eighties, the revival of literary and artistic life made all the hardships romantic.
Feng Yuanzheng: What really makes me feel that the drama is magical when I watch "Absolute Signal", which is the drama that I really sat in the renyi small theater and watched. When the actor came close to me, I felt that my heartbeat had stopped, and I could clearly see her tears, which was what shocked me. If I could stand on the stage and act, it would be worth dying on stage.
Tagawa: Will you pay attention to other art forms after that time? Like pop songs or something?
Feng Yuanzheng: The first time I listened to pop music was Cui Jian's "Nothing". Everyone was watching a performance in the theater that day, and suddenly a band came up. At that time, Cui Jian was wearing a green shirt, military pants, and pulled up a trouser leg. What do we say, this is, dirt,. As a result, the first time he came out, everyone got goosebumps and stopped breathing, because he had never heard Chinese sing like that, sing like a roar. Then everyone started to get excited, they got up, jumped up, and followed the excitement until the end. It's that you feel like you want to cry.
Tagawa: Why are you crying?
Feng Yuanzheng: There is no why, it is excitement, and I feel that Singing has gone to my heart.
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
After resigning from the factory, Feng Yuanzheng ran all the acting training classes in Beijing. But at that time, the aesthetic of the actor was still stuck in the thick eyebrows and big eyes. Feng Yuanzheng's appearance made him very critical.
Feng Yuanzheng: At that time, most of the teachers looked at me and said can you play sadness or what? Before I went to the Beijing Film Academy, there was a time when I wanted to give up acting. Every day when I look at myself in the mirror, I say, how did my parents give me such a face, why didn't they let me have thick eyebrows and big eyes? Why don't you make me look handsome?
Later, I went to find the teacher who taught me Niu Xinci, and she spoke very crisply and at a fast pace. She told me that you are not ugly, it is very good, we have also recruited a lot of not so good-looking, Jiang Wen is not good-looking we also recruited. Hearing her say this, I felt a little confident. Finally I said let's do it, don't let the teacher who taught me down.
△ Feng Expedition
Tagawa: In the context of a military family, for your father, your decision to become an actor should be a very rebellious act, right?
Feng Yuanzheng: Yes, but he doesn't care about me, because he can't take care of me. My dad was in charge of the military, so as soon as there was a military exercise, he left, and it was a long time.
Tagawa: What is the attitude of the mother?
Feng Yuanzheng: She has unlimited support for everything I like, and my mother hurts me the most.
Tagawa: You didn't have a formal job and didn't have a regular income, so would she be worried about what you're going to do in the future?
Feng Yuanzheng: She would ask me if I was short of money, and I said no shortage. I stopped asking her for money after my first job.
Tagawa: Even after three years of unemployment, I didn't ask my mother for money?
Feng Yuanzheng: Yes, not really. When you're unemployed, you're doing odd jobs. When I worked, I felt very bitter, but when I thought that I could pay the tuition when I earned money, I thought it was okay.
Tagawa: Does acting in a sketch or taking an amateur acting class make you feel like you're out of touch with your current state?
Feng Yuanzheng: Maybe there is, it may make you forget your current situation.
"Human art is the temple, I am going to die on the stage of human art"
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
In 1984, Feng Yuanzheng applied for the Beijing Film Academy, but finally failed because of his "general image". A year later, the 23-year-old Feng Yuanzheng was admitted to the Beijing People's Art Theater and finally became a professional actor. For Feng Yuanzheng, human art is a new beginning, which not only fulfills the dream of performance, but also allows him to see the "world". In the mid-1980s, german acting teacher Mersin was invited to Renyi to teach the world-famous Grotowski performance methods for free.
Feng Yuanzheng: Mersin taught us how to memorize lines with our bodies, and that month was really an eye-opening process. Because at that time, I had already gone through four years of amateur acting studies, worked as a temporary worker for a long time, and then did not enter film school. Therefore, when I am admitted to the human art, I will cherish it especially, so I will not hesitate to study.
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
Feng Yuanzheng's earnestness in the renyi class impressed Mersin. After that, the German teacher sent invitations to Feng Yuanzheng four times, hoping that he could study acting in Germany. In 1988, Feng Yuanzheng graduated from Renyi, and at the age of 26, he decided to study in Germany.
△ Feng Yuanzheng (third from the right) took a group photo with friends when studying abroad
Tagawa: In the book, you say that "the two years of studying in Germany have changed my outlook on survival, my worldview, and my perception of art."
Feng Yuanzheng: Yes, when you can speak German, you can also use German thinking, Germans to receive people and treat things, it is very happy, but you actually have no sense of participation.
Tagawa: Because you're an outsider.
Feng Yuanzheng: Right. But when I don't look in the mirror I think we're the same. Slowly you will find that this is not your place. For example, when I go to "Hamlet", no one thinks you are Hamlet when you open the curtain, because you are black hair and yellow skin. Just like the opening of "Tea House", Wang Lifa who came out was a foreigner with yellow hair and blue eyes, who would believe that he was Wang Lifa? I don't think Chinese will accept it.
Germany is different from the United States, which is a country of immigrants, and anyone who gets there can say I'm an American, even if you don't have a U.S. passport. But it's different in Germany. A Chinese friend of mine went through 8 years and finally got a German passport. Then he said to me you invited me to dinner, and I said why did I invite you? He said I was uncomfortable, and I said okay, so we went to a small restaurant and got a drink. I said congratulations to you, he said I went back to china to see my mother still have to apply for a visa, my heart was very sour. He said I'm walking down the street and telling people I'm German, who believes me? So the moment he got his German passport he was unhappy, which made me a little irritated, and I thought, oh, that's the way it is.
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
In order to train Feng Yuanzheng, Mersin paid for him to enroll in a language school, let him live in his own home for free, and gave him living expenses on time every month, so that he did not have to worry about his livelihood and could concentrate on his studies.
Mersin studied under the performance master Grotowski himself. The reason why she paid special attention to Feng Yuanzheng was that she wanted him to spread Grotowski's performance method to China, because Feng Yuanzheng was the only person in China who had learned this performance system. But Feng Yuanzheng always felt alienated from German society. At the same time, a sense of anxiety about whether he can continue to be an actor deeply troubled him. After studying in Germany for two years, Feng Yuanzheng decided to give up his studies and return to China.
Feng Yuanzheng: I have been thinking about it for more than half a year, and every day I take the subway to think about whether to stay or go back? Prices in Germany are cheap, as long as you pay taxes on time, work well, don't break the law, and live well in Germany. If I really choose to stay, finding a German to marry is the quickest way, but if no German is willing to marry me, can I fake marriage? These are the things that must be thought about, and this is the reality I am facing. But I can't stay as an actor, if I give up my studies, will I have to go to work and then desperately earn money to open a Chinese restaurant? If I choose to return to China, can I continue to work as an actor?
So when I finally decided to come back, my body and mind were actually in extreme pain. One day I was walking on the road with a friend, and as I walked, I suddenly ran to the trash can next to me and threw up, without any warning. My friend patted me and said, expedition, you are too painful, you go back, go back to China. I was there with a swear word in German, telling myself that I was going to go and I was going to go.
I felt that if I were only worth staying in Germany as a Chinese restaurant owner, it would not be something I would have to do and would have betrayed the original intention of my professor to bring me to Germany. So later, when I actually said goodbye, I went to Professor Mersin's house and told her that I was going back to China next week, and she said are you coming back? I said I'll go back first, she said you haven't finished your studies, I said I'll come back and continue learning if I need to go back, she said okay. Later, all the letters I wrote to her after I returned home, she did not reply to a single one. I think it's about working hard and putting all the rewards for her into my work.
△ Feng Yuanzheng and Mersin group photo
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
In 1991, Feng Yuanzheng gave up what seemed to be an enviable study abroad opportunity at the time. Back in China, he said that the first moment he got off the plane, he wanted to return to Renyi immediately.
Feng Yuanzheng: On the day I returned to China, I ran back to the Renyi Theater, and I happened to meet Teacher Yuzhi in the courtyard, who was the first vice president of our academy. He saw me and said you're back? I said hmm. He asked you what to do? I said it was okay. Are you still going back to the theater? I said can I get back? He said yes, I said to the personnel. Then I went to the personnel office to report.
Tian Chuan: When you came back in 1991, it was the stage when Chinese TV dramas and movies began to flourish, did you ever wonder whether you still wanted to rely on the more traditional theater stage of renyi to continue to perform?
Feng Yuanzheng: There is no hesitation, you must come back, you must return to Renyi.
Tagawa: Why?
Feng Yuanzheng: Human art is the temple. My wish was to die on stage. Unless it doesn't want me anymore, I can't not come back, I have to come back.
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If you have not experienced it on the stage of drama, you cannot experience the feeling of face-to-face contact with the audience on the stage, the state of sharing the same breath and sharing fate... That kind of stimulation is not felt on the filming scene of the film and television drama.
Feng Expedition "Feng Expedition's Acting Lesson"
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
Along the way, Feng Yuanzheng gave up many opportunities that outsiders could not give up. But the only thing he didn't give up was the human art stage. Also because of the tempering of his acting skills on the stage of human art, when the TV series "Don't Talk to Strangers" found Feng Yuanzheng, he had a very accurate interpretation of the character An Jiahe in the play. This also makes this TV series that reflects domestic violence a classic in the history of Chinese television, and it is often discussed today.
△ TV series "Don't Talk to Strangers"
Feng Yuanzheng: After the broadcast of "Don't Talk to Strangers", there were many similar themes that came to me and told me how much money you wanted. After reading the script, I said I wouldn't go, it wasn't a matter of money, it wasn't a matter of money, and feng Yuanzheng played five of these scripts, and the audience wouldn't look at you anymore, because I knew you would only play this type of role, and you couldn't play "Don't Talk to Strangers." I don't think it makes any sense, and I think actors who want to have long-term vitality in their art must learn to give up.
Tagawa: Is the drama bigger than the sky?
Feng Yuanzheng: The drama is certainly not bigger than the sky, but when you walk into the backstage, the drama must be bigger than the sky. I can't tell the audience that I can't perform for you today because of problems at home. This is the professional ethics of this industry from ancient times to the present.
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Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng
In 2004, because of the performance of the drama "Tea House", Feng Yuanzheng could not rush to the hospital to see his father for the last time.
Tagawa: Didn't you hug Dad until he died?
Feng Yuanzheng: No, I only kissed him on the forehead when I went to see him in the morgue after he died, and that was the only time in my life that I kissed him. When you were young, you heard a lot of stories about the death of your family before the actor performed, and you felt that it was far away from you. But when you reach a certain age, you will find that you and the people around you have to go through this. But no one will say sorry, I don't act.
In 2017, Dani's father died on the first day of the Chinese New Year, but on the night of the second year of the first year, she was going to play "Sunrise", and she played two roles. After receiving the bad news in the morning of the first year, I began to check the flight and then counted the time for her to go back and forth. While counting the time, she was packing her things and then suddenly she stopped, and she said I would not leave on the expedition. I said yes, and I thought the same thing, because you're going to perform tomorrow. I said you didn't see him when he left, and now and seven days later, you'll be pulled out of the cold drawer and meet him, it's the same. The next day she came to the theater, and backstage everyone said Dani mourning, mourning. When I looked at her on stage, the tears couldn't be stopped. When she stepped down in the middle and changed her clothes in the back, she ran out of the backstage crying, and she said you made me cry for a while. After a while she wiped her tears and said to the makeup artist very calmly, Come, give me makeup. I thought to myself, cruelty, for a person this is really cruel.
Tagawa: Don't you think this is very inhumane? Is this right?
Feng Yuanzheng: Of course it is right, because you are doing this, you have to accept these realities.
△ Feng Yuanzheng Liang Dani couple
Tagawa: Are you ready to retire?
Feng Yuanzheng: Ready, I would like to retire now.
Tagawa: Why?
Feng Yuanzheng: Ten years ago, when I was just 50 years old, I was very uncomfortable, thinking that I was 50. But now I am very calm, very happy, every day when I see people, I say that I am 60, 60, especially happy. Now I think 60 is 60, I can still do a lot of things, and I can still play happily.