Near the holiday, the Zijin County Huachao Theater Troupe is still training feverishly, with a voice that suppresses the tone, witty and timeless singing and white, vividly reflecting the joys, sorrows and ideal pursuits of the Hakka family in Zijin County.
Huachao Opera is a local folk opera native to Zijin County, which is one of the first "national intangible cultural heritages" and was once called "camellia in a ravine" by Cao Yu, chairman of the Chinese Dramatists Association. Huang Lihua, the winner of this year's Guangdong May Day Labor Medal, is the provincial inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage. Since 1989, Huang Lihua has been in the same boat with Hua Chao for more than 30 years, and she is obsessed with the cause of Hua Chao, dedicating her talents and paying for her youth. In the future, she will aim at a higher goal, be confident, forge ahead, and strive for the inheritance and development of the cause of Hua Dynasty Opera.
Thick and thin, with the anti-string role a blockbuster
Huang Lihua has loved to listen to Huachao opera since she was a child, when she was a teenager, when the Zijin County Jinshan Theater Troupe (formerly known as the Zijin County Huachao Theater Troupe) often performed in the Dragon's Nest, her grandparents often took her to listen to the drama when she was young, unexpectedly, she was immediately deeply attracted by the Huachao opera performance. Since then, as long as the troupe comes to the town to perform, Huang Lihua begged her grandparents to take her to see the Flower Dynasty Opera, which also planted a seed in her heart.
Determined to spend her life with Hua Chao Opera, Huang Lihua joined the Zijin County Hua Chao Theater Troupe in 1989. She studied under Zhong Shijin, the representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage Hua dynasty opera, and was usually diligent and studious, humbly consulting the previous generations of artists and peers, immersing herself in the study of the characteristics and laws of the art of the flower dynasty opera, daring to inherit innovative practice, and skillfully mastering the traditional performance characteristics of the flower dynasty opera.
From the supporting role of the running dragon set to the protagonist, Huang Lihua spent nearly 5 years. After 1998, Huang Lihua began to string up small students, and opened a precedent for women to dress as men. In 2000, the troupe was preparing to rehearse a big drama "The Merry Talent", and the actor who played Tang Bohu at that time left the troupe for some reasons, and could not find a suitable person to play for a while, and the director was also worried. Huang Lihua found the opportunity to introduce herself to director Mao Sui, and she vividly showed a small section with her usual accumulation of small student actions. After watching, the director made a decision on the spot to designate her as "Tang Bohu". In 2001, hua chao drama "Merry Talent" toured the towns in Longgang District, Shenzhen, and the local leaders and audiences were touched by her performance, and people kept asking, "What is the name of the actor who played Tang Bohu?" It's so good! In 2005, this play participated in the 9th Guangdong Provincial Arts Festival, and she personally won the "Second Prize for Performance". Nowadays, searching for "Huang Lihua" or "Hua Chao Drama" on the Internet can also find relevant appreciations for her playing an anti-string Xiaosheng.
"The difference between Xiaosheng and Hua Dan is mainly in the performance and singing voice." Huang Lihua said, "Xiaosheng is rough, dashing and flowing, while Hua Dan is subtle and introverted. With solid skills and unremitting efforts, Huang Lihua has continuously created the image of Zhang Jue in "The Tale of the West Chamber", Tang Bohu in "Flowing Talent", Zhang Qiuren in "Red Silk Mistake", and Liu Qing in "Jade Bead String" on the stage.
No effort can be made to disappoint the audience who loves the flower dynasty drama
After a performance in the countryside in mid-October 2008, Huang Lihua accidentally sprained her foot, and the next day her foot was so swollen that she could not walk, and the leaders and colleagues told her to go home and rest for a few days, hoping that she would recover quickly. Because a week later, the HuaChao Theater Troupe will usher in the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the troupe, and she will play the protagonist Qiao Xuemei in the debriefing performance "Late Blooming Rose".
Time is very tight, the performance program has only been rehearsed a few times, Huang Lihua knows that a big scene needs to be rehearsed repeatedly to perform a good effect, so after a day of rest at home, the next day she took a motorcycle back to the troupe to rehearse the program with colleagues, colleagues were very surprised, Huang Lihua said: "Many eyes are watching us, telling me how can I rest at ease?"
Like other traditional dramas, Hua Dynasty opera also faces the problem of inheritance and development. "During the performance, I found that there were many audiences in Huachao Opera, but most of them were young and middle-aged people in their 40s and above, and the young audience was relatively small." To this end, Huang Lihua actively participated in the promotion and popularization of Huachao opera into campuses, communities, and rural areas, cultivated primary school students and successors of Huachao opera, and at the same time, insisted on sending dramas to the countryside, publicized the party's principles and policies, and brought joy to the grass-roots masses. In the Zijin County Huachao Drama Troupe, which performs in the countryside on average nearly 100 times a year, Huang Lihua participates in no less than 80 performances.
In 2011, she started a new stage in her career as the director of Hua Dynasty Opera. He has directed the Flower Dynasty Drama "Three Looks at Relatives", "Prodigal Son's Love", "Volunteer", etc., and made positive contributions to the inheritance and development of the Flower Dynasty Drama. In 2018, she underwent surgery due to lumbar strain, and soon after recovery, she insisted on returning to the stage and podium, playing a supporting role and becoming a teacher, and making unremitting efforts to cultivate future talents.
【Planning/Co-ordination】Jiang Caihu, Chen Yin, Huang Kai, Chen Zhiwei
[All-media reporter] Yu Pei
【Author】 Yu Pei
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client