In recent years, in order to carry forward the traditional Chinese culture and rescue the cultural heritage of various types of dramas, many opera troupes and creators are sorting out and adapting traditional plays in different ways. When these traditional plays that have been sealed for many years re-enter the stage, their posture is different - some works are "repaired as old", even without moving a word, even makeup and costumes are reproduced in the same way as "archaeology"; some works use "new bottles of old wine" to give the ancient story a modern "coat"; some works can be described as a rebirth, in addition to the names and surnames of the characters in the play, but telling another new story...
In the rescue excavation and sorting, what kind of repertoire is worth being re-put on the stage, and what kind of appearance these repertoire should face today's audiences has always been a question that opera practitioners are constantly thinking about.
Stills from the Peking opera "Xi Jiao"
Stills from the Yue opera "Dream of the Red Chamber"
The rescue excavation of traditional dramas cannot be delayed
The protection of opera art as an intangible cultural heritage project is mainly to protect its artistic characteristics such as singing and performance, and these characteristics must be passed on through the repertoire and the living state of the actors. Although modern drama and newly compiled historical dramas should also become an important way to inherit the art of opera, and should be a sign of the endless innovation of opera art, they are all recreated on the basis of tradition. The most emblematic of the singing voice, performance characteristics and characteristics of each drama genre is still the traditional drama of each drama, so it is urgent to sort out and rescue traditional dramas.
Opera theorist Wang Renyuan believes that the rearrangement and performance of traditional repertoire is a work that is as important or even more important as newly created repertoire. He said: "The vast majority of opera genres have entered the list of intangible cultural heritage at all levels, and the protection and rescue of such a heritage is our current extremely important task and responsibility, and without this, our losses will be irreparable." The protection of opera is actually the protection of cultural traditions, the construction of cultural psychology that has been destroyed, not just the rescue of a skill. Without the construction of ecological protection of culture, it is impossible to truly protect this culture. Among them, I particularly emphasize the rearrangement of classic repertoire, because they represent the "effective accumulation" of each genre in the real sense of art, which is the best way to rescue and protect heritage, effectively cultivate talents, attract and guide audiences, and build a good ecological environment of opera. ”
Opera theorist Wang Ankui also stressed the importance of excavating traditional drama in "Looking at Traditional Drama from a New Perspective and Its Adaptation". He believes that opera is centered on the performance of actors, and the characteristics of performance determine the aesthetic characteristics of opera art. There are many new creations in the performance of modern drama, but it is a development and innovation based on traditional drama. Traditional drama condenses the creation of artists of past generations, the so-called four skills and five methods, the characteristics of trade and genre are mainly reflected by traditional drama. Therefore, in order to inherit the performance of opera, the premiere must rely on traditional drama. The teaching of opera should take traditional opera as the main teaching material.
Which plays deserve to be re-staged
Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the staff of the Shanghai Yue Theatre Creative Studio have done an important job - a review of the more than 400 plays that have survived since the establishment of the theater. According to Mo Xia, a young screenwriter of Shanghai Yue Theatre, through combing, these repertoire are divided into four categories: "The first type is the classic repertoire, such as "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Liang Zhu", "Jasper Hairpin", etc., for these repertoire, the theater will remain unchanged and continue to perform; the second type is the excellent traditional repertoire that is not often performed, such as "Chasing Fish", etc. Our principle of this kind of repertoire is that we do not move much in the text, do some additions in individual places, and re-produce in line with modern aesthetics in the secondary creation and aesthetic presentation; the third type is the general traditional repertoire , such as "King of the Northland", etc., this kind of repertoire theme is better, in the current view there are also highlights, but the script has been lost, or only left some singing segments, for these repertoire, we grasp the theme, from the text to the stage presentation are reconstructed; the fourth type is in history, but the value is not very large, this kind of repertoire is mainly based on data preservation. ”
Stills from the Yue opera "Jade Hairpin"
In the view of Xu Mengke, a national-level actor and Peking Opera director who has done a lot of rehearsal directors of traditional Peking Opera repertoire, there are many plays in Peking Opera that focus on showing personal skills that need to be rescued and sorted out. "Although the story content of these plays is not high, they have very high skill, condensing the painstaking efforts of generations of artists, and these plays are far from enough for us to dig and sort out." For example, in The monkey play of Mr. Zheng Faxiang in Shanghai, there is a difficult skill, in the performance, he will be a thick bamboo tube of gold hoop stick on the lower abdomen, in the form of a frog in the air to continue to move forward, this technique has been extinct. Xu Mengke said that sorting out and learning these skills and skills is not only to better inherit the tradition, but also to lay a solid foundation for the creation of new plays.
What kind of appearance should traditional drama be
Face today's audience
According to Wang Jingbo, an associate researcher at the Institute of Chinese Academy of Arts, for current creators, it is easier to adapt traditional plays on the stage than to create new historical dramas and modern plays. But the proportion of these traditional plays that can be directly brought to the stage is very low. "I studied the Tea Picking Drama in Gannan Province, and I once read the script of the old artists who compiled it in the 1950s, and the problem was very big, and many of the concepts in it were completely unacceptable to modern audiences. Now in the 'Four Little King Kongs' of Gannan Tea Picking Drama - "Blind Sister", "Leather Shoes", "Fishing Crutch", "Old and Young Matching", in addition to the original "Blind Girl" is a very simple song and dance, the other 3 works are on top of retaining the traditional song and card, body movements and witty and humorous style of the play, and have made a very big adaptation. Wang Jingbo said that the adaptation of traditional plays should be based on retaining the characteristics of the plays and improving the repertoire.
Stills of the Gannan tea picking drama "Sister Jing"
Stills of Gannan tea picking drama "Mending Leather Shoes"
"Since entering the new period, drama workers have more broadly opened their minds on the collation and adaptation of traditional plays, playwrights have a deeper understanding of the value of traditional plays and the complexity of ancient life, and the adaptation of traditional plays has shown a new look, and the artistic pursuit is more refined." Liao Xiaxuan, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chinese of East China Normal University, believes that the collation and adaptation of traditional plays by contemporary opera playwrights mainly starts from three aspects.
First, refine the theme, ideologically eliminate the feudal remnants of the old drama, excavate the ideological components of the people's nature, and give the play the spirit of the times. "Most of the traditional repertoire was born and matured in feudal society, and it is inevitable that it will contain some rotten elements, and the theme ideas conveyed will more or less contradict the spirit of our times." Adaptors can not treat such plays one-size-fits-all, not only to see their weak links in ideology and art, but also to be good at exploring the positive factors they contain, and to turn iron into gold with the magic of rejuvenation, giving traditional dramas a new vitality. Liao Xiaxuan said.
Second, the main line is re-established, the branches are removed in the plot, the main contradictions are highlighted, and the plot of the play is concise and the clues are clear. Most traditional plays, including Ming and Qing legends, have drawbacks such as a variety of ideas, mixed contents, loose structures, and intertwined branches, and excessive pursuit of the sinister and strange plot, often as many as twenty or thirty, or even forty or fifty, which is lengthy and cumbersome, which not only dilutes the drama, but also extremely tests the patience of the audience, which is incompatible with the viewing habits of contemporary audiences. To adapt to contemporary stage performances, deletions must be made. For example, the adaptation of the Kunqu opera "Fifteen Guan", the old version of "Double Bear Dream" is divided into two volumes, a total of 26 out, the adapted "Fifteen Guan", deleted the old drama caused by the rat Xiong Youhui, Hou Sangu's bizarre unjust case and other complicated plots, only retained the original drama of 1 plot line and 8 scenes, making the structure more exquisite and rigorous, the drama conflict more concentrated, whether from the text, performance or economic point of view, are far better than the old drama, Kun opera is also greatly appreciated for the success of the play, so there are " A play saves a play" said.
Stills from the Kun opera "Fifteen Guan"
Third, reshape the characters, combine the development of the character's personality with the transmutation of the theme and the advancement of the plot story, make up for the drawbacks of the old drama only playing the line and not the character, and pay attention to the excavation of the character's spiritual space. For example, the adaptation of the Yue opera "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", the old drama "The History of Liang Zhu Lamentations" renders a sad love tragedy, the Liang Shanbo in the play is an amorous but selfish and pedantic student image, and Zhu Yingtai is an obsessive feudal woman. After the founding of New China, the Yue opera "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", written by Xu Jin and collectively adapted, faded the grievances of the old dramas that were over-rendered, and strengthened Zhu Yingtai's resolute rebellion against the feudal patriarchy and the concept of feudal mendi; correspondingly, in order to highlight the strength of "rebellion", the adaptors also adjusted the image of Liang Zhu and Liang Zhu, removing the pedantic atmosphere of Liang Shanbo's beauty and ugliness and indistinguishment between right and wrong, and injecting rebellious and brave elements into Zhu Yingtai's infatuation, making Liang Zhu's love tragedy more sublime beauty.
Stills of the Yue opera "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai"
Yu Tao, full-time vice chairman of the Gansu Provincial Literary and Art Critics Association, used the Puxian opera "Walking on the Umbrella Line", the Yu opera "Cheng Baby Saves Orphans" and the Liyuan opera "Royal Monument Pavilion" to explain what she believes are three successful types of traditional drama adaptations. "'Walking on the Umbrella Line' is a typical 'repair as old as old', and the 'repair as old' here is not a word without changing, but that if it is not very familiar with the traditional repertoire and types of plays, it is not obvious that this is an adapted repertoire; 'Cheng Bao Saves Orphans' is a typical reinterpretation of traditional stories from the perspective of modern people; compared with these two plays, the creation of "Imperial Monument Pavilion" has a very strong 'mix-and-match' meaning, and on the basis of retaining the opera itself, a lot of innovation has been made." Yu Tao believes that the adaptation and collation of traditional plays must be based on the tradition of "eating thoroughly", "story, characters, structure, stage processing ... All of this must be thoroughly understood under the premise of tradition, and it can be treated within that spatial framework. Creators don't just think of simply subverting tradition, but take the traditional topic deeper; or if we've focused too much on the story level and neglected to focus on the people in the story, we should focus more on people. ”
Stills from the Yu opera "Cheng Baby Saves orphans"
"Many plays have gradually been lost in the long river of history, and there must be a reason for their 'falling behind', which may be the intention of the script, or the compilation of some lyrics and singing voices, or the scheduling of some stages... For young creators, we have to think about it – what remains must be the essence, but what is buried must be the dross? "With this kind of thinking, Li Zhuoqun, a young screenwriter and director, has adapted and organized her traditional repertoire and innovated in works such as the Peking Opera "Xi Jiao" in the small theater." Our principle is to innovate without losing the peking opera itself. The so-called Peking Opera itself is the accumulation of one table, two chairs, three major features, four skills and five methods, and these traditional aesthetics. On this basis, we make the rhythm more compact, the characters more distinct, and the performances richer. Opera has always been good at learning and willing to learn from the sidelines. I believe that if Mr. Mei Lanfang is still alive, his steps will be greater, and the real things he uses in opera performances will be richer. Therefore, for this generation of young people, the experience accumulated by the old man must be remembered in mind. In the face of this ever-changing cultural and objective environment, we must also carry out organic innovation on the basis of careful inheritance. Li Zhuoqun said.
Source: China Culture Daily
EDIT: Mingming
Review: Yang Yao
Final Judge: Wang Mei