Poster of the drama "Ruan Lingyu"
In 1994, the drama "Ruan Lingyu", written by Liu Jinyun and directed by Lin Zhaohua and Ren Ming, premiered at the Capital Theatre. Ruan Lingyu, portrayed by Xu Fan in the play, left a glorious female image full of tragic power for the Beijing Renyi Stage. 28 years later, in the series of activities marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of Beijing Renyi, the weight of the drama "Ruan Lingyu" cannot be said to be heavy, not only the script reading was the first to be launched, but also 6 live performances for the audience. In this theater celebration performance, Ruan Lingyu is still played by Xu Fan, Pu Cunxin's role has changed from Mu Tianpei to Tang Wenshan, and Han Qing continues to play the red child and take over the baton to become a rehearsal director. On the occasion of the official performance of the celebratory version of "Ruan Lingyu", the three main creators told the experiences and feelings inside and outside the play.
Stills of the drama "Ruan Lingyu" by Li Chunguang
Try to "look back" and pay tribute to the classic version of "Ruan Lingyu"
"An empty studio, old, to be demolished. Mu Tianpei, whose life is about to come to an end, a person like Xia Yan and Cai Chusheng, came to the studio of Haiyan Film Studio, and he told Ruan Lingyu's story without spitting out unhappiness, facing the space and the vast life. There is also a red child playing here, these two people who have forgotten the year have chatted and talked about the story of Ruan Lingyu's life..." Pu Cunxin said the beginning of the drama "Ruan Lingyu", as if he had suddenly entered the situation in the drama.
Stills of the drama "Ruan Lingyu" by Li Chunguang
In his view, "Ruan Lingyu" is re-arranged and performed again on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Beijing Renyi, which has "textary significance", because it is one of the important original plays of Beijing Renyi. The screenwriter of "Ruan Lingyu" is Liu Jinyun, the second dean of Beijing Renyi, whose work "Dog Grandpa Nirvana" is a classic work of Chinese drama, and then wrote this "Ruan Lingyu". As a distinctively retained play on the Beijing Renyi Stage, "Ruan Lingyu" is not only writing about a well-known female star, but also writing about profound human nature. Liu Jinyun once said: "I think that writing characters should be the mentality of writing characters, that is, tearing open his shell and writing his soul." Director Lin Zhaohua and director Ren Ming, who have an important position in the history of the development of Beijing's human art, jointly built the stage of "Ruan Lingyu". Different from the traditional narrative mode, "Ruan Lingyu" uses the technique of "montage" on the drama stage to carry out space-to-air dialogue, alternating time and space, and using the "play-in-play" series to break the space of reality and imagination and re-establish the stage narrative method.
In 2013, the drama "Ruan Lingyu" underwent a re-rehearsal, and Han Qing entered the crew as Ruan Lingyu's adopted daughter Xiaoyu. As the rehearsal director of the celebration version of "Ruan Lingyu", Han Qing humbly emphasized several times that he was assisting in the work of directing. Han Qing said: "Most of the actors in this re-rehearsal of "Ruan Lingyu" are actors who starred in the original 1994 version, and they are more familiar with this play than I am. This time, with the joint efforts of everyone, we strive to restore some of the design and performance content of the original 1994 version. Because it is a commemorative performance, we try to 'look back' as much as possible, hoping to dedicate the classic to the audience in its original form. In her opinion, in 1994, the dramatic form and language style of "Ruan Lingyu" were ahead of its time, and it is not outdated until now. In the performance is also innovative, the play itself is very fluid and formal sense is very strong, so the performance is not completely realistic, but a "combination of virtual and real" way, the actor's "sense of faith" has high requirements. Although this work was born 28 years ago, it still provides inspiration for the exploration of stage form.
Stills of the drama "Ruan Lingyu" by Li Chunguang
"To this time,
The role of Ruan Lingyu is really completed."
"To create a good character, it is not two or three months. I feel as if I have experienced more than 20 years, and this time, ruan Lingyu's role can be truly completed. It was really 'this time' that made me truly 'mature' to play Ruan Lingyu. Xu Fan said emotionally. For this work, she won the 13th Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award in 1995. Talking about the experience of starring in the festive version of "Ruan Lingyu", Xu Fan said that his heart would be relaxed, because after all, he was young before, it seems that many details must be specially emphasized, and the acting is also particularly hard. But now with their own growth, there are naturally many "solutions". Some psychological changes have made the performance smoother.
Stills of the drama "Ruan Lingyu" by Li Chunguang
Regrettably, Xu Fan immediately revealed that the 6 performances of this theater celebration version will be his farewell performance for the role of Ruan Lingyu. She said that there would indeed be reluctance, but there was no way, because Ruan Lingyu had only lived for 25 years, and now she was twice the age of her. "It's very difficult to create a good script, and I hope that good young actors can pick it up." Picked up, I think it's a good explanation for the theater. At that time, I can really enjoy Ruan Lingyu on the stage as an audience. Xu Fan sighed.
Talking about his decades of mentorship and friendship with Xu Fan, the company in front of and behind the scenes, Pu Cunxin recalled the earliest Xu Fan in his memory: "In 1991, we rehearsed "Seagull" in the rehearsal hall of Beijing Renyi. The Russian director at that time was very satisfied with Xu Fan, and he quietly said to Teacher Yuzhi that he congratulated the theater on having two excellent actresses, one was Xu Fan and the other was Chen Xiaoyi. In Pu Cunxin's view, there are not many actresses in any drama troupe who can play the leading role, and it is not easy for Xu Fan to perform "Cai Wenji" and "Ruan Lingyu" during this festival. Xu Fan is a very characterful actor, and the Ruan Lingyu she plays is not the same as Ruan Lingyu. "Ruan Lingyu's spirituality will make people like her and want to take care of her." She was a soft, windy woman. Xu Fan, she has the temperament of a Wuhan person, and she has a cry when expressing Ruan Lingyu's inner world in the last moment. Xu Fan's classic monologue at the end of the play makes the audience have a deeper resonance with Ruan Lingyu on the stage, and also sublimates the destruction of beauty into thinking about human nature. This reminded Pu Cunxin of a sentence that his father Su Min said when he was looking for Xu Fan to star in "Cai Wenji": "Xu Fan, she will reveal her temperament." ”
In the Yuanqing version of "Ruan Lingyu", Pu Cunxin's role is changed from Ruan Lingyu's guide Mu Tianpei to Tang Wenshan, a big tea merchant who failed Ruan Lingyu. "I'm going to be 70 years old soon, and I'm still playing the role of seducing female stars, which seems a bit troublesome." Pu Cunxin could not hide his sadness when he talked and laughed. This round of performance of "Ruan Lingyu" not only means farewell performances for Xu Fan, but also means farewell for Pu Cunxin.
"Hurry up and grow up and run to the front of the stage"
The drama "Ruan Lingyu" tells the story of the flowing water and the conflict of the fate of the characters, so that the audience can feel the power of tragedy and the eternal survival of beauty. The play is still relevant today, which is one of the reasons why it can still stand on the stage 28 years later. "Ruan Lingyu came out of a life of suffering, she has vanity, she yearns for riches, this psychology anyone has. She was such a clean little girl who came to Shanghai, was buried by the quagmire, and finally died, and her soul died. This is also a little caveat to our lives today – people still have to pursue spiritual prosperity. Pu Cunxin's understanding of "Ruan Lingyu" has a kind of light and profound, and it is also a different message to the younger generations.
Stills of the drama "Ruan Lingyu" by Li Chunguang
As a Mesozoic, Han Qing had a prominent feeling as the director of the academy's celebration version of "Ruan Lingyu", and always said that he could learn a lot of things by acting with his teachers, but at that time, he just knew to watch from the side, but he didn't know what to learn. "This time just in time for the courtyard celebration, everyone has a lot of things, but Teacher Xu Fan and Teacher Pu Cunxin came to the rehearsal hall very seriously, every line, every exchange, every position is in accordance with the highest requirements." Han Qing said that he suddenly understood that for the younger generations, it is not only professional and skill to learn, but also a work attitude. As Xu Fan said, "We have to have enthusiasm." This enthusiasm is not only because the characters portrayed in the play are young people, but also because of the professionalism of the actors themselves. No matter how skilled we are, we must not slacken off, and no matter how familiar we are, we must still maintain passion. ”
The first of the 70th anniversary commemoration of Beijing Renyi was the reading of the script of "Ruan Lingyu". Han Qing found that when working with these younger actors, he felt something new in them. "This script may be older than many people's ages, and when there is such an age difference, there will be some differences between understanding this script and the people in the play." Many young actors who have not seen the play before, have not read the script, they have no impression of the previous version, and they will not limit their creation. Especially after I told them about the 'fluidity' of this play, I still have a little different harvest in the rhythm of the play. Han Qing said.
In recent years, Beijing Renyi has been continuously absorbing and exercising new strength, and there are also many outstanding young actors and directors who have emerged. Han Qing said: "Everyone's growth takes time and process, and there will be excellent and suitable candidates who will come to this stage. Including me, we didn't dare to stop for a moment, and the theater needed us to grow up quickly and run to the front of the stage. ”
Author: Wang Yu, reporter of China Art Daily