"Frankenstein" actually has a Chinese director who often raises objections, Li Ren: The Chinese director is not laying hands and doing execution
On June 24, the British director Dominique DeRomgul of the Chinese version of "Frankenstein" ended his work in China and embarked on the way back, and what allowed him to leave was because there was a powerful Chinese director behind him, Li Ren. Li Ren, an actor at the National Drama Theatre, has taken a clear path of acting and excellent direction, from "Wild Ride", "The Field of Life and Death", "The Orphan of Zhao", to the director's "Deling and Cixi", "Shangganling", until the current Chinese version of "Frankenstein", the Chinese director who was in danger, with a unique cultural confidence at the end of the premiere, stepped on the stage...
From preparation to rehearsal, there wasn't a day without a roller coaster ride
From the preparation of 2020 to the present, the Chinese version of "Frankenstein" has been ill-fated all the way, in the words of Li Ren, "There is not a day in this play that does not ride a roller coaster, there are no less than 40 actors before and after, there are still three days to go to the rehearsal, 5 boys are missing 2 at once, after the start of rehearsal, one day there are only 4 people left in the rehearsal field." ”
Dominic, the former artistic director of Universal Shakespeare Inc. in the United Kingdom, was invited to be the director of the play, but because of the epidemic, he could not participate in the whole process, and took the initiative to propose to the producer that he needed a Chinese director who had the strength to really rehearse the play. As a result, Li Ren, who had a good reputation at the box office of the previous two works, became the best candidate. He had seen it countless times before, whether it was the classic version of the National Theatre or the original novel, Li Ren said, "For such a work, I don't think anyone will refuse." ”
In Li Ren's view, "This work published by Mary Shelley in 1820 is not outdated 100 years later, and it is still not outdated after 200 years, and the topics discussed in it are eternal, and I believe that there will always be different interpretations." "In addition to the untidy personnel due to the epidemic, the rehearsal of this play, even physical training, is also partly completed online," The situation at that time was that there were actors at home, two actors doing training offline, and two other actors doing online, but even so, it has been smoothly advancing." In the rehearsal hall, it is often a dozen scenes in one afternoon. "In the past, chinese directors often played the role of execution in this kind of creation with the participation of foreign directors, but this time it is completely different, Li Ren and Dominic are giving each other." A month and a half before he came, we completed the overall framework and the character combing, and he was very satisfied with the couplet effect, and in the three weeks he was in, we were refining. There are also conflicts between us, after all, the cultural backgrounds are different, although the feelings of drama and art are common, but the way of thinking is still different, and I often raise objections. Sometimes the actors ask a question, we also discuss, respect and complement each other, the cooperation is smooth, not who gives the hand to whom, this is a co-creation. ”
Mary Shelley's perspective became the finishing touch to Chinese edition
Previously, the performance version of the National Theatre of the United Kingdom was almost universally recognized and revered by the contemporary theater world, and this Chinese version uses the same version created by Nick Dir. Li Ren said, "Mary Shelley's book has more than 40 versions of the script around the world, including movies, operas, dance dramas, musicals, ballets, and more versions of dramas. We are using one of the newest of the various versions, and the translation by translator Shang Xiaolei is also very exciting. For such a male perspective, even a "humanoid" perspective, this Chinese version has made a bold treatment, from the opening to the key paragraphs to the end, there will often be a female character who jumps out of the plot to examine the people in the play, and this is the image of the original author Mary Shelley.
"In the opening 50 minutes, Frankenstein only appears once, and only about 30 seconds or so, and this time is the experience and growth process of 'humanoid creatures'. It wasn't until after scene 22 that Frankenstein began to appear and had a rivalry with the 'humanoid creatures'. The original novel actually has three perspectives, the author, Frankenstein and the 'humanoid creatures', each of whom is very average. This version brings out the perspective of 'humanoid creatures', and the dramatic conflict is more condensed and the conflict is stronger. But the original author we joined, even if it is a perspective outside the play, will appear between the connection between the play and the play, she will look back at the creative process she once imagined in her mind, there is her attitude and expression of each story, sometimes there is eye contact with the characters, but there is no word, although it is very short, but the beginning and the end form a closed loop echo. Li Ren explained.
It is reported that at the beginning, the director of Dominic wanted this role to appear once, but Li Ren proposed that she should be allowed to run through the idea, Dominic gladly accepted. The dancer Wang Yabin not only designed the shape for this role, but also played the role of "woman-shaped", which became the finishing touch of the whole play. In the words of Li Ren, "This is actually from the motherhood or from the conception itself to explore, is a very special reading in this play, but also from the origin of life to love and life to explain." ”
You don't have to play an 18th-century Englishman, because you don't play it
In the National Theatre version, the "humanoid creature" played by Cumberbatch has become a textbook performance model from an ugly baby to a struggling toddler, and the huge stage is a few minutes of physical exploration. In the Chinese version, Zheng Yunlong, Yuan Hong, and Yan Nan take turns to play the "humanoid creatures", no matter who it is, the whole person is washed in 20 minutes, which shows the intensity of the performance. Li Ren said, "The first 20 minutes are all limbs, there are no lines, after the first rehearsal, the actor said that when the performance was more than 20 minutes, the brain was even broken, for everyone, the physical distribution needs to have an adaptation process." ”
The "humanoid creature" is shaped by a British stylist, and the working method is also completed by online guidance to Chinese stylists, Li Ren said, "A modeling takes about four hours, and the performance at 7:30 needs to start makeup from three o'clock in the afternoon, and it takes at least two and a half hours to become skilled in the later stage." The scars on the 'humanoid' head and the size of the scalp were accurately measured, and after doing it, it took a whole day to test the special effects makeup. "Due to the actor's heavy sweating, in order to ensure the normal use of the microphone, Mike will hide in the scar, and it is a positive pair, once sweating, a problem, immediately activate the spare microphone." After the official performance, the director needs to worry about details such as scars after sweating, and Li Ren is also the kind of director who will not give up any small "hidden dangers".
In this Chinese version, in addition to the director and special effects modeling, the other types of work are mainly created by the Chinese side, which basically belongs to the British classic and Made in China. However, for such a work that can be called a classic in all fields, Li Ren said, "The script actually does not need to be localized, and the actors do not need to play the 18th century British, because it is not like acting, you are an oriental face, and it is enough for the characters to have real communication and judgment reactions." Although the novel is influenced by Percy Shelley's romantic approach, the work itself is realistic and tells a true story. So just follow how a living person speaks, and there will be no sense of violation. I will do it again after the introduction of dramas, there are some works that actually have no need to be localized at all, we admit that there are differences between cultures, but it is enough for us to play people and act in reality. ”
Wang Maolei's characteristics cannot be copied by others Zheng Yunlong gives people a sense of freshness every time
The gathering of powerful male actors also makes this drama like a musical, and the premiere day is played by Zheng Yunlong and Wang Maolei as "humanoid creatures" and Frankenstein respectively. In Li Ren's eyes, both people belong to the kind of actors who make the director fall in love. "Wang Maolei's initial rehearsal is the character's personality running at both ends, but both ends are particularly extreme, but once he finds the most appropriate expression, he is a particularly vivid and accurate one." His characteristics cannot be copied by others, his persistent intentions also infect everyone, he is extremely devoted to every second on the stage, and he has a kind of love in his bones for the work. During the rehearsal, he had to do one thing every day, for the aristocratic temperament of the characters, he bought a pair of false collars, and every day when he came to the rehearsal hall, he had to dress up first, and also used his back or the board pad on the back, looking for the feeling of acting on the board, sometimes specially invested, the board behind him fell off, and everyone would be impressed by him. ”
And Zheng Yunlong is the one with the best stage agility in Li Ren's eyes. "His texture is very good, there is a kind of actor who can instantly capture a message that the other party inadvertently gave on the stage, he instantly grasps, opens, amplifies, Zheng Yunlong is like this, this is really innate." So he always has a sense of freshness, and his ability to control the stage is extremely strong, even if it is a person standing on the stage. We had a total of 8 rehearsals before and after, and each rehearsal gave me a fresh feeling, and the sense of substitution of the characters was very strong. In our cooperation over the years, the performance of Dalong has increased greatly. ”
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Guo Jia
Editor/Bow Lifang