The birth of women's Yue opera is an important achievement of the Chinese new cultural movement in the 20th century, and it is also a major event in the history of Chinese theater and even the history of world theater. As a representative figure of women's Yue opera in the 20th century, Yuan Xuefen's personal historical role is irreplaceable. The significance of 1942 as the dividing line of the first year of the reform of Yue opera is also in line with the actual situation at that time. 1942 was an important year for theatrical transformation of Yue opera after entering Shanghai, which was inseparable from Yuan Xuefen's personal consciousness and related measures at that time. Looking back at the history of the birth of Yue opera in the 20th century, the stylistic positioning of Yue opera, mainly female Yue opera, has always been relatively vague, and even today, Yue opera has increasingly blurred the concept of gender. This is the inherent dilemma of the survival and development of the drama genre, which should first be paid attention to in theory. Especially today, when commemorating the 80th anniversary of the reform of Yue opera, the exploration of this issue is of more practical significance. I have worked in Shanghai Yue Theatre for 6 years, and so far I have created or adapted 18 Yue opera works. I want to go back to the history of Yue opera since its birth from the perspective of personal understanding, put forward topics, questions, and expectations, hoping to trigger thinking and hear feedback.
first
The background of the birth of women's Yue opera
The birth of women's Yue opera was first and foremost the result of the promotion of the New Culture Movement. The New Culture Movement wants to liberate people, including women. In the wave of the new cultural movement, young elites are all looking for a positive path of social development and national prosperity, some advocate political salvation, some advocate industry to save the country, some advocate education to save the country, and some advocate art to save the country. Women's Yue opera is also a reflection of a new cultural movement.
Yue opera grandmaster Yuan Xuefen
Secondly, women's Yue opera is helped by new cultural people and nourished by new literature. In addition to Peking Opera, there are very few dramas that are as consciously close to the new culture as Yue opera, and no drama genre has attracted the attention of the new culture people at that time. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Shanghai film industry, the drama industry, including some political elites, were all concerned about Yue opera, which made Yue opera have a new cultural character since its birth. The Yue opera "Xiang Lin Sister-in-law" starring Yuan Xuefen is adapted from Mr. Lu Xun's work "Blessing", and many progressive writers have brought works of anti-Japanese salvation and human liberation to Yue opera.
Moreover, women's Yue opera is the result of urbanization and theatrical trend. The beginning of the 20th century was a period of transformation from an agrarian society to an industrial society in ancient China, a period of transformation from rural civilization to urban civilization, and a period of transformation from the simple folk drama of Caotai Square to the european-style "mirror-frame stage" theater of the city. In 1907, drama was born, and in the same year, Shanghai began to build the first modern theater with a framed stage, the "New Stage". After the new stage was built, Peking Opera took the lead in entering the theater, but people often overlooked that Yue Opera followed close behind. Drama is an imported product that lands in Shanghai at the same time as the framed stage, and Peking Opera is transformed from a traditional theater garden to a modern theater. In The Chinese opera genre, only the female Yue opera has been a self-conscious theater art since the day of its birth. Its predecessors, all-male classes and male and female classes, are not theater arts, only all-female female Yue opera.
In addition, the birth of women's Yue opera was influenced by the awakening of women's consciousness at that time. These female Yue opera actors pursue marital autonomy, love freedom, and pursue economic and personality independence. The awakening of the youth of that era was often first and foremost dissatisfaction with their feudal arranged marriages and buying and selling marriages, which was not a simple moral problem, in fact the consciousness of many pioneers of the new culture began by stepping out of the family and out of the shackles of old-style marriage. Yue opera women are also, they meet to go to Shanghai to make a living, remain independent, stay sober, do not covet money, improperly a man's vassal, and even to the extent of talking about tiger discoloration and excessive defense for rich and powerful men in the Ten Mile Ocean Field. Female Yue opera actors have self-esteem, self-improvement, self-discipline, and even some autism, but in their hearts is the yearning for urban life and free emotions. These spiritual pursuits and value orientations are intentionally or unintentionally expressed on the stage of women's Yue opera performances, constituting the strong voice of the era of women's liberation in that era.
second
A sign of the birth of women's Yue opera
The first sign of the birth of women's Yue opera was the substitution of all-female classes for all-male and all-male classes. Yuan Xuefen was only seventeen or eighteen years old when she created the "Ruler Tone", and at the age of twenty, she was already a leader. The all-female class replaced the all-male class and the male and female classes, which had an independent Yue opera vocal cavity and the regulation of Yue opera theater performances. Before that, Yue opera was actually a folk version of Shao opera. Shao opera is a regular big drama, folk small drama is also speaking Shaoxing dialect, but also with the local voice cavity plus some folk tunes, this is the original male class or male and female class. Women's Yue opera began to create new tunes, and the Shao opera vocal cavity was also an important resource for the formation of female Yue opera vocal cavity. The Xu (Yulan) school, the Zhang (Guifeng) school, and even the Fu (Quanxiang) school in the Danjiao school of the female Yue opera shengjiao school all have the characteristics of the high cavity of Shao opera in the vocal cavity.
In August 1947, the ten sisters of Yue opera took a group photo. Front row from left: Xu Tianhong, Fu Quanxiang, Yuan Xuefen, Zhu Shuizhao, Fan Ruijuan, Wu Xiaolou; Back row from left: Zhang Guifeng, Xiao Dangui, Xu Yulan, Yin Guifang
The second symbol is the gradual establishment of the female primary school leadership system and thus becomes the biggest feature of women's Yue opera. For many Yue opera audiences, watching Yue opera is more of a female student of Yue opera. The transformation figure led by Xiaosheng is Yin Guifang, who is represented by Fan Ruijuan, Xu Yulan, Lu Jinhua, Bi Chunfang, and Zhu Shuizhao, who also plays Hua Dan. The feelings of female Yue opera actors on and off the stage are very complicated, the feelings between partners are very deep but not exposed, it is difficult to accept their partners and then pair them with other actors to perform, and once the partners are dismantled, there is an inexplicable sense of hurt and loss. Without the deep investment of these female actors in their feelings, where is the magic of Yue opera to pluck the heartstrings and touch people's hearts? How can general emotions perform the realms of "Eighteen Send-offs", "Floor Meeting" and "Dai Yu Funeral Flowers" and "Bao Yu Weeping Spirit"? The emotional drama of Yue opera female xiaosheng and Yue opera female Hua Dan often does not involve sex, and the emotional relationship of female Yue opera often focuses on love, that is, love, the ultimate joy and ultimate sorrow of care and missing, and they really interpret the love of the world - not sex, to the point of thrilling, very true, very true, very pure, very deep.
third
The aesthetic character of women's Yue opera
The aesthetic character of women's Yue opera I summarize into two points, one is "youth" and the other is "aesthetic".
Youth is the theme of youth, the concept of youth, and the idol of youth. Yue opera does not rely on "horns", but on character images. Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, Zhang Junrui and Cui Yingying symbolize the youth idols of young men and women, showing the common feelings and love appeals of men and women, and the core is to win the young audience of that era. Which drama genre won the young audience of that era, it was the most popular and fashionable and advanced in that era. Today's Yue opera audience is no longer young, and the youth theme that once excited an era cannot impress today's young people, and Yue opera has become a bit "thinner than yellow flowers".
Stills from the Yue opera film "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai"
Aesthetic, aesthetic love, aesthetic life, aesthetic ideals, aesthetic character. Aesthetic love is not only not related to sex, or even related to fertility, into the cave room, the whole drama is basically over. Yue opera cares about "former feelings", pursues emotional purity, and does not mix with conventional ideas. In the face of unattainable love, women's Yue operas often "die to show you", can not be pursued alive, and die "become butterflies" and "transform ghosts" to "be together". What a decision! In addition, Yue opera has also achieved the most advanced costumes, makeup, props, sets that can be achieved in that era, and even the speech and behavior of the female Yue opera actors themselves, and the marital feelings have also strived to achieve the most exquisite in that era, which is the aesthetic character of women's Yue opera.
Under the concept of youth and aesthetic beauty, he has created a large number of representative plays - "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Xi Xiang Ji", "Chasing Fish", "The Legend of the White Snake", "Jade Hairpin", "Liu Yi Biography", "Meng Lijun", etc., as well as "Five Daughters Worship Shou", "Xi Xiang Ji", "Lu You and Tang Wan" in Zhejiang since the 1980s and 1990s, "Mo Sorrowful Girl" in Nanjing, "Meilong Town" in Shanghai, "Butterfly Dream" and so on. These Yue opera works are all expressions of youth and aesthetic performances. The most taboo thing about women's Yue opera is the adult worldly and utilitarian heart, only the expression of youth and aesthetic performance have the charm and conquest of Yue opera.
Stills from the Yue opera "Dream of the Red Chamber"
fourth
The circulation of women's Yue opera
Yue opera entered its heyday in the 1950s, after the founding of New China. In the 1920s, it began to normalize into Shanghai, in the 30s women's Yue opera gradually became the mainstream, in the 40s women's Yue opera was reformed, and by the 50s, the democratic consciousness, progressive consciousness, and gender equality consciousness of Yue opera had been integrated into the mainstream spirit of the times. In the heyday of Yue opera in the 1950s, with Shanghai as the center, it spread to the whole country as fast as a typhoon transit, and it was like a goddess scattering flowers all the way. It is not a dragonfly dotting water, and it must take root and blossom where it passes. According to statistics, there are no professional Yue opera troupes in the whole country except Guangxi, Guangdong, and Tibet, and there are professional Yue opera troupes in the whole country, including in Taiwan, which reached its peak before the "Cultural Revolution". Why Yue opera was once the second largest genre in China refers to its spread and influence. Today, the professional troupes of Yue opera only exist in Zhejiang, Shanghai, Min and Suzhou. Henan Yu opera, including Taiwan, there are about 20 provinces and regions in the country with professional Yu opera troupes, the wide range of broadcasting, the number of professional troupes, the number of practitioners, is not today's Yue opera can be compared. The spread and influence of drama genres such as Northern Commentary, Southern Cantonese Opera and Ancient Kun Opera have not lost as much as today's Jiangnan Yue Opera.
Stills from the Yue opera "The Tale of the West Chamber"
fifth
The historical inflection point of women's Yue opera
How did Yue opera weaken overnight? Where is the inflection point? The inflection point that can be felt is the "Cultural Revolution". Yue opera is considered to be "the sound of jingjing", without the pride of "model drama", and is not good at playing red themes. During the "Cultural Revolution," the Vietnamese suffered severe losses and losses, and the decade was miserable, and the vigorous development momentum was suddenly contained. Fortunately, several Yue opera films were made before the "Cultural Revolution", and after the "Cultural Revolution", they were screened to find a group of old audiences for Yue opera and win a new audience.
The second inflection point is that yue opera's own personality begins to blur. From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, the awareness of "co-actors" and the active choreography of modern dramas made the development of women's Yue opera a bit of a dilemma. The stage version of He Laoliu, played by the original female primary school student Fan Ruijuan, was replaced by the later actor Shi Jihua, and the Yue opera "Xianglin Sister-in-law" film filmed in 78 basically realized male and female co-performances. Previously, Xu Yulan also tried to play Lao Dan in modern dramas, and the effect was also unsatisfactory, and the limitations of women's Yue opera in modern dramas have become obvious. In terms of women's Yue opera choreographing and acting in modern dramas, Yuan Xuefen's understanding is very clear, and the division of labor is also very clear. In order to create a modern Yue opera, Yuan Xuefen set up a separate co-operative troupe in the Shanghai Yue Theatre, but regarded the co-performance of modern opera by men and women as an "experiment". At the same time, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other places have also experimented with male and female co-performances, but they have distinguished male and female Yue operas and developed separately, and there has been no later female Yue opera rushing to write modern dramas, and even less common "mixed performances between men and women" today. It is a sad thing that the all-female performing arts, which is rare in the history of Chinese theater and even in the history of world theater, has gradually blurred its true colors in catching up with the trend of the era of superficiality. Even today, in terms of understanding and basic evaluation of Yue opera, the gender characteristics of Yue opera have become more and more diluted.
Stills from the Yue opera movie "Xiang Lin Sister-in-law"
sixth
A mottled scene of female Yue opera
Why mottled? It is mainly manifested by a blurred sense of boundaries. The first is that the sense of boundary between women's Yue opera and male and female co-performances is blurred, there is no difference in repertoire, there is no difference in vocal cavity, there is no difference in performance style, and women's Yue opera, male and female co-performance, and mixed performance of men and women are similar in style.
The second is that the sense of boundary between this genre and its drama genre is becoming less and less clear, and the traditional origami drama, the newly compiled historical drama, the modern drama, from the script lyrics to the stage design to the performing arts, and even the musical instrumentation, there is no obvious style distinction, and the sense of recognition is becoming more and more unclear.
seventh
Potential opportunities for women's Yue opera
Now, it is in a new period of cultural transformation, the transformation of traditional culture to modern culture, the transformation of rigid frame stage performing arts environment to a diverse modern performing arts space, including new performing arts media such as large theaters, small theaters, and the Internet. The transformation of space gave Yue opera an opportunity for transformation, just like the transformation from a rural grass stage to an urban stage. In the early 1990s, The Zhejiang Yue opera led by Mao Weitao once again transformed into a modern performing arts concept, that is, from a reproducible frame stage to an expressive modern performing arts space. Yuan Xuefen advocates realistic creation, Mao Weitao experiments with expressionist creation, and in today's transformation and transformation of new aesthetic forms and new communication methods, can Yue opera once again go to the forefront of local opera across the country and explore a new development direction? This is a new opportunity for the development of Yue opera given by history and the times.
Stills from the Yue opera "Meilong Town"
At this time, the development of cultural industrialization may also bring new opportunities to Yue opera. Yue opera, especially women's Yue opera, is like the Japanese women's theater troupe Takarazuka in neighboring countries, and in the context of the combination of culture and tourism, it is of great commercial development value. The advent of the all-media, metaverse era and the more complex expressions of emotions, ethics and interpersonal relations brought about by modern scientific and technological civilization, women's Yue opera, as a modern performing art spawned by urban drama and theater art, has the unique advantages and broad space to explore the relationship between human feelings, human nature and human gender.
eighth
A co-actor about Yue opera
Jiangnan personality, in a sense, is stronger than the north. Shaoxing, the ancient yue kingdom, was the place where the Yue king had been lying down for ten years, the place where Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu, rose from the pole, the hometown of Mr. Lu Xun, the literati with the hardest bones in China, and the place where Qiu Jin, the heroine of Jianhu Lake, led her neck to righteousness. The most difficult thing for the Yuan Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty to enter the lordship is Jiangnan, so the personality map of Jiangsu and Zhejiang is not all feminine and beautiful, but soft in rigidity, and soft in rigidity. Yuan Xuefen said that Yue opera has two "nursing mothers", a Kun opera and a drama, but she ignored that Yue opera also has an "adoptive father", that is, Shao opera. Shao opera has a blood thicker than water origin in Yue opera, especially the regional spirit and personality genes represented by the high cavity of Shao opera, which is more suitable for male and female co-performances. Shao opera not only nurtured female Yue opera, but also empowered the artistic development of Male Actors of Yue Opera. Women's Yue opera is Yue opera, and male and female co-performances are also Yue opera, but male and female co-performances do not have to be as youthful and beautiful as women's Yue opera, women's Yue opera can "sigh with the love of children and children", and male and female co-performances can "express the feelings of children with the feelings of rise and fall". The ancient Yue people's "tattoo and hair breakage" is a kind of elegance in boldness and flying in poetry. Women's Yue opera should be different from male and female co-performances, and male and female Yue opera should also be different from other dramas.
Yue opera "Butterfly Dream"
For a long time, Yue opera's aesthetic definition and character understanding of itself have been vague in theory. It's like a person who hasn't taken a picture for a long time, and gradually doesn't remember what he was like, and over time, he thinks that he is himself, but in fact, he is far away from himself. Because Yue Opera theoretically lacks identification with its own sense of identity, it will continue to be moved by the atmosphere, and there will be a trance of its own development and even the reverse use of brute force. Therefore, I would like to put forward some topics at the special node of the 80th anniversary of the reform of Yue opera this year, hoping that the Yue opera community will attach importance to its own theoretical construction and provide a "identity card" with a clear face and accurate information for itself. Because we must first be righteous, and then we can innovate.
(Luo Huaizhen: Famous playwright, consultant of the Chinese Dramatists Association, and consultant of the China Literary and Art Critics Association. This article is compiled from the content of an exclusive interview with China Art News during the "Seminar on The 80th Anniversary of the Reform of Yue Opera and the Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of Yuan Xuefen's Birth" held by Luo Huaizhen in Shaoxing City on August 1. ）