The 8th Wuzhen Drama Festival's newborn "bamboo shoots" Wuzhen Theater Festival courtesy of the picture
BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- The 8th Wuzhen Theatre Festival closed on the evening of the 24th, the first time since the festival was held in 2013 without the participation of international theatre groups. 23 performances with a total of 64 specially invited plays, 18 groups with a total of 60 youth competition performances were staged in more than 10 theaters in Wuzhen Xizha, more than 2,000 ancient town carnival performances, 10 town dialogues, 5 drama workshops, 10 reading sessions and a drama market throughout the 9 days, filling this gap.
Awards ceremony Courtesy of Wuzhen Theatre Festival
"The Red and the Black" and "Once Upon a Time" pressed the stage for theatrical festival
In the context of the global impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, not only has it been suspended for one year, but this year's Wuzhen Theater Festival has failed to invite foreign theater troupes to participate in live performances. But in the view of Lai Shengchuan, one of the initiators of the festival and the permanent director, this is a rare opportunity for self-examination. "The most important thing is to reflect on ourselves, our works are not international enough. The purely domestic repertoire is actually an opportunity to examine the development of domestic drama over the years. ”
"Now I am very proud of this lineup, from the opening drama "Red and Black" directed by Meng Jinghui to the closing "Once Upon a Time". I watched The Red and the Black, and I know my own work, both of which stand out at any theatre festival in the world. ”
Meng Jinghui, one of the initiators of the Wuzhen Drama Festival and artistic director, said bluntly that although there are no international works, they are not necessarily international. All the dramatists of the three generations of the old, middle and young people in China have gathered here and displayed their energy here, which is really impressive.
Held to the eighth Wuzhen Drama Festival, this 1300-year-old town has become a paradise for theater industry and lovers: practitioners come here to share experiences and exchange ideas; theater fans are here, find friends and move forward hand in hand; ordinary audiences face beautiful encounters in Jiangnan Water Town, and open their fate with drama...
Therefore, every year during the drama festival, theater fans from all over the country will come as promised. Less than a week after the ticket was issued, more than 25,000 tickets for specially invited plays were sold out, the fastest sell-out time for a single drama was only 8.4 seconds, and the number of participants in the whole network ticket purchase was 356,000...
Ancient Town Carnival Courtesy of Wuzhen Drama Festival
Young dramatists compete in the same field to sow the seeds of drama
The 8th Wuzhen Drama Festival Youth Competition uses three elements of "tree, bread and past" to create propositions. 571 works spanned 13 provinces and cities, covering 18 cities, and 18 groups of works were successfully shortlisted for the competition at The Bengwan Theatre. Since October 16, this year's youth competition repertoire officially began to compete fiercely, and after 3 rounds of public performances, 6 groups of works such as "Everything Starts from the Waves", "Electronic Soot", "White Rhino Incident", "Princess and Martyrdom", "Sunken" and "Staying in the Breath of Life" reached the final.
On the evening of the 24th, after the final careful selection, "Everything Starts from the Waves" won the "Best Individual Performance Award" of the Town Award. The "Best Drama Award" of the Wuzhen Theater Festival Youth Competition Award was jointly won by "Electronic Soot" and "Princess and Martyrdom".
Huang Lei, one of the initiators of the Wuzhen Theater Festival and the director of the Wuzhen Theater Festival, mentioned in an interview many years ago that the original intention of the Wuzhen Theater Festival at the beginning was to provide a drama stage opportunity for newcomers. This year, he still stressed that "the biggest feature and core of the future Wuzhen Drama Festival is the youth competition, because the Wuzhen Theater Festival is prepared for young people." ”
According to statistics, since the eighth drama festival, the youth competition unit has attracted the attention of hundreds of thousands of young theater talents, more than 8,000 people have registered, and more than 2,500 entries have been received, and 124 youth works have been successfully shortlisted. Whether it is Chen Minghao, Wu Bi, Ding Yiteng, Liu Tianqi and others, a considerable number of the winners have become the vanguard force of the Chinese theater stage.
In the view of screenwriter Shi Hang, the Wuzhen Drama Festival is not a flower bed, but a botanical garden.
Just like the theme of this year's Wuzhen Drama Festival, "Mao", the bamboo shoots of new life, represents vitality. Generation after generation of young dramatists have added branches and leaves to Chinese drama with lush vitality.
Town Dialogue Courtesy of Wuzhen Drama Festival
The "new" life of drama from the variety show into the theater brings the audience in the door
If you say what are the most difficult tickets to grab this year? The repertoire in "Drama New Life" must be on the list. In the variety show, Liu Xiaoye, Wu Bi, Liu Xiaoyi, Zhao Xiaosu, Ding Yiteng, Liu Tianqi and other six dramatists returned to Wuzhen, bringing "Brazil", "The Story of the Chicken Farm", "Heart", "Reflection", "About Planet 23", and interpreting word-of-mouth dramas. The broken circle brought by the variety show is obvious, and the six actors were surrounded by fans when they appeared and asked for a group photo and autograph.
Stills from "The Story of the Chicken Farm" Courtesy of wuzhen drama festival
"Don't you feel ashamed that variety shows don't do more serious things?" Huang Lei said that he is the initiator of this variety show.
"After watching 'Drama New Life', the audience can enter the theater, and we can also use the drama to give back to the audience, which is a two-way street. I think that letting everyone enter the theater and get the satisfaction of watching the play is the biggest role of "New Life of Drama". It doesn't matter where we act, what matters is that the show takes the dramatic environment a step forward. Liu Xiaoyi said.
Liu Xiaoye is deeply touched by this, "We have been performing, and what is more profound is that we have toured many cities, and some cities have few theaters and few performances. And "New Life of Drama" has allowed more people to enter the theater, and also let friends in cities without theaters see drama, which I think is of greater significance. Children and young people there need to see these theatrical works and our creative methods through this medium. Now that science and technology has been highly developed, it is a good means of communication, and what we do is also the work of communication, so why not make full use of tv media or the Internet? ”
In fact, this year's drama festival opens a new form of "online live broadcasting", and the audience who cannot come to the scene can directly hit the youth competition scene through online live broadcasting, and experience the fun of watching the drama with the actors and the audience.
Poster of 18 groups of youth competition shortlisted plays Courtesy of Wuzhen Drama Festival
The Ancient Town Carnival is full of fun and inclusive theatre markets
The 8th Guzhen Carnival has a total of more than 130 performances, with more than 2,000 performances, which is the highest in history.
The streets and alleys, terraces and rivers, with the unique humanistic charm of Wuzhen, the contemporary avant-garde performing arts and diverse folk culture are integrated in the same space, filling every corner outside the Wuzhen Theater, including improv comedy, opera, installation art, multimedia, traditional folk songs, puppet dramas, virtual performances, juggling magic, body dramas, experimental poetry and dance skits and so on. Among them, the Department of Public Space Art of the School of Sculpture and Public Art of the China Academy of Art has built a large-scale spatial three-dimensional art installation on the main river channel of xizha scenic spot to awaken people's thinking with the change of light; the Jielu Opera Society has directly faced the innovative problems of traditional art with immersive Kunqu opera performances; the improvised hot pot troupe, which interacts with the audience on the street and improvises, leaving the audience with exclusive memories belonging to Wuzhen...
The Drama Bazaar is a special planning section of the 8th Wuzhen Drama Festival, which is a wonderful literary and artistic gathering: feel the battle carnival of "Leshen" and "Dionysus" at the "Night God Music Scene"; get close to the leisure and emotion in the "HELLO Wuzhen Trend Art Exhibition"; watch the "Gate of Perception VR Film Festival" to break the human perception restricted by physics; "Space Montage" in the practice of space and construct a new narrative, opening up infinite possibilities for reality; take a cruise in xizha scenic spot and watch the "Fuzhou —— Wuzhen Water System Screening" to feel the scene of contemporary art happening; "Into the mirror drama such as drama , drama hundred masters dialogue exhibition" pays tribute to the classics of hundreds of masters, with dramatic words, between the mirror and the virtual reality, showing a play and a division and a grid; "into the mirror drama like a dream , breathing viewing device" to break through professional barriers and wander in the free art space; in the "Peach Factory Screening Hall", the audience feels the infinite charm of classic movies, immerses the soul, and feels the charm of light and shadow...
In Wuzhen, drama takes place anytime and anywhere. (End)
Source: China News Network