Author / A pen
After two years of disobedience, the Wuzhen Drama Festival returned.
In the past 10 days, all the people who love drama have had a big dream in Wuzhen, which is full of osmanthus flowers. 23 performances with a total of 64 specially invited plays, 60 youth competitions in 18 groups, 10 town dialogues, 10 readings and more than 2,000 performances of the Ancient Town Carnival jointly performed a theatrical feast.
In addition to the feast, the topic #Wuzhen Drama Festival Encounters Stars # (Zhang Yixing, Liu Haoran, He Jiong, Zhou Xun, Ma Yili, Wei Daxun, Tang Yixin, Zhao Zhiwei, Li Shi, Yang Tianzhen, Liu Zhenyun, Liu Heng... ) to attract attention. However, then again, since the first Wuzhen Theater Festival in 2013, there has been no shortage of stars here, and it seems that it is not surprising who you meet and what happens.
In nine years, the 8th Wuzhen Drama Festival, 177 specially invited plays, 124 youth competition finalists, 167 town dialogues, and more than 10,000 ancient town carnival performances, bloomed here. The entertainment sir (ID: yulechanye) who rushed to the scene could not stand being infected by the dramatic atmosphere all over Wuzhen, but also could not help but wonder: after the broadcast of this year's high-scoring variety show "Drama New Life", on the basis of the increasingly superimposed star effect, what changes are taking place in the Wuzhen Drama Festival and even Chinese drama?
Drama Festival – Drama Collection
Undoubtedly, the Wuzhen Drama Festival, co-sponsored by Chen Xianghong, Huang Lei, Lai Shengchuan and Meng Jinghui and sponsored by Culture Wuzhen Co., Ltd., has become one of the most well-known theater festivals in China.
Usually, the Wuzhen Drama Festival is divided into four major units: specially invited plays, youth competitions, ancient town carnivals, and town dialogues (forums, summits, workshops, reading sessions, and exhibitions). This year, Huang Lei introduced that this year's drama festival has added a special section - the drama market.
Well, it is the place where Li Tianzhen and Yang Tianzhen eat noodles and Zhang Yixing and Wang Xun buy ice cream that everyone sees on the Internet, that is, Beizha Silk Factory. In addition to the trendy food market, there are also night god music scenes, life like drama theme space, night sky montage, trend art exhibition, Wuzhen Theater Festival retrospective exhibition, perceptual gate VR film festival, Peach Factory Screening Hall, town library, into the mirror play (such as dream breathing movie viewing device), reading meeting, Fuzhou - Wuzhen water system screening plan.
Let's start with the sense of experience. Most of the projects do not open until after 2 p.m., and the more people there are in the evening, the more lively it is, and it is possible that everyone is busy watching a play next door during the day. Then most of the people who come to this place to punch are still local residents, dragging their families to eat and drink, borrowing the words of one of the residents, "It's not far away, come to make a scene, I heard that you can also meet the stars Ha." ”
If Xizha is a paradise of theater and art, then this is an experiment in business and art at the Wuzhen Theatre Festival. Entertainment sir learned that behind these projects, there are actually different cross-border cooperation.
For example, the Taochang Screening Hall is a film exhibition space jointly created by the Wuzhen Drama Festival and iQIYI, in addition to classic films like "The Wanderings of Sanmao", some plays of iQIYI Mist Theater (the recently concluded "Octagonal Pavilion Mystery Fog") are also played here.
For example, the Night God Music Scene is a cross-border cooperation with NetEase's Stabbing FEVER and Modern Sky New Blood Plan; the mirror drama (such as the dream breathing viewing device) is actually a scene that can be used with Huawei for users to experience immersively; the theme space of life is more like a resident exhibition of Bubble Mart; the trendy food market has gone up to attract business. According to the on-site merchants, the minimum price of setting up stalls in the drama market for one day is also 500 yuan / day, as for whether it can return the cost? He said that brands pay more attention to the effect beyond the return on capital.
To some extent, this is also a new idea for the Wuzhen Theater Festival to open up after seven years of itching.
People, a lot of people
More than 4,000 staff, more than 500 troupe personnel, 18 groups of a total of 78 young people competing, from 13 provinces and cities, covering 18 cities; in addition, in addition, in addition to Huang Lei, He Jiong, Zhou Xun, Ma Yili, Tong Yao, Liu Yijun, Liu Zhenyun, Liu Heng, Yan Min, etc., there are also many young artists, which attract a lot of attention for the theater festival, including Zhang Yixing, Liu Haoran, Wei Daxun, Tang Yixin, Zhao Zhiwei, etc., with theater fans who love drama from all over the world, and tourists who come to Wuzhen. Intertwined through every alley and small bridge in Wuzhen. Good life is lively.
As we all know, "Youth Competition" is the soul of Wuzhen Drama Festival. According to Meng Jinghui, compared with previous years, the number of youth competition applications this year has risen sharply, reaching more than 1,300 people, receiving 571 registered works, 18 groups of works successfully shortlisted, and obtaining the opportunity to compete in the Bengwan Theater. In his opinion, the efforts of the previous seven years have sprouted today. Now it's time for the youth race to be "crazy" long. For artists, "crazy" is the norm of life and imagination.
It's not just these young, budding theater people who are "crazy." Since October 16, at the Bengwan Theatre, there have been waves of long queues every day, even after 10 p.m., and there are still people queuing. Because of the limited number of venues, theater fans who can't get in will also watch the big screen live broadcast outside the venue. Among them, there are many elderly people with gray hair. Yu Sir went to chat and learned that the old man had come to the Wuzhen Drama Festival with his granddaughter to watch the play.
After 3 rounds of performances, 6 groups of works such as "Everything Starts from the Waves", "Electronic Soot", "White Rhino Incident", "Princess and Martyrdom", "Sunken", and "Staying with the Breath of Life" reached the final. The final result was drawn on the 23rd: "Everything Starts from the Waves" won the "Best Individual Performance Award" of the Town Award; "Best Drama Award" won the double yolk egg: won by "Electronic Soot" and "Princess and Martyrdom".
Also lining up was the town dialogue. 10 conversations, the field was full, and the gaps were full of people. Listen to Meng Jinghui and Chen Minghao and others talk about drama and literature; watch Huang Lei return to Wuzhen with the guests of "Drama New Life" to respond to the layered effects caused by the "New Life of Drama" after the program was broadcast; Lai Shengchuan talked about "Once Upon a Time" and super long drama; there were also the challenges of mesozoic and new generation directors, theater in the post-epidemic era, etc., together with the main creators, artists, and literati, charging on the spot.
In addition to the queue, the large number of people is also reflected in the "difficult to find a ticket". Since October 15, director Meng Jinghui, Mei Ting, Zhang Hancheng starring in "Red and Black" unveiled the prelude to the 8th Wuzhen Theatre Festival, a total of 23 domestic plays, 8 good dramas from all over the world screened, here opened a 10-day theatrical feast. Directed by Lai Shengchuan and starring Hao Lei and Zhang Jie, the super-long drama "Once Upon a Time" was not affected by Zhang Jie's injury and was staged as scheduled. Six and a half hours, 390 minutes, presented to everyone a long and grand epic of life, from Yunnan to New York, from leisure to panic, and finally calm.
It is also worth mentioning the reproduction of works in "Drama New Life", including "Brazil", "The Story of the Chicken Farm", "Heart", "Reflection", and "About Planet 23", which is difficult to find.
In addition to drama, cross-talk, dance, street performing arts and other carnival performances scattered in all corners of the form, or by the lake, or in the pavilion, or by the bridge, in the alley, their sense of faith and the simple and persistent love for drama completely filled the sense of drama atmosphere of the Wuzhen Theater Festival. Entertainment sir learned that most of these carnival actors are college students, through the art clubs of various schools to sign up, screen, and finally get tickets to this dramatic illusion.
There are old theater fans who have participated in the Wuzhen Theater Festival for more than three consecutive years, there are also new theater fans who have specially rushed to this theatrical feast, and there are tourists who come to watch the liveliness... Who knows? Some of them may next appear on the stage of the youth competition and appear in one drama theater after another; and among those onlookers, maybe some of them will become theater fans next time, and maybe young children will plant a theatrical dream at this point, so that it is the more long-term significance of the Wuzhen Drama Festival.
When variety shows, stars, and high ticket prices enter the Wuzhen Theater Festival
Has the dramatic crisis eased?
Back in September, less than a week after the 8th Wuzhen Drama Festival was ticketed, 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 was 356,000. In addition to the fact that many plays are difficult to find, there are also generally rising ticket prices.
Entertainment sir observed that compared with previous years, the ticket prices of the more popular plays at this year's drama festival are 480 yuan, the lowest price of few plays is 380 yuan, and the ticket price of "Once Upon a Time" is in the range of 580-2680 yuan, and it should be emphasized that the length of "Once Upon a Time" is 390 minutes.
But overall, ticket prices have risen a lot. This is not counting the on-site scalper tickets, at the entrance of the Wuzhen scenic spot, at the entrance of the exhibition hall, there are always scalpers whispering: "Do you want a ticket?" Tonight's xxx's play, and the stars watched together. Entertainment sir personally experienced, "Once Upon a Time" a 580 ticket scalper dared to shout 1500 yuan.
Objectively speaking, the above phenomena also reflect the continuous improvement of the influence and penetration of drama in the past year. First, the influence of Wuzhen's drama culture has accumulated day by day, and second, the broadcast of the variety show "Drama New Life" directed by Yan Min and initiated by Huang Lei at the beginning of this year has aroused a lot of heated discussions. The six dramatists in the program: Liu Xiaoye, Zhao Xiaosu, Liu Xiaoyi, Wu Bi, Ding Yiteng, Liu Tianqi, also entered the eyes of many audiences. Based on the addition of dramatists, Yu Sir believes that the significance of "New Life of Drama" is to make drama fly more closely.
The most intuitive embodiment is that whether it is Ding Yiteng's previous "I Am the Moon" or this Wuzhen Drama Festival, more audiences have come to see the play, and more audiences have learned, paid attention to and liked the drama because they watched "New Life of Drama".
Here I especially want to interject a passage of Huang Lei's expression in the dialogue of the town: The next time someone asks you to do variety shows in theater, don't you feel ashamed, you will answer that they don't do more serious art in variety shows, don't you feel ashamed? (Worth thinking about)
Regarding the interaction between drama and variety shows, at least for the time being, it seems to be generally positive. It is reported that the second season of "Drama New Life" is in preparation.
Wuzhen is beautiful and the drama is charming. Back to the title: variety shows, stars, high ticket prices, when these step by step into the Wuzhen Theater Festival, the drama crisis has been alleviated? It is true that the phenomena of "New Life of Drama" and the attention of stars are still in the minority. They are indeed helping drama to be paid more attention to and accepted by more people, but for the imported product of drama, there is obviously a deeper and more local and more diverse culture to be explored by Chinese theater people.