The Paper's reporter Wang Yi
On May 21, The Beijing Renyi Small Theater 'Miss Zhu Li' once again appeared on the stage of the Experimental Theater, opening the premiere of the second round of performances. It is worth mentioning that the day of the performance coincided with the second fullness of the summer, and "Miss Julie", a famous piece created in strict accordance with the requirements of the ancient Greek drama Trinity, the story content takes place from the night of a midsummer night to the early morning.
Poster of Miss Julie
"We renyi hope to arrange ancient and modern Chinese and foreign dramas, present foreign classic dramas on the renyi stage, and introduce them to Chinese audiences." Strindberg (1849-1912) had two plays that have been performed worldwide, Miss Julie and Sonata. The status of "Miss Zhu Li" is like Mr. Cao Yu's "Thunderstorm", which is his most performed play in the world, and has always been a constant performance. "Director Ren Ming told the surging news reporter that in his view, the rich and mysterious form of expression and the strong and flamboyant character color make this classic work full of modern meaning." "Miss Julie" can be called 'Miss Julie's Mystery', this play can be said to be a puzzle, we are taking the audience to solve the puzzle together, to explore the reasons behind the results. ”
Stills from Miss Julie. The stills in this article were all taken by Li Chunguang.
The impact of the epidemic continues last year's "abrupt end"
"Miss Julie" is a naturalistic masterpiece by the Swedish drama master Strindberg, the whole play uses fragmented forms and full of metaphors and symbols to tell the audience the story of the noble Lady Julie from being lured by the servants to the point where she could not face it and could not escape, and finally suffered and died. Renyi's small theatrical version of "Miss Julie" was rehearsed in groups at the end of 2019, "Premiered on January 17, 2020, originally planned to perform 16 consecutive performances, only 6 performances were performed, the epidemic came to an abrupt end, and the theater had to cancel all performances." Ren Ming recalled to the surging news reporter that this is the reason why this performance was defined as the "second round" premiere.
At the press conference of Renyi at that time, Ren Ming once introduced, "This play is inexhaustible, it talks about complex human nature, about the contradictions and conflicts between people, about the huge contradictions and conflicts in people's own hearts, and also about the contradictions and conflicts between people and their own environment." These are the eternal things in the work, which are closely related to our present. To this end, he also made an analogy, "that is, we play football instead of Brazil's more delicate way of playing, but with the British way of playing, long passes and hangings, with large lines to express, there are relatively abstract colors." In the rhythm of the performance, the line drawing is very modern. This is also my own understanding and expression that I emphasize. ”
At the end of 2019, director Ren Ming (third from the left) attended the press conference of "Miss Zhu Li".
Although it is only a one-act play performed in a small theater, "Miss Julie" is the only drama in Strindberg that has ever been on the stage of human art, and it is particularly eye-catching. The last time the talent actor team starred in the play was directed by Hao Rong, the current director of the Central Academy of Drama, ten years ago. At that time, Yu Zhen, an actor who had just played Shoko the Camel, starred as the ambitious male servant Jean in the play. Looking at the world, in the past decade alone, Jessica Chastain has starred in the film version of "Miss Julie" (directed by Norwegian female director Liv Uman) in 2014. In 2018, "White Widow" Vanessa Kirby re-enacted this classic image on the British theatrical stage ("Julie", directed by British female director Kelly Clarknell). The British version of the drama not only boldly appeared in the interpretation of lust, but the male protagonist Jean was also played by a black actor.
Stills from Miss Julie
This round of rearrangement focuses on "rich and poor, class issues"
It is understood that Hao Rong's version of "Miss Zhu Li" has not been performed on the renyi stage since then. This round of rehearsals is completely in accordance with the script translated by translator Li Zhiyi, and in order to emphasize the sense of modernity, it is easier for the current audience to enter the plot - it should be known that this play was born in 1888, but images and terms such as cars and hypnosis still appear in this actor's dialogue. "This performance, from the stage design to the director's conception, to the choice of actors is completely different, which is equivalent to a rearrangement." Ren Ming introduced. Taking the stage design as an example, the performance space on the stage is basically set in the kitchen of the castle where Miss Julie's family is located. The four sides of the large and asymmetrical ceiling not only cover the entire stage, but also extend to the audience, as if to "sandwich" the playwright and the audience together between the fragmented frames.
In the setting of the main theme of the play, in the past, some people studied from the perspective of naturalism, and some discussed from the social and psychological aspects, which were basically more abstract generalizations. Considering the master-servant relationship between Miss Julie and Jean, a statement with the imprint of the times seems to be more understandable, "highlighting the conflict of emotions and desires between men and women, and revealing the sharp contradictions between two different social classes." In this regard, Ren Ming gave his own observations, "There must be an expression of lust in this play, and Strindberg itself has written some scenes and bridges." We have done artistic treatment and externalization on the basis of respecting the content of the original work, and this expression is normal. I mainly think that today, the gap between rich and poor, class differences, including racial problems are very serious. When rehearsing the play, in addition to focusing on the relationship between emotion and lust, I hope to focus on the issues of wealth and poverty and class. With the development of the economy, it has become more and more a worldwide proposition, and such problems and conflicts as the time of Strindberg exist, and the future may be one of the eternal propositions of mankind. ”
If the character of the most explosive character in the whole play constitutes a large color block, then the psychological activity of the characters that runs through it is a meticulous line, "to emphasize the psychological activity of the characters, this must be meticulous, the characters in the play have several levels of psychology, how to express the meaning of this clearly, is our task." Before the second round of performances, the director put forward such a request for the actors: to make the performance more driven and lead the audience into the scene in the play. In Ren Ming's view, today's audience is very professional, they come to see this play with expectations for Strindberg, putting forward higher requirements for the creators, "If our understanding and feelings can be greater than the lines, then the amount of information that can be transmitted to the audience is large enough to make them understand more clearly." ”
Such a passionate play also allows the actors to burst out all their energy on the stage. The all-youth lineup given by Beijing Renyi this time allows the audience to see the unlimited potential of young actors. Xu Cenzi, a young actor who plays Zhu Li, has played many of her roles on the stage, and playing Such an alternative and extremely spiritual role as Zhu Li makes people see her control over the complex psychology of the characters. Although Li Yue, who plays Jean, only entered Beijing Renyi in 2019, the role of male servant on the stage makes people forget his literary and artistic appearance, enter his strong spiritual guidance, and feel the oppressive feeling of the characters step by step. The maid played by Wang Junrui is not a supporting role in the traditional sense, but plays an important role in the opponent play with the hero and heroine. With the tacit cooperation of the three young people, this small theater work shows great energy. The round will run until May 31.
Editor-in-charge: Cheng Yu
Proofreader: Yijia Xu