The whole building wants to install an elevator, only the first floor does not agree, which has been a livelihood problem faced by many old public housing residents. Created with this theme, the Haipai urban burlesque play "Eight Feet in the Air" was selected for the new stage art exhibition season celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and will be staged at the newly completed Wanping Theater from July 6 to 8. According to the main creative team, the drama has recently been adapted into a community version, which has performed this grounded burlesque drama into thousands of households.
Pictured: "Eight Feet in the Air" Stills taken by Zu Zhongren
"Air transport hairy crabs, eight feet in the air", how did a post-break phrase in the Shanghai dialect evolve into a funny play? From "Sanmao Student Intention", "Seventy-two Tenants" and "Satisfied Not Satisfied", Shanghai Burlesque opera has been welcomed by the audience with its closeness to the people who are good at interpreting the lives of ordinary people. Exposing real problems in laughter, praising truth, goodness and beauty, and transmitting positive energy are the pursuits of every burlesque play.
"Eight Feet in the Air" takes the installation of elevators in old public houses in the lives of Shanghai citizens as the theme of the hot issue of people's livelihood that ordinary people are generally concerned about, and shows the entanglements, conflicts, troubles and joys of ordinary people through various differences of opinion among more than 10 residents of a 6-story residential building built in the 1980s. It has a recollection of the "neighbor for good" in traditional neighborhood relations, a celebration of the beautiful feelings of ordinary people, and a reflection on how to build a new type of neighborhood relationship after the market economy brings about changes in the times.
This drama concentrates the outstanding actors of the former shanghai three major professional burlesque troupes - Shanghai Burlesque Troupe, Shanghai People's Burlesque Troupe and Shanghai Qingyi Burlesque Troupe, such as Gong Renlong, one of the top ten comedians in Shanghai, Wang Wenli, who played "Aunt Wang" in "Old Niang Uncle", Xu Haili, a famous comedian, Zhou Yilun, a national first-class actor who played "Kang Dahai" in "Old Niang Uncle", Luo Wenlian, a famous comedian who played "Mei Juan" in "Old Lady Uncle", Xue Wenbin, a "little funny" who has many fans, a famous drama film and television actor. National first-class actor Yu Ya and many other stars.
What surprised the audience even more was that the team of this play came from the Shangyi Drama Club, which was born as a drama. It was precisely such an unexpected combination that cooked a table full of color and aroma. At the end of last year, the play was invited to the Yangtze River Delta as an award-winning work of shanghai's outstanding private theater troupe, which resonated in the Yangtze River Delta region, making many audiences sigh and laugh to unload the tiredness of the day, hoping that the elevator in their own community could also be implemented as soon as possible.
Mao Shi'an, a famous literary and art critic, believes that burlesque must attract young people in order to develop and have a future, which is the most important thing, "'Eight Feet in the Air' is a new citizen comedy and the feelings of ordinary people, and it has achieved 'putting the burlesque to the end'. (Xinmin Evening News reporter Zhao Yue)