The original title of this article is "On the Qi School<打渔杀家>", dictated by Zhou Shaolin, compiled by Gong Yijiang, Chen Su, and Cai Shicheng. This article was originally published in "Chinese Opera Art" No. 3, 1991. Invasion and deletion.
The drama of Peking Opera "Fishing and Killing Home" is very good, but it is not easy to please. Zhou Xinfang liked it very much, he did a careful and meticulous arrangement, he wanted to perform his own style, so every point was carefully thought and studied, and later this play became one of his masterpieces.
I don't think any of his plays has as much brains as this play. Figuring out the process of his sorting out this play will help to understand the characteristics and creative methods of Qi School art. To study the art of the Qi School, we should not only ask "how he acted", but "why did he act the way he acted".
As soon as the curtain of "Fishing and Killing Home" began, Liangshan hero Li Jun and his friend Ni Rong appeared. Li Jun and Ni Rong's "playing pair" was originally a pronunciation of "punching the Nanshan Tiger and kicking the North Sea Dragon". Zhou Xinfang felt that these two sentences did not match their personalities, and were boastful tones, so he changed it to "It is difficult to eliminate the block, only drink, and the words are uneven."
Next, the Shawn father and daughter played. Xiao Guiying sings [Guide Board] inside the scene, and there are two ways to sing, one is "shaking the boat like an arrow"; One is to "swing the boat down the river". Zhou believes that the former is not in line with the character's sad mood that the shallow fish in the river at that time do not go online, and they cannot hit the fish, or it is more appropriate to use "going down the river".
Sean also has a pronunciation (commonly known as "building a shelf") in the scene, "Where to sail!" He felt that it was wrong to think so, and he should have said "hold the rudder steady", because at this time it was not the boat that had just been offshore, but the fish had been fishing for half a day, and it was already in the center of the river. This first sentence is related to the first element we talked about - appearance (1), how to bring everything out of the character, very important.
Organizer's note: (1) The narrator believes that there are four elements of performance, namely, appearance, rhythm, focus, and end, and all performances are inseparable from these four elements.
Zhou took into account, and even the "rack" in the background also considered that the characters' actions should be logical. The appearance should bring out the appearance of the character, he is dressed as a fisherman, old but physically fit, with bright eyes, a little sadness because he can't hit the tip of the fish's eyebrows, and shows a little fatigue.
As for the mouth, in the past, Tan Xinpei had "three", but Zhou Xinfang believed that this was a fisherman, and it was more appropriate to bring "full" in order to show the roughness of the fishermen.
In terms of figure, although he is an old student, because he is a fisherman, he has a slightly flowery figure. Generally, Shaun's appearance is that the right leg is upright, and the left leg hooks the crotch guard, this gesture is beautiful but not in line with the logic of life, and is a decorative beauty.
Zhou's appearance is according to the requirements of life, the feet are separated, squatting slightly, and the knees are shaking, indicating the fluctuation of the person on the boat, giving the feeling that the strength of the whole body is concentrated on the two feet and ten toes, because the fishermen rely on the ten toes to maintain stability and balance on the boat.
Sean docked the boat. This virtual action of docking, Zhou did in more detail, indicated the direction of the ship's berthing, and made various procedural actions related to docking. There are also many performances of getting on and off the boat like this throughout the play. The "things that the audience does not know and do not want to see" have to be repeated because of the rules in the play, so it is necessary to do it faster in the future boarding and disembarking.
When the boat stopped, Sean said, "Son, cook the fish, and drink at the bow of the boat for the father." Zhou changed the phrase and he pronounced "What a hot God!" He thinks that proposing drinking in this place is not the joy of seeing friends drinking later, but it is more necessary to express the irritability of the characters in the sultry environment of early autumn.
After the failure of the Liangshan Uprising, Xiao En took his daughter to fish under the river for a living, bullied by fishing bullies, old age, short of heroic breath, the only thing that could not rest assured was his daughter, father and daughter depended on each other, this day saw Li Jun with Ni Rong to visit him, his heart hurt a little.
When Li Jun introduced Ni Rong, Xiao En and Ni Rong both clenched their fists, at this time Ni Rong wanted to test the old hero Xiao En's hip strength, generally acting Ni Rong did not make a move, but directly grabbed Xiao En's wrist, Zhou thought it was very unreasonable. He always reminded the actor who played Ni Rong to make a move first, and then coldly grabbed Xiao En's wrist, Xiao En's eyes were quick, and he quickly avoided sideways, but grabbed Ni Rong's right arm, making Ni Rong convinced.
Next, Shawn asked his daughter to come over and meet the two uncles. In the past, Gui Ying always said: "See the two uncles". Zhou felt that civilians did not need to use the word "see", and changed it to: "Hail to the two uncles". In small places like these, he noticed how to conform to common sense and the logic of life.
After Gui Ying saw the two uncles, Xiao En said at this time: "Brother Fool brought a few fresh fish, and you and my brother drank freely at the bow of the boat." The three sat down to drink, and Gui Ying sat at the stern of the boat, when Mr. Ge, the slave and master of the fisherman Ding family, walked by and made a frivolous act towards Gui Ying on the shore. There are many people who think that Mr. Ge is irrelevant in this scene, and some delete him in this scene, in fact, this character is in this scene, although there are not many scenes but it is very important.
When Shawn went ashore, did not know Mr. Ge, and angrily asked him what he was doing, he said that he was asking for directions. Xiao said which one to find, he said with a threatening tone: "Ding Mansion! "Sean is indeed affected by this threat. This is the author's purpose in arranging Mr. Ge's appearance in this scene.
"Ding Mansion!" These two words are the focus of the actor who plays Mr. Ge in this scene. Through this purpose and focus, it highlights the arrogance of Ding Fu in doing evil in the local area, and Xiao En's humiliation under this arrogance.
Sean returned to the ship and pretended that there was nothing to do in front of the two friends. After Li Jun and Ni Rong said goodbye and left, the father and daughter talked about it, but they didn't realize that it was late, and they were ready to go home. At this time, Xiao En sang "Watch the Red Sun Fall West", and the general actors turned high and played tricks here, which won the applause of the audience. This is sung for the sake of singing, which does not correspond to the mood of the characters, and therefore is also a decorative beauty.
At this time, Shaun, after his friend left, evoked his past and many thoughts. Autumn, dusk and sunset are the depressed portrayal of his melancholy mood when he feels that his life has entered an old state, but nothing has been achieved. How can this mood be high-pitched?
Zhou's singing is a little desolate, dragging the voice slowly and lowly like the setting sun, so that the scenery is compatible, and then he says in a slow rhythm: "It's not early, let's go home." "
At this time, they had a reciprocal: "Long farewell reunited under the river", "The ancient road hot intestine fruit is not bad", "Look at the red sunset", "A bright moon shines on the reed flowers". There are three gongs on the three words "Zhaoluhua". In the general acting method, Xiao En shakes the mouth to make up the three gongs, and Gui Ying shakes the bridge to make up these three gongs.
Zhou's acting method is not sluggish, because the character's mood at that time has no reason to make such a fierce action, and after the last gong appeared, he slowly lowered his eyelids and walked down the scene with heavy thoughts.
The mood of the two people is different, Gui Ying saw that his father met a friend, he felt very happy and happy, while Xiao En was depressed. The end is generally used [withdraw the gong], Zhou thinks that [withdrawing the gong] is too spiritual, he changed it to [Yin Back], walking the cloud step is to make up this percussion. The whole picture and music give people the feeling that a lonely boat is gradually moving away in the twilight, leaving people with a far-reaching picture like a light ink landscape.
Sean's second appearance was early the next morning, draped in a dress and sleepy-eyed. Earlier, Sean said, "Oh my God, it's so hot! "Why are you cloaked here? Because autumn is cold morning and evening, and because he drank last night, he got up in the morning with a cold drink. Wine cold is different from the cold of illness, and it is also different from the cold of falling temperature.
This is the reaction after drinking too much alcohol, how to show the cold? To understand the part of the body that reacts to alcohol, it is the small piece behind the neck. When you shrink your neck slightly or twice with a chilly expression on your face and twist the back of your neck, the chill is felt.
Sean sang a passage after coming on the stage: "Last night I was drunk and lying in clothes, and the chickens woke up Nanke in his dream. The two wise brothers persuaded me under the river, and he persuaded me to leave the fishing business behind. I shouldn't have sat in a fisherman's house, but my family was poor and helpless! In the early morning, the crow called when opening firewood, but flew over and turned around, but why? Sitting in the grass hall, Gui Ying'er held tea to quench her father's thirst. "
Generally, the actor's singing and passing through the door are relatively fast, and Zhou believes that this singing is contrary to the content of the plot lyrics and the mood of the characters, so he especially emphasizes singing slowly.
The second sentence, "The farm chicken woke up the dream of Nanke", is generally sung lightly and cheerfully, and has no objection to the matter of "being awakened", with a jumpy upward glide on the word "" and a relaxed tone on the word "inside".
Zhou's singing does not have a jump, the cavity of the word "li" plummets, and then a pause sings "Nanke", thus showing the unpleasantness of being woken up by a chicken.
Next, "I should not have fished" must not be as light and dashing as ordinary people, because "not fishing" means that there is no place in life, so his singing is not only not dashing, but gives people a heavy feeling.
The last four words of this sentence were originally "sitting at home", which is inappropriate, because it is not a matter of chance, but unemployed, and can only sit at home, so he changed it to "sitting at home".
At the end of the third verse, the original words are "Fly over and call over, but why?" "It's common for birds to fly over and call over, what's so surprising? What does it have to do with the play? Zhou imagined: Because the teacher over there came with a group of people, so the crow flew over and was shocked back, and Shaun didn't know that someone was coming, so he felt strange, so Zhou changed the lyrics to "Fly over and turn around, but why?" This connects this phrase to the plot that follows.
After singing a passage, Sean sat sideways in a chair with his eyes half-closed and sleepy. When he heard Gui Ying take the tea and say: "Daddy please drink tea", he didn't move, his eyes didn't open, he reached for the cup, Gui Ying gently grabbed his wrist and led to the teacup, only then did he get the teacup and drink tea. This small action truly and meticulously shows the tacit understanding and affection between father and daughter, which is a performance that only the Qi school can have.
When Xiao En finished drinking tea and put the cup back on the plate, he saw that Gui Ying was still dressed as a fisherman like yesterday, so he put down the cup with a heavier weight to show his unpleasant mood about this matter.
Then he said to Gui Ying: "Son, my father also told you, from now on, if you don't ask the fisherman to dress up, how can you still dress up the fisherman?" Gui Ying said: "Children are born in fishermen, grow up in fishing boats, do not ask children to dress up fishermen, how do children dress?" "
This dialogue is shallow if taken literally. The actual meaning of Xiao En's words is that he said to Gui Ying when he drank last night: "I'm old, you don't have to suffer with me anymore, you marry into your in-law's house, don't dress up as a fisherman anymore." So today I saw that Gui Ying was still dressed as a fisherman, and I was angry.
From Gui Ying's point of view, after listening to his father's words last night, firstly, he was unwilling to leave his father to go to his in-laws' house, and secondly, the girl's family always felt shy when talking about marriage, how could he change the fisherman's dress all of a sudden? So Gui Ying could only answer her father in a coquettish tone. But the Danjiao actor who plays Gui Ying wants to express the content of last night's father-daughter dialogue to the audience as much as possible.
In front of this scene, Ding Fu sent the thug big teacher to extort fishing taxes, and the big teacher had two sentences when he went on the field, which turned out: "Good food, good drink and good stirring, I heard that I ran first when I heard about the fight." "It was too blunt to read it out by himself when he came on the field, but he didn't say it. So Zhou Xinfang transferred the original two sentences of Li Jun and Ni Rong to him: "punch the Nanshan leopard, kick the Beihai jiao", these two sentences came out of his mouth, there is irony.
After some conversation between Xiao En's father and daughter, Xiao En sat there sleepily, Gui Ying gently beat his back behind him, and the atmosphere on the stage was quiet and peaceful, at this time, the big teacher came to Xiao En's door with a group of thugs, shouting: "Xiao En open the door!" "The atmosphere on stage immediately became tense.
Sean was suddenly awakened by this sudden call for the door in the haze, and at the same time felt that the person who came was not good from the rude and rude call for the door. Therefore, he vigilantly prevented Gui Ying from opening the door and signaled her to go back to her room.
He stood up and went to open the door, thinking as he walked, who is coming, what is doing, how to deal with it, etc., and at the same time in the "cold hammer", use the side of the palm on the mouth to quickly go up and down a few times, this method of brushing the mouth has never been seen in Peking Opera veterans, it is the creation of Zhou Xinfang, it is a subconscious action provided by the actor to the character, which is used to express such an inner activity in which many question marks appear in the character's mind at this time.
Shawn walked sideways to open the door alertly and defensively, which added to the tension. After opening the door, he looked the teacher up and down a few times, this kind of figure is not under his eyes (this kind of person is the third type of person we talked about earlier) (2), Xiao Enhun lifted martial law on his body, stretched his foot, and threw the big teacher to the ground. The stage atmosphere eased again.
Organizer's note: (2) The narrator summarizes the various people in society into four types: the first type of person, who has courage, courage, and is resolute and decisive in case of trouble, no matter what the occasion, he is always the number one person; The second type of person, good at thinking, strong ability to do things, do not want to be the boss in everything, prefer to retire to the second oldest, both safe and comfortable; The third type of person can speak well, see the color of the face, pat the horse every time, and have sharp eyes; The fourth type of people, there are no requirements, listen more, talk less, not easy to notice, with him or without him, the teacher in "Fishing and Killing Home" belongs to the third type of person.