Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter He Jing
A few days ago, the first collection of essays by the famous performance artist Xi Meijuan was launched by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House.
On August 22, Xi Meijuan was a guest at Shanghai Sinan Literature Home, and held a sitting sharing session with Professor Chen Sihe of Fudan University, Yang Yang, former vice president of Shanghai Theater Academy, and writer Pan Xiangli. Xi Meijuan recalled her more than 40 years of career and her pursuit of performing arts.
Every time, I felt it and had to write it
For more than 40 years, Xi Meijuan has created many popular artistic images in dramas, movies and TV series. "Sitting Alone" is her first collection of essays, published by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House.
Xi Meijuan writes about her upbringing, reading life, creative experience, as well as her family and the elders she has met in a gentle style, full of the power gained from life and also shows her view of performing arts. The characters such as Huang Zuolin, Zhou Xiaoyan, Zhang Jie, Li Ao, Fan Jinshi and other characters jumped on the paper and were full of charm.
"When the process of reading, from 'sitting' at the beginning gradually becomes 'sitting alone', you may already be able to swim in the colorful knowledge of books, and you may be able to 'reinvent' yourself." This is the reason why Xi Meijuan named her first collection of essays "Sitting Alone".
Xi Meijuan shared her origin for writing this book at the scene. "After graduating from Shanghai Theater Academy, I was assigned to Shanghai Renyi. The growth of our generation is synchronized with the 40 years of reform and opening up of the entire country, and we have experienced many drastic changes from scratch. For young people at that time, the impact was so great that I wanted to write it down. The words at that time may have been naïve, but I still cherished them. ”
Xi Meijuan considers herself an amateur writer, "My profession is acting, without the burden and pressure of propositional homework, every time I feel it and have to write." Just like a dancer, in the end, you don't know how to express it, so you dance and have a passion in your psyche. And I put this impulse into words, which may also have something to do with my acting profession. ”
Winning the Golden Rooster Award twice, the feeling is very different
In 1991, the first film "Fake Female True Love" starring Xi Meijuan won the Best Actress Award at the 11th Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards. After 31 years, in 2022, she will again be credited with the movie "Mom! Feng Jizhen won the "Golden Rooster" for the role of the "Golden Rooster".
Talking about these two awards, Xi Meijuan sighed a lot. "I was very happy and encouraged to win the Golden Rooster Award for the first time, because I had a good result across the border. For the previous 15 years, I had been focusing on the stage, and even at one stage, I thought I was born for the stage. When the Shanghai Film Studio wanted to make the movie "Mother in Candlelight", the director must let me participate. At the same time, there was another drama in our theater that I wanted to go back to performing, and I went back to acting in dramas without saying a word, and I stopped making movies, and my fascination and investment in theater at that time reached this level. ”
Xi Meijuan said that after the drama actors turned to film, it was easy to be said to have a "stage cavity". "As a female lead official in the film industry, can be encouraged by the Golden Rooster Award. I think it's an encouragement for me to cross the border. ”
"After 31 years, there are no boundaries for actors to cross borders, and they can't hear such a thing as stage cavity. But there is a new test for actors of my age - after entering the middle-aged and elderly state at the age of fifty or sixty, do you still have the impulse, passion, and motivation to create? Do you still have the ability to shape characters with high quality, rather than just based on experience? ”
Xi Meijuan said that the role of her mother is a very big test for her. "The highest level of performance is the desire to reach the state of 'I am'. Alzheimer's doctors told me that no actor can really be like them, because you are not a patient, all the reactions, you can't be exactly like him. I was very involved in filming this play, reading the script, thinking about the script, thinking about the characters, and I felt possessed by this character for about half a year. ”
Xi Meijuan tries to make herself an Alzheimer's patient in the movie, not just "playing a patient". Xi Meijuan said, "The audience may not see it so clearly, but for people who have been engaged in the acting profession all their lives, there is a subtle sense of proportion, you are the patient, this is the state I want to pursue." In the end, I was recognized by the audience, and winning the Golden Rooster Award was an encouragement and recognition of my ability to work after the age of 60. ”
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Responsible Editor | Shao Ziheng
Proofreading | Zhu Aiting