In 1936, the writer Lao She serialized the novel "Camel Xiangzi" in the magazine "Cosmic Wind", which was praised as "one of the best novels in the history of modern literature". In "Camel Xiangzi", Lao She depicts the scenery of Beijing with delicate brushstrokes, and the rich ancient capital style is full of words, condensing the culture and memory of a generation of Beijingers.
As a "professional household of Lao She", director Fang Xu has repeatedly married "novels" and "dramas", and adapted Mr. Lao She's classic literary works into drama works. From January 12th to 13th, 2024, he will put a new version of "Camel Xiangzi" on the stage of Dongyi, so that the literature of "Beijing flavor" will become a drama of "Beijing flavor".
It presents the atmosphere of fireworks through time and space, and the market is diverse
Loved by Lao She's humor, and even more intoxicated by the Beijing flavor in it, Fang Xu has an indissoluble bond with Lao She - born in Beijing and grew up in a courtyard. "The year Mr. Lao She left, I happened to be born, which was a coincidence. Maybe it was fate, or fate, Fang Xu plunged into the stage of drama creation, drunk and obsessed. For more than ten years, Fang Xu has continuously created and rehearsed a number of Lao She dramas, each of which is a classic, and every character has regained his life.
Since the first adaptation of the novel "My Life", Fang Xu has successively directed "The Story of Cat City", "Lao Li's Fantasy of Love" (adapted from "Divorce"), "Niu Tianci" (adapted from "Niu Tianci"), "Lao She Catch" (adapted from Lao She's four short stories and two essays), "Two Horses" and many other drama works adapted from Mr. Lao She's novels, thus gaining the title of "Lao She Professional Household".
As a director, screenwriter, and actor, Fang Xu's experience of each identity is unique. "The script is a play, it's a brain-burning job, but I like it very much. The director is rational and the actor is emotional, and these three identities have given me more thinking and improvement, and I have completed one work after another. This time, he will present the fireworks and market of "Camel Xiangzi" through time and space on stage.
The "all-male class" draws Shoko's spiritual history
In the process of adaptation, Fang Xu said that he hopes to use new stage presentation methods and modern drama techniques to bring this 85-year-old literary classic back to life on the current stage.
In "Niu Tianci" and "Erma", Fang Xu boldly adopted the "all-male class" actors, breaking the Xi of watching performances. In "Camel Xiangzi", Fang Xu continued to follow this creative idea, so that all the characters in the play were played by male actors. Sun Ning, Guo Xiao, Liu Xinran, Zhao Zhen and many other outstanding actors formed an eye-catching lineup.
When talking about the casting of Tiger Girl, he believes that compared with film and television performances, actors and roles are relatively separated from the characters on the drama stage, so gender is not very important. He believes that the actors this time fit the ugly, pungent and vulgar character of the tiger girl, satisfy the audience's imagination and understanding of the tiger girl, and at the same time make the stage full of a sense of game. In addition to the lineup of the "all-male class", Fang Xu let the actors of the old, middle and young generations perform on the same stage, and jointly play Xiangzi at different stages of life on the stage. In this adaptation, Fang Xu did not take the love story of Xiangzi and Huniu as the core of the story as in previous works, but focused on Xiangzi himself......
Fang Xu once compared the process of making a play to building an "energy field" in the theater. The actors and the audience gathered here, and there was a "desire to communicate with each other" on and off the stage. Starting from a new artistic perspective, the three Xiangzi will convey energy and information on stage, and jointly present the spiritual history of Xiangzi, a "stuffy gourd"—hidden, subtle and rich.
"Sense of the times" and "reality" are the two key words that Fang Xu can't avoid when talking about "Camel Xiangzi". At a time when the concept of literature and drama is changing, Fang Xu wants to talk to today's audience while exploring the charm of Mr. Lao She in the theater. Lao She's works are always imbued with the spirit of realism, he depicts a broad and real social picture in his texts, and gives infinite compassion and care to every character in the text. Fang Xu constantly excavates the spiritual connotation of Lao She's works, explores various possibilities of stage expression, builds a bridge of communication between Lao She's works and contemporary people, and at the same time hopes to visually fit the aesthetics of young people today.