As one of Mr. Lao She's most well-known works, the novel "Camel Xiangzi" has been put on the stage of dramas many times, and has also been adapted into films, TV series, Peking Opera and other art forms. The drama "Camel Xiangzi", scheduled to be staged at Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center from December 29, 2023 to January 1, 2024, is produced by Beijing Performance Co., Ltd., written by Fang Xu and Chen Qing, directed by Fang Xu, and starring Fang Xu, Liu Xinran, Xu Xingbo, Zhao Zhen, Sun Ning and many other outstanding actors.
Born in Beijing, Fang Xu has an inseparable affection for Beijing culture, and he has repeatedly excavated the spiritual core that can resonate with the current audience in Mr. Lao She's works, and used modern drama to put Mr. Lao She's works on the stage, and was praised by Mr. Lao She's son Shu Yi as "a person who understands Lao She". Why did you adapt "Camel Xiangzi" this time, how do you plan to make the audience remember the character of Xiangzi, and what kind of resonance do you hope to bring to today's young people through the adaptation of this classic? The Beijing News interviewed director Fang Xu about this.
The new version of "Camel Xiangzi" is in rehearsal. Photo courtesy of the crew
"Camel Xiangzi" is the favorite Lao She novel of young people
The novel "Camel Xiangzi" has been put on the stage many times before, and Fang Xu also hesitated before deciding to adapt "Camel Xiangzi" this time, and two things contributed to his determination. One is that a few years ago, an audio platform asked him and Siqin Gaowa to record a version of the novel "Camel Xiangzi", he asked the platform why he chose this one, and the platform told him that big data statistics show that "Camel Xiangzi" is the most popular Lao She novel among young people at present, and many young people feel that they are Xiangzi. "That's something that really touches me. Whether a literary work can be adapted into a play and put on the stage depends on whether it can empathize with today's audience. If you can still empathize, it is necessary to do it, if you can't, don't do it as soon as possible, otherwise the people who play will be embarrassed, and the people watching will be embarrassed. ”
The second event that prompted Fang Xu's determination to adapt "Camel Xiangzi" was that a friend knew that he had been adapting Mr. Lao She's novel on the drama stage, and once told him: "You have changed so many of Mr. Lao She's works, but his best novel ("Camel Xiangzi") has not been touched, is it a bit of a pity?" Fang Xu thought about it seriously and felt that although "Camel Xiangzi" has been put on the stage a lot of times, there is still room for adaptation, and there are some ideas that are different from previous adaptations to explore. "So this time I decided - next year is the 125th anniversary of Mr. Lao She's birth, and at such a point in time, I will make another adaptation of "Camel Xiangzi". ”
The new version of "Camel Xiangzi" is a group photo.
Three life stages interpret "stuffy gourd jar"
In the past, the stage works of "Camel Xiangzi" were mostly adapted with "Xiangzi and Tiger Girl's love story" as the core, and the bold and pungent Tiger Girl was often more likely to impress the audience than Xiangzi. The new version of "Camel Xiangzi" directed by Fang Xu takes a different path, completely reproduces the process of Xiangzi's growth and transformation, and "returns" a complete camel Xiangzi to contemporary audiences. Fang Xu said: "Friends who have read Mr. Lao She's original work will understand that this work is called 'Camel Xiangzi', and the starting point of his creation is definitely not on the tiger girl." But Lao She's tiger girl is too outstanding and has too many personality traits, so that people will remember her after reading it. In this adaptation, we want to do our best to restore the original appearance of Mr. Lao She's literary work, so that the focus of the stage returns to Xiangzi, not Tiger Niu. That's what we created to do. ”
Compared with the previous works, the love scene between Xiangzi and Tiger Niu in "Camel Xiangzi" directed by Fang Xu will be slightly diluted, because it is not the main line in the original book. Judging from the original work, it writes the life of a Beijing old man, and you can see what the young Xiangzi is like, and you can also see what the Xiangzi who slipped out to the end is like. But Xiangzi in the original book is silent and is a "stuffy gourd jar", how to make this "stuffy gourd jar" reveal among many characters is a big challenge for this adaptation. Fortunately, drama is different from other film and television art forms, and it can tell some of the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters through monologues. "We borrowed the mouths of the coachmen around Shoko, as well as the three stages of life on the stage – the young Shoko, the married Shoko and the last foolish on the street – to interpret the character of Shoko. ”
Director Fang Xu's "Camel Xiangzi" will present Xiangzi's three life stages on stage.
Stage performances help young people understand Shoko and think about themselves
Classic literature is called a "classic" because it has a projection in every era. In the current environment, what kind of attitude should young people have towards life, what kind of life should they choose under pressure, and how to deal with the relationship between individual dreams and the torrent of the times...... These problems faced by Xiangzi a hundred years ago also ask the hearts of contemporary young people. This time, Fang Xu's adaptation of the drama "Camel Xiangzi" focuses on Xiangzi and interprets the characters through Xiangzi at three different stages of life, so that many descriptions of Xiangzi's heart in the original book can be clearly externalized, which is more convenient for today's young audiences to understand. "Some things are a little abstract when read simply by words, and it may be more helpful for today's audience to understand Shoko when they are expressed in concrete actors. ”
Fang Xu observed that there is not much difference between the perception of Xiangzi between contemporary young people and the older generation of audiences. In his opinion, the character of Shoko itself will give people the impression of loyalty, hard work, and non-aggression, and will give people a sense of security - to this day, everyone's understanding of "Shoko" is still like this. "As Mr. Lao She himself said, people live in this world, and it is actually difficult to understand a person, and it may be even more difficult to understand oneself sometimes. So I think it's good to present literature, including our adaptations of plays, on the stage if it can help today's young audiences to think about the relationship between life and society. ”
Beijing News reporter Yang Lianjie
Edited by Tian Cheni
Proofread by Wu Xingfa