One red and one green, two colors, one light and one dark, two sounds...... In the alternating rotation, the bumpy life of the famous female poetess Xue Tao of the Tang Dynasty jumped on the stage, and people were embarrassed and admired. This is the evening of January 11 at the Shiguang South Grand Theater on the south bank of Chongqing, where the impression Peking Opera "Xue Tao" jointly produced by the Chongqing Peking Opera Company and the Chengdu Peking Opera Research Institute met with the audience in the mountain city as scheduled.
Unlike the traditional Peking Opera "Xue Tao" or related excerpts that most audiences have seen before, the biggest novelty and highlight of this version brought by Chengdu and Chongqing is the breaking of tradition under integrity and innovation. The personification of "Peacock", and the resulting double heroines played by the two "Plum Blossom Award" winners brought a refreshing feeling to the audience.
As one of the four great female poets of the Tang Dynasty, Xue Tao's story has been passed down for thousands of years. The impression of the Peking Opera "Xue Tao" that met with the audience this time chose "Peacock" as a unique way to cut in. In the play, Liu Lu of the Chengdu Peking Opera Research Institute plays Xue Tao, while Zhou Li of the Chongqing Peking Opera Company plays the peacock as Xue Tao's inner reflection.
The dialogue between the two has become an externalized performance of the inner confrontation between Xue Tao and himself on the stage, which runs through the ten-word plot of the whole play, such as the origin, marriage, choice, and surprise. saw that many viewers shouted "ingenious".
On the stage, the poem "The branches welcome the birds from the north and the south, and the leaves send the wind to and fro" became the beginning of the whole play. Father's kindness, filial piety, and fame at a young age became the first label of Xue Tao's life. But with the fall of the family, the peacock played by Zhou Li began to appear, and the "confrontation" between the two heroines also began.
Because he was killed by a traitor, when Xue Tao put on a red dress and entered the shogunate to become a prostitute, the peacock appeared and confessed: "What kind of red dress is this? This is clearly a red shackle dripping blood." If you put on a red robe, you will get dirty......"
When Xue Tao became a celebrity in front of Wei Gao, the envoy of the Jiannan Xichuan Festival, in the shogunate, and countless people worshiped her talent, the peacock appeared again and asked: "Do you still fit this red dress?" Such a dialogue runs through the whole play, and the series is actually Xue Tao's interrogation of the depths of her soul, which is also the process of her breaking free from the shackles of her heart.
At the same time, the lighting and stage design of the Impression Peking Opera "Xue Tao" is also quite innovative. With the assistance of lighting, the simple venetian blinds sometimes became a symbol of Xue Tao's inner fortress, and sometimes transformed into the strictness of the shogunate.
In terms of lyrics design, the impression Peking Opera "Xue Tao" also has a special design. It not only retains the beauty of the vocal cavity of Peking Opera, but also integrates the style of Kunqu opera, folk songs and modern pop music. These are all to break the traditional impression of Peking Opera singing in the minds of the audience.
There is no doubt that the anthropomorphization of the peacock and the formation of a pattern of two heroines is the biggest highlight of the impression of Peking Opera "Xue Tao". The choice of peacock is also a special consideration for the creators.
Behind this, in addition to the fact that "peacock" has always been Xue Tao's label, it is also a fact that Xue Tao really raised a peacock. According to relevant research, when Wei Gao was the envoy of the Jiannan Xichuan Festival, the king of Nanzhao presented a young peacock to Xichuan. At Xue Tao's suggestion, a set of exquisite bird cages was built for this peacock to inhabit, so Wei Gao handed over the peacock to Xue Tao to take care of. After that, this peacock was accompanied by Xue Tao, and Xue Tao and the peacock were closely connected and closely related to this.
"Impression Peking Opera "Xue Tao" has been integrated and innovated in terms of costumes, music, stage presentation, etc., rejuvenating the epochal nature of Peking Opera, and is an attempt to embrace young audiences. Wang Xiaoping, Secretary of the General Party Branch of Chongqing Peking Opera Company, said that this play is also the first in-depth cooperation between Chongqing Peking Opera Company and Chengdu Peking Opera Research Institute, and is a new exploration of cultural exchanges between Chengdu and Chongqing, showing that the two theaters help the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle through the power of literature and art.
Next, the Impression Peking Opera "Xue Tao" will also start a national tour, so that more audiences across the country, especially young people, can feel the charm of Peking Opera culture.
Upstream News Reporter Qiu Jinyi Photography Zhang Jinqi Intern Dai Jiaxin