"Post-90s" actor You Benchang: A drop of water will never dry up when it blends into the sea
People's Daily Author: People's Daily 04-18 11:36 Complaint
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A recent photo of You Benchang. Courtesy of the People's Daily client
The role of "uncle" in the hit drama "Flowers" pushed the 90-year-old You Benchang to the public again. There is a scene that is widely circulated: Uncle looked at Ah Bao in a suit and leather shoes, and in a few seconds, he was first stunned, then shocked, and finally relieved. One look, "through" the character of the uncle, also outlines You Benchang's artistic career.
You Benchang, an actor at the National Theatre of China, said: "The acting profession has changed my destiny and the trajectory of my life. "He is the first batch of young actors trained in New China. At the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 1984, his performance of the pantomime sketch "Shower" was impressive. At the age of 50, the image of "Jigong" he created in the TV series "Jigong" has become a childhood memory of the post-80s and post-90s. In his 70s, he sold his real estate to produce and starred in the drama "Final Victory...... At 90 years old, he is still pondering acting.
Where does the charm and vitality of the performance come from? How do the actors maintain their original artistic aspirations and creative enthusiasm? With all kinds of questions, we came to You's hometown for interviews.
"Hard Lizi" actors can turn the trick into a classic
Walking into the living room, a calligraphy work made us stop, with the words "Guiding people's hearts with literature and art". This sentence is regarded as a motto by You Benchang. He said that with cultural people, actors should give a kind of energy to the characters. This understanding was realized by him through continuous learning and stage practice.
Born in 1933, You Benchang entered the Performance Department of the East China Branch of the Central Academy of Drama (now Shanghai Theater Academy) in 1952 and received training in the Stanislavsky performance system. In 1956, the newly established Central Experimental Drama Theater recruited young actors, and because of his outstanding performance in the graduation drama "All the Way Safe", he was selected and became the first batch of actors of the Central Experimental Theater.
When you become an actor, who doesn't want to play the leading role? But in Beijing, which is full of talents, You Benchang did not make a splash, but learned the "first lesson" of a professional actor. Recalling the past, he sighed: "Self-knowledge is the basic quality of an actor. ”
You Benchang likes Peking Opera. In Peking Opera jargon, the supporting roles are called "Lizi actors", and good supporting roles have their own artistic brilliance, and they will be given the reputation of "Hard Lizi" by the audience. You Benchang, who thinks that his conditions are average, has found his own artistic pursuit - to be a "hard li".
He is willing to work character building. In the drama "Thunderstorm", You Benchang plays the role of an old serf. In order to play this character who has no lines, he read 19 books, knew the old serf's dress, food and clothing habits, and psychological logic, and determined how to act. After the performance, an article commented: "This is a classic trick!"
Playing his grandfather in his 80s, he stayed up late like young people, reciting Shanghainese lines in the middle of the night, preparing four or five sets of plans for the director for each scene, and rehearsing over and over again. The daughter who accompanied him, You Sihan, was worried about it.
You Benchang told us a story from the past. In 1987, when he performed in Singapore, he accidentally stepped on the air and broke his foot into a comminuted fracture, but he insisted on going on stage the next day. He said that back then, Gai Zhaotian's performance "Lion Tower" broke his right leg, endured severe pain, and persevered until the curtain was closed in the shape of "Golden Rooster Independence". "What I learned from Mr. Gai Zhaotian is the spirit of 'drama is bigger than the sky'. ”
He cherishes the voice of criticism and the collaborators who helped him identify problems and improve his performance are unforgettable. "I didn't play a leading role in a work directed by Sun Weishi, but she understood and supported my innovation, which laid the foundation for my performance. You Benchang said.
Recalling the rehearsal of the drama "One Servant and Two Masters", You Benchang said that his treatment of the role of a servant was different from that of a foreign actor who played a servant in the original work. "The 'servant' is the epitome of the working people of that era, and it is universal if they are not fat, thin, not tall, not short. In 1980, You Benchang won the first prize of the performance of the Zhongzhi Literary and Art Group for the role of the servant in the drama "One Servant and Two Masters".
"Young people asked me, how to become a good actor? Be a good person before you can become a good actor. You Benchang said slowly, "A good person becomes a good actor, and there are still a series of professional problems that need to be solved, which is not so easy." ”
Cultural accumulation determines the "depth" of the role
In the view of Song Baozhen, director of the Drama Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts, the uncle portrayed by You Benchang has a kind of "field", which reflects the ability of drama actors to grasp the role and the experience of "grinding" a role on the stage for a long time. Song Baozhen said: "Actors internalize various understandings of characters into 'mental images' and externally into images. "The texture of the characters comes from this.
He pondered for a moment: "The role of Uncle has what I have seen and heard in Shanghai since I was five or six years old, and it runs through my life experience, study and cultivation, and understanding of history for more than 80 years. ”
The "depth" of the role comes from the actor's understanding of people, things, history and the times, and the actor's understanding is rooted in his own cultural accumulation and artistic attitude. Looking back on the series of characters created by You Benchang, it does confirm this sentence.
People often talk about "Jigong" is the eightieth role of You Benchang after playing a series of tricks. However, there are several "Jigongs" emerging from different art varieties of the same era, why is only "this one" residing in the hearts of the audience?
You Benchang's creative method is to "retain the essence and remove the dross". In his view, the character of Jigong was born in feudal society, which has the limitations of the times, "dusting off some of the dust in the tradition and endowing it with modern consciousness of truth, goodness and beauty, in order to achieve creative transformation and innovative development." In the novel, it is written that Jigong grabbed the steamed bun with his hand, and as soon as he grabbed five black fingerprints, the store quickly let Jigong take it away when he was dirty. "It's white food. You Benchang suggested that the director add a shot: Jigong finished eating the steamed buns and threw the copper coins over. The shopkeeper said: "Ouch, this monk ......" This adaptation is not only in line with Jigong's character, but also reflects modern values, which can be called exquisite.
The audience has a lot of complaints about some of the current routine performances, You Benchang believes that good actors are "not afraid of repetition, often acting and always new", and the method of "breaking the routine" comes from "having it in the heart". He talked about another "teacher", Mei Lanfang. "Peking Opera is one of the three major theatrical performance systems in the world. On the stage of Chinese opera, the horsewhip is waved by thousands of troops, a table and two chairs are endlessly changing, and the aesthetics of Chinese opera are freehand and ethereal, which is limited freedom and regular freedom, and its charm needs to be understood. Our theatrical performances should also start from the heart. You Benchang said.
More than 10 years ago, You Benchang wrote on his Weibo account that he wanted to be an "old classmate who is active on the stage and screen". Now, as a "post-90s", he is still learning to act, pondering acting, "living to be old, learning to be old, and happy to be old".
Why can you enjoy it tirelessly? You Benchang said: "A drop of water will never dry up when it blends into the sea." ”