The original drama "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway": Poetic expression of landscape images

Stills from "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway" courtesy of the National Theatre of China

In spring, the most popular drama among the audience must be the original drama "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway". Co-produced by the National Theatre of China and the Hangzhou Performing Arts Group, the play premiered in Beijing in April, grossing more than one million yuan within an hour of ticket opening. During the nine performances, which lasted for nine days, the audience applauded continuously at the curtain call.

Last year, at the 18th China Theatre Festival held in Hangzhou, as the only new play in the festival, "Spring Dawn at the Su Causeway" created a good result of selling out on the same day.

"Spring Dawn at Su Causeway" is the first of the "Ten Views of West Lake". The Su Causeway was formed after the dredging of the West Lake by Su Shi (Su Dongpo) when he was the governor of Hangzhou in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the people of Hangzhou named it "Su Causeway" to commemorate his achievements in governing the West Lake. The drama "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway" takes the perspective of the great writer Su Dongpo's two positions in Hangzhou, adopts a non-linear narrative structure, shows his legendary life with ups and downs, and at the same time lays out a magnificent picture of the Northern Song Dynasty in front of the audience. In the play, the dialogue between Su Dongpo and Su Xun, Su Zhe, Ouyang Xiu and other literati is also solemn and harmonious, and the wit is fully displayed. The play is based on Song Yun and innovatively uses landscape painting images to present the atmosphere and charm of "Song" in the heyday of Chinese traditional culture, which has attracted heated discussions between the audience and industry experts.

Flowing narrative of time and space

"Ten years of life and death, without thinking, unforgettable. This ancient sentence from Su Dongpo's lyrics describes Su Dongpo's longing for his deceased wife Wang Fu, which has touched countless people for thousands of years, and Su Dongpo and Wang Fu have also become a famous couple in Chinese cultural history. In the drama "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway", the creator reproduces Wang Fu's artistic image and delicately depicts the sincere relationship between her and Su Dongpo.

In addition to Wang Fu, the audience can also see Su Xun, Su Zhe, Ouyang Xiu, Sima Guang, Wang Anshi and other characters in the play. Around the story between them, Su Dongpo's lifelong feelings and career unfolded like a picture scroll.

Tian Qinxin, screenwriter and director of the play and president of the National Theatre of China, said: "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway aims to let the excellent traditional Chinese culture 'flow' and 'inherit' in the new era through the story of Su Dongpo. Let Su Dongpo's optimistic and intelligent cultural spirit be combined with the observable, sensible and experiential culture of Song Yun, and use Chinese theater art to spread the image of Chinese culture to the audience and the world. ”

In the stage design of "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway", 30 meters of green bricks were built in accordance with the regulations of the Song Dynasty, covering the stage, and 9 meters of Song Dynasty pillar and beam structures were set on both sides of the stage, and 17 sets of 9-meter-high translucent multimedia gauze frame curtains showed Song Dynasty landscape paintings. With the development of the plot, the gauze curtain slowly unfolds the market style of the Song Dynasty through the flowing and changing pictures, making the whole play elegant and simple.

"I saw a lot of information on the stage: Su Shi's poems, the style of Bianjing and Hangzhou, the Song-style official chairs, and even a partial ...... of "The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" Some viewers were shocked by the Song Dynasty elements on the stage after watching the play, and left comments on the Internet.

The non-linear narrative structure presents a multi-layered historical picture

In "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway", what is most talked about is its non-linear narrative structure and the way of expression that is both fantasy and reality, jumping in and out.

Through the leaping transformation of time and space, the plot shuttles freely between different time and space, flexibly showing Su Dongpo's political achievements in governing Hangzhou to his emotions with his family, and then to the relationship with his colleagues, Song Shenzong and others.

Peng Tao, a professor at the Department of Drama and Literature at the Central Academy of Drama, said: "The play's non-linear narrative is a highlight, showing a multi-level and multi-perspective historical picture on the stage, making the plot more colorful, and also enabling the audience to go deep into Su Dongpo's inner world and feel his life choices simultaneously." In the process of watching, the audience needs to collage and interpret by themselves, so as to form a positive interaction with the work and gain a new experience of watching the play. This not only shows the innovative spirit of the screenwriter and director, but also reflects the unique charm of contemporary theater art. ”

In the play, when Su Dongpo was demoted to Huangzhou, there was a scene on the boat. The two actors each held the two ends of a long stick shaped like a boat gang, and shook back and forth in front of Su Dongpo's legs - the scene of "the boat is in the river, and the people are on the boat" is established. On such a ship, Su Dongpo's deceased wife Wang Fu, Song Shenzong, Wang Anshi, Ouyang Xiu and others, who were thousands of miles away, crossed time and space, and completed the soul dialogue with Su Dongpo respectively, and Su Dongpo's transcendent realm was naturally presented in the confrontation with relatives, colleagues, and power.

"The gap between the story setting and real life has achieved the stage effect of the whole play being solemn and harmonious, sad and joyful, just as Su Dongpo's "Fixing the Storm" gives us the feeling at the end, 'There is no wind and rain and no sunshine', this freehand spirit is exactly what we want to show. Tian Qinxin said.

Respond to the aesthetic needs of contemporary audiences

"How we look at history through the cultural perspective of contemporary people and shape a Su Dongpo accepted by today's young audiences is something worth thinking about for the creators. Song Baozhen, director of the Drama Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts, believes that "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway" uses a contemporary aesthetic perspective to show Su Dongpo in the historical situation, which has aroused strong resonance from the audience.

Historically, Su Dongpo served in Hangzhou twice, a total of five years, and these five years were almost the period of his creative surge. The creator of "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway" takes Su Shi's experience in Hangzhou as the title of the whole play, and unfolds his first life's fame, life experience and generation of articles. This angle of entering and opening Su Shi is very appropriate. Xiang Yunju, the former president of China Art Newspaper, pointed out.

"Spring Dawn at Su Causeway" jumped out of the stereotype of Su Shi's image by later generations, presenting the ups and downs of his life in the sea of Huan between laughter and scolding, making the audience feel a 'Song Dynasty civil servant'-like Su Dongpo. In the play, there is not only his elegant, affectionate, funny and witty side, but also his bold and free-spirited, detached practice, and the great realm of life that forgets both things and me. Xin Baiqing, the actor of Su Dongpo in the play and an actor of the National Theatre of China, said.

"Su Dongpo is responsible, affectionate, loves life, has a cheerful outlook, has a high level of cultural accomplishment, and has a strong family concept. These qualities are very much in line with the expectations and imagination of contemporary people. The image of Su Dongpo shown in "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway" can be said to respond to the aesthetic needs of contemporary audiences. Literary and artistic works that can profoundly show the spirit of the times and cultural trends are more impressive, and often have more enduring power, in this sense, it is entirely possible for "Spring Dawn at Su Causeway" to become a classic in continuous polishing. Hu Yifeng, deputy director of the Theoretical Research Office of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said.

Source: Guangming Daily

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