Reminiscing about the days spent with Mr. Ma Lianliang (Ma Changli)

It has been eighteen years since Mr. Ma Lianliang left us, and whenever I appear in the Ma Pai repertoire, or study the singing voice at home, and hear his familiar and permanently charming recordings and records, Mr. Ma's voice and smile clearly appear in my mind, and a deep nostalgia arises.

　　

　　 I met Mr. Ma in 1954, when I was just twenty-four years old and a young actor. At that time, tan fuying and Qiu Shengrong's peking opera troupe performed in Tianjin. One day, it happened that Mr. Ma was going to Tianjin to run an errand, and Mr. Qiu Shengrong suddenly came to my room and called me, saying that someone wanted to see me. I followed Mr. Qiu to his room and met Mr. Ma, whom I had admired for a long time.

　　 Mr. Ma was happy to see me and asked me whose apprentice I was. I replied, "I came from the Rongchun social science class and studied drama with Mr. Liu Shengtong, and now Mr. Tan Fuying is preparing to take me as an apprentice." Mr. Ma said: "I have heard your play on the radio, I did not expect to be so young, your voice and singing style are good, there is a future Wow!" I was deeply touched by Mr. Ma's warm encouragement, and I didn't know what to say for a while. At this time, Mr. Qiu, who was on the sidelines, said, "Since you like him so much, you still don't accept him as an apprentice?" Mr. Ma smiled and said to me, "I wanted to take you as an apprentice, but since Mr. Tan had a word first, then I will accept you as a righteous son!" What you have to learn is the same as an apprentice. "Before leaving, Mr. Ma agreed with everyone that the ceremony would be held in a few days.

According to the situation at that time, the official ceremony was held, and as a righteous son, I should bear some expenses, but at that time, my family was in some difficulty and I had a lot of money. I don't know how Mr. Ma knew the situation in my home, busy telling me that he was ready in Tianjin First Hotel, all the expenses were borne by himself, told me not to want Anything Mr. Ma As a well-known artist, there are no shortage of outstanding disciples around him, but whenever he encounters young actors who can be cultivated, he always cares for and supports enthusiastically. Thinking about it today, this is exactly what an artist who loves his career pours into the inheritance and development of the Cause of Peking Opera! Soon after, Ma Lianliang, Tan Fuying, Zhang Junqiu, and Qiu Shengrong all joined the merged Beijing Opera Troupe. Since then, I have been able to rehearse and perform with Mr. Ma. In the process of getting along day and night, I have received many lessons that I will never forget.

　　 Mr. Ma usually doesn't talk much, but when he talks about the drama, he talks endlessly. He often talked about the singing performances of his predecessors Tan Xinpei, Yu Shuyan and others, and he once said to me: "Mr. Jia Honglin had a patient in "Cinnabar Mole" who heard a knock on the door, and his movements of holding the table, shaking his hair, and shaking his body were very evocative. In the future, we must absorb it into the play. Later, in the "Orphan of Zhao" "Say Break" scene, he adopted and enriched this action. When Cheng Bao heard the knocking on the door, he hid the picture album, turned around, threw his hair and his mouth lit up, and his body trembled, and this performance vividly revealed the environment and inner world of the characters at that time.

　　 From the rehearsal to the performance of "The Orphan of Zhao", Mr. Ma has always been with him. At that time, he was over sixty years old and had reached the realm of pure fire in art, but he was still very strict and meticulous about his own requirements. Every time he changed theaters to act, he always went to the theater stands in advance. At that time, I played Han Yue in the play, in the "Panmen" scene, there was a Cheng baby who fell and used water sleeves to protect the medicine box, and Han Yue stepped on the sleeve and drew his sword to ask about the action model. Which position of this shape is most suitable on the stage, every time I go to a theater, Mr. Ma always has to set a good position with me, sometimes performing more than a dozen times in a row, and the status of each performance is always very accurate and never moves. I was very impressed by this seriousness towards art. Mr. Ma told others that the drama was the same as his own acting, very delicate. Once performing in Hong Kong, Ms. Meng Xiaodong wanted to see me perform "Catch and Release Cao". At that time, the weather was very hot, Mr. Ma was very tired from the performance, but at night he also specially called me to talk about the play, he asked me to walk the body after the singing voice of "holding the sword to cut off the head of the thief", I walked again according to the general performance, Mr. Ma said no, he took the sword, pulled the sword, turned around and cut the wrist, stood across the left leg, and then crossed the right leg, blocked the sleeve, and threw his hair to the right to see Cao Cao. This series of actions, Mr. Ma did coherently, gracefully, and very beautifully. After I went back to my room, I practiced in the middle of the night as Mr. Ma asked. The next day I asked Mr. Ma to look at it, and he thought it was okay. During the performance of the night, this action won the full house.

　　 In addition, I was on the stage at the time, the action of playing with water sleeves is often not well mastered, after asking Mr. Ma for advice, Mr. Ma asked me to wear his performance costume, told me that when playing with water sleeves, you must gently grasp the sleeves of the clothing with your hands, and only let the water sleeves shake, so that you can be clear and good-looking. I practiced according to Mr. Ma's request for a while, and gradually I was able to get comfortable.

　　 Another way Mr. Ma cultivated me was to let me play the role of dragon set, attendant, etc. when he acted, so that I could learn nearby on the stage. For example, the green dragon set of "Trial Head Thorn Soup", the "Trial Head" has always been on the stage, and the waiter with the Yongle Emperor in "Rouge Bao fold" is not far away from Mr. Ma. These are very beneficial to my later acting, until now, whenever I perform "Rouge Bao fold", I always recall what he looked like on the stage, in the play Yongle Emperor and Bai Jane paired up, when I heard Bai Jane's next link of "Yongle Tianzi Wannian", Mr. Ma's laughter was not only a very joyful smile, but also did not lose the emperor's reticence, mastered very decently, which made me very inspired.

　　 Mr. Ma's teachings to me cannot be written for a while, just to cite the above examples, we can see his rigorous attitude towards art and good stage style, which is worth learning from him as a model for our opera workers.

　　 Now that I am also an actor in my fifties and with apprentices, I will definitely inherit Mr. Ma's artistic style, be meticulous to myself, and strive for excellence. Enthusiastically support students and teach them carefully. Contribute to the continuous revitalization and development of Peking Opera art.

　　July 4, 1984 (from Ma Lianliang's Art Criticism Collection)