China Xiaokang News October 18, 1988, Beijing Capital Theater.
Zhu Xu, an old actor at the Beijing People's Art Theater dressed as a naval officer, sat in a chair, turned his hand to a steel ball, and said a seven-and-a-half-minute monologue, vividly interpreting the role of a captain who fell into madness, and both the actors on the stage and the audience offstage were fascinated. The monologue also became the climax of the audience, and the audience erupted with heartfelt applause and thunderous applause.
Stills of Captain Craig played by Master Of Humanities Zhu Xu (former seater) (1988)
The play is called Mutiny and is based on the novel "The Mutiny of The Kane" by American war writer Herman Walker, which won the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The story is that in 1944, before the end of World War II, the old battleship "Kane" encountered a strong typhoon during a mission in the South Pacific. In order to avoid sinking, Captain Craig and Deputy Captain Marek disagreed over the direction of the bow, resulting in one of the most famous mutinies in U.S. Naval history: Marek led a mutiny among junior officers, relieved Captain Craig of command, and avoided a strong typhoon. Afterwards, Craig sues Marek in court-martial, and the story revolves around the defense, which leads to the previous scene.
After the drama performance, some audiences enthusiastically reflected that the effect was completely different from the dubbing voice of foreign films, and the lines were as natural as Chinese speaking their native language. To be able to temper the lines to such a level, it is inseparable from the translation of this play, Mr. Ying Ruocheng, a drama master and then vice minister of culture. The association between Ren Yi and the script is attributed to the recommendation of Bao Baiyi, the wife of lord of the US ambassador to China at the time, and the famous Chinese female writer.
In addition to the translator is Mr. Yingruocheng, the actor team concentrated On Zhu Xu (as Captain Craig), Ren Baoxian (as defense lawyer Greenwald), Wu Gang (as Mutinous Officer Marek), and other old, middle-aged and young three generations of golden lineup, everyone made preparations two months in advance, asked the military attaché of the US Embassy in China to explain military knowledge, and asked Peking University psychology experts to analyze the personality of the characters.
Because "Mutiny" is an American story, before it was still a classic Broadway play, the transplantation of human art to China requires senior foreign experts, so it specially invited the Oscar film emperor and the famous American theater performance artist Charlton Heston to direct. This is also the first time in the history of human art that a foreign director has directed a Chinese drama.
Charlton Heston is an American "methodist" actor who is accustomed to immersive performances and often demonstrates to everyone himself. The most important thing in the whole drama is captain Craig played by Zhu Xu, who only has a chair, but he has to say the lines in seven and a half minutes, and Charlton prompts him to use the steel ball in his hand.
Captain Craig's steel ball is similar to China's turning walnut, and the frequency of rotation of the steel ball in the hand can reflect the psychology of the characters on the side. In the small space of the chair, it is impossible to have a large body movement to support the performance of the line, so the emotional flashpoint is concentrated on the small steel ball. Zhu Xu's amazing acting skills made the steel ball fall together affect everyone's nerves, and the result was a great success.
In fact, in the preparatory stage of rehearsal, Bao Baiyi invited the crew to the US Embassy in China to observe the film adaptation of the original book - "Rebel Kane", and the film version of Captain Craig is presumably familiar to Chinese audiences, that is, the male protagonist of "Casablanca", Oscar film emperor Humphrey Bogart.
Stills from the film version of Captain Craig played by Humphrey Bogart (1954)
Zhu Xu is carefully pondering the "self" in the movie, and carefully taking psychological notes on the characters. But in the actual performance, he relied on his strong ability to recreate, but he derived another version of Captain Craig that did not lose the movie.
Unlike films, which can give actors spatial play and temporal editing, the rhythm of the play is all in the actors themselves, and director Charlton Heston pinches the actors to pinch the time to the second. Even if Zhu Xu's seven-and-a-half-minute line is a little messy, the whole drama will move the whole body.
On October 10, 1988, a week before the drama performance, the crew of "Mutiny" first lined up the U.S. Navy visiting group, and after the performance, the officers cheered unanimously: "Craig! Craig! Director Charlton Heston specially introduced Zhu Xu to the commander of the AMERICAN fleet.
Captain Craig became one of the most important roles in the life of Zhu Xu, a master of human art performances, and "Mutiny" has also become a reserved play of Beijing Renyi, which was re-rehearsed three times in 2006, 2009 and 2016 after touring Beijing and Shanghai in 1988. Wu Gang, a young man who played Marek at that time, took over Ren Baoxian's version of the defense lawyer Greenwall, and the role of captain Craig was taken over by Zhu Xu's student Feng Yuanzheng. The Chinese version of "Mutiny" has also become a highlight of Charlton Heston's directorial career, witnessing the friendship between the Chinese and American people in that era. (Zihua)