Pu Cunxin said that being able to direct "Thunderstorm" is a dream come true.
Zhou Ping "upgraded" into Zhou Puyuan, and Xuan Yi became Lu Ma
At the rehearsal scene of the new row "Thunderstorm", the cast has been adjusted. Photo by Li Chunguang
The cast of actors set up this time has changed greatly from before, Pu Cunxin has been "upgraded" from the former young master Zhou Ping to the old master Zhou Puyuan, Gong Lijun has changed from the classic Xuanyi in the audience's mind to Lu Mama, Bai Hui has changed from Sifeng to play Xuanyi, Li Hongtao has played Lu Gui, and other roles are used by young actors of Beijing Renyi. Compared with the old version of "Thunderstorm", such a role adjustment is not only a challenge to the actors, but also a re-excavation and renewal of the characters in the play.
As one of the directors, Pu Cunxin was excited during the speech, and his deep feelings were choked up at one point, he said, "I have not experienced everything in front of me, and the completion of the new theater is a great blessing and a beginning for Beijing Renyi." The dream is coming true, and the premiere should be my most exciting moment, but now..." He looked around the new theater and looked at the group of young actors in front of him. Since quitting the "Thunderstorm" crew due to his age in 2001, one of the things That Pu Cunxin has wanted to do most in his heart for twenty years is to use his own cognition and interpretation of the work to create a new version of "Thunderstorm", and this time his dream has finally come true.
With Zhou Puyuan as the main perspective
The new row of "Thunderstorm" will be interpreted from the perspective of Zhou Puyuan. Photo by Li Chunguang
"Thunderstorm", as the first of the four masterpieces ("Wilderness", "Sunrise" and "Beijinger"), the first of the four masterpieces ("Wilderness", "Sunrise", and "Beijinger"), from 1954 to the present, Xia Chun and Gu Wei have rehearsed four versions on the stage of Beijing Renyi. The most recent version, directed by Gong Lijun and Gu Wei, who has been acting for 31 years, was co-directed on the 110th anniversary of Cao Yu's birth last year, with the beijing renyi young actors as the team of the new version of "Thunderstorm".
The new row of "Thunderstorm" will be interpreted from the perspective of Zhou Puyuan. The story runs through Zhou Puyuan and Shi Ping, and the furniture sofa in the 30-year emotional line will also be used by director Pu Cunxin as an important "memory" point in the play, playing its important stage role.
Go back in time for an uncut version of the script
Tang Ye and Pu Cunxin found many interesting scenes in the 1934 unredacted version of the script. Photo by Li Chunguang
For the main creator, the new row of "Thunderstorm" not only tells a good story, but also reflects the author's humanistic care and deep excavation of human nature. Through the excavation of the details of the script to establish and explain the relationship between the characters, let the audience feel the sympathy and compassion of the author behind the story for people more deeply. Director Pu Cunxin said that this version of "Thunderstorm" goes back from the text to the original uncut script in 1934, finding out the freshest and most original expression of Mr. Cao Yu that year, finding actions and stories from literature, so that the audience can see that in the familiar stories, there are many very interesting and possible differences from previous cognitions.
Beijing Renyi director Tang Ye received a special invitation from Pu Cunxin to join the crew of "Thunderstorm" and co-directed with him. Tang Ye recalled that after entering the crew, they jointly discovered the first version of Mr. Cao Yu's "Thunderstorm" in 1934. She believes that this version is less "class", and Cao Yu's interpretation of the characters is different from the version in 1956 and even later. Tang Ye recalled that during the creative process, everyone re-read the 1934 script and found many very interesting scenes that had been abandoned in the previous version. For example, a clue that Zhou Puyuan mentions in every scene is "We are moving!" "The new house has been built." Tang Ye said, "Why does Zhou Puyuan repeatedly mention moving? Did he have questions about a relationship in the family? We got the line back again. Even as a representative of the 'class', Lu Dahai, in this version, he is only the biological son of Lu Mama and Zhou Puyuan, and emotionally rediscovers the original expression of Mr. Cao Yu. ”
The stage does not close and change the scenery
The new row of "Thunderstorm" has innovations in the stage presentation. Photo by Li Chunguang
The new row of "Thunderstorm" emphasizes poetic expression on stage. The play will not only present the family scene of the Zhou Mansion through the romantic and freehand stage design, but also use the combination of virtual and real to make the real characters and the characters in the memories appear interspersed, and complete the unique narrative of the drama stage between time and space. Pu Cunxin believes that the "new" referred to in the new "Thunderstorm" is not only the "new" that the audience can feel, but also the "new" in the stage performance. On the one hand, it uses symbolic techniques to set off the atmosphere of characters and plots; on the other hand, it is bold and blank, and simplifies complexity with a narrative with clear lines, leaving the audience with more space for thinking.
At the same time, when switching sets, not closing the stage curtain will also become a pioneering performance of Beijing Renyi's "Thunderstorm". Cao Yu wrote "Thunderstorm" at the age of 24, which profoundly shows his indictment in the face of the indignation of the dark world. Therefore, we want to show Mr. Cao Yu's fierce temperament when he was young through the new version of "Thunderstorm". I wanted to be able to show a fierce symphonic scene on stage while switching sets, which would be completely different from the previous momentum of closing the curtain to switch sets. ”
Beijing News reporter Liu Zhen
Edited by Tian Kaini Proofreader Wei Zhuo