Pu Cunxin: "The theater is a place where miracles are produced"

Beijing Renyi's new rehearsal drama "Thunderstorm" will premiere on September 24, Cao Yu's birthday——

Pu Cunxin: "The theater is a place where miracles are produced"

The rehearsal scene of the new typesetting "Thunderstorm" was photographed by Li Chunguang

"The theater is a place where miracles are produced, and the audience is the one who accompanies us to create miracles." Pu Cunxin said with some choking excitement. This new typeset "Thunderstorm", which he has been thinking about for many years, is finally coming out. Following Feng Yuanzheng's new typeset drama "Sunrise", the second new rehearsal drama "Thunderstorm" after the opening of the Beijing International Drama Center is about to debut.

On September 8, directors Pu Cunxin and Tang Ye led the lead actors Gong Lijun, Bai Hui, Li Hongtao, Wang Junqi, Chen Hongxu, Xu Du, Li Jingxu, Xie Tian, Yang Qifang, Guo Wei, Shi Yunpeng, Liang Guodong, Li Jintao, etc. to make a neat appearance, interpreting the significance of this new row of classics, and taking the audience to "open the code of Mr. Cao Yu's wisdom". New interpretation, new lineup, new typeset "Thunderstorm" will be officially met with the audience at the Cao Yu Theater in Beijing International Theater Center on September 24, Cao Yu's birthday.

>> go back to the original uncut script

As a well-known classic, "Thunderstorm" has been put on the stage again, which is another return to the classic for Beijing Renyi. "This is the work that our old dean Cao Yu created when he was young." As the director and star, Pu Cunxin introduced, "Cao Yu, who can't finish talking, can't play the endless "Thunderstorm". There are several versions of Mr. Cao Yu's other works, but "Thunderstorm" seems to be this version, which is also my point of interest, and it is also the 'why? In addition, I myself have acted in "Thunderstorm", I did not think that I acted very well, always felt that there was still a depth of performance to dig, and finally I plucked up the courage to apply to the theater, saying that I hope to be able to line up "Thunderstorm", the theater has incorporated this idea into this year's performance plan, I am very grateful! ”

Pu Cunxin specifically said, "This new row of "Thunderstorm" traces back from the text to the original uncut script in 1934, and finds out the freshest and most original expression of Mr. Cao Yu that year, and excavates the original intention. Find action in literature, find stories, and let the audience see that there are many very interesting and possible differences from previous cognitions in familiar stories. For example, focus on illustrating the whole story from the perspective of Zhou Puyuan - precisely because Zhou Puyuan is the initiator, everything is under his control. In this version, Zhou Puyuan is both an 'outsider' and a 'insider', he is very clear about what happened at home, he tries to remedy everything, but in the end it is a bamboo basket that is empty. ”

>> the rediscovery and renewal of the characters in the play

Audiences familiar with Beijing Renyi will find that the new row of "Thunderstorm" has also made new attempts in the cast arrangement - Pu Cunxin was "upgraded" from the former young master Zhou Ping to the old master Zhou Puyuan, Gong Lijun changed from the classic Xuanyi in the audience's mind to Lu Mama, Bai Hui changed from Sifeng to play Xuanyi, and Li Hongtao played Lu Gui. 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.

In addition to the four powerful "veterans", the young actors after the 90s of Beijing Renyi played the roles of Zhou Ping, Zhou Chong, Si Feng and Lu Dahai, and the new row of "Thunderstorm" crews collided with new sparks in the creation while inheriting the old and new. As a director, Pu Cunxin is very sure of the ability of young actors to shape, "They may not be the type we define in the traditional sense, for example, Si feng will be more simple, Zhou Ping will be a little cowardly, Zhou Chong is a clear and transparent and cute young man... These characteristics are deliberately designed and required, which can make the audience more intuitive and clear to understand who they are, where they came from, and what kind of life they have had. ”

>> poetic expression on stage is at the heart of the rereading

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 more deeply feel the sympathy and compassion of the author behind the story. "I'm writing a poem, not a social drama." Cao Yu once said so. Director Tang Ye believes that the poetic expression on the stage is the core of this reinterpretation of the classic, "After the literature becomes a drama, Mr. Cao Yu's poetry runs through it. The new row of "Thunderstorm" will also place more emphasis on poetic expression on the stage. ”

In Pu Cunxin's view, "Thunderstorm" is full of fierce and lush temperament. The new row of "Thunderstorm" will use the poetic stage to restore the atmosphere of the play, such as the use of symphony to represent the sound of thunderstorm masterpieces. The play not only presents the family scene of the Zhou Mansion through the romantic and freehand stage design, but also uses the combination of virtual and real to make the real characters and the characters in the memories intersperse, complete the unique narrative of the drama stage between time and space, and take the audience to find the fragments of memory in the flashing of Shi Ping and Zhou Puyuan on the stage thirty years ago. Pu Cunxin said the creative concept: on the one hand, it uses symbolic techniques to set off the atmosphere of the characters and the plot; on the other hand, it is bold to leave blank space, and uses a narrative method with clear lines to simplify the complex and simplify, leaving the audience with more space for thinking.

Author: Zhang Yue

Source: China Art News