Local volunteers organize actors to perform under walnut trees. Photo by Zhang Liangzong
Shengzhou Xianren Pit Village, the walnut tree is still so tall, but in the winter, less green.
"I really can't imagine that ordinary people like us can be put on the stage, what an honor." Standing under the tree, the 76-year-old Wang Xianqin said this to the visitors again and again.
In more than three years, this is the fourth time we have visited Wang Xianqin's home.
She had white hair and still didn't speak much.
The story of this "walnut tree love" is widely known, the elderly Wang Xianqin has also become a celebrity, and the small courtyard in front of the door has become a popular punch card, and from time to time there are admirers who come to visit.
Recently, the story of Wang Xianqin and this walnut tree was adapted into a Yue opera and premiered at the Hangzhou Conservatory of Music, and many people watched it with tears in their eyes.
Why does a modern drama move people so much? What's the story behind the scenes?
This is the fourth time that an hour reporter has "visited" the walnut tree
"You've been here several times." Seeing us, Wang Xianqin recognized the reporter at a glance. Over the years, she has always maintained enthusiasm and cheerfulness for life.
Compared with the first time, her house has been painted, tables and chairs have been added to the yard, and neighbors often come here to sit and chat when there is sun.
In the summer of 2018, we went to her house for the first time, when the walnut tree in front of the door was leafy and covered.
This tree was planted half a century ago by her and her husband, Wang Ronghao. The husband, who was engaged in the nuclear bomb business, returned home once a year and once brought back three large walnut seeds from Sichuan.
On the day of their departure, the two buried the walnuts in the soil. After that, it took root like a thought.
The story we reported attracted the attention of the whole society, touched many readers, and the story of the walnut tree spread.
On June 30, 2019, on the eve of the Founding Day, we adapted a set of comics based on the story of Wang Xianqin to pay tribute to countless unknown heroes like Wang Ronghao and his wife.
A few months later, we visited the elderly Wang Xianqin for the third time. Happily, at the beginning of this year, this walnut tree has produced "fruitful fruits" - it has been adapted into the Yue opera "Walnut Tree Love" and put on the stage.
Shengzhou is the hometown of Yue opera, and the deeds of an ordinary Shengzhou person are circulated in this way, which cannot but be said to be a perfect fit.
Wang Xianqin recalled that in the past year, she was invited to participate in many seminars and seminars, facing many leaders and experts in the theater industry.
"This is the first time in my life, I really didn't expect it." She said, "We're pretty ordinary. ”
On the day of the premiere, Wang Xianqin was picked up in Hangzhou early, wearing a coat and a colorful scarf, sitting in the front row of guest seats. The stage was staged seriously, she looked out of her mind, looked at it, and the tears fell.
There were actually many viewers who shed tears with her.
At the end of the curtain, the 76-year-old Wang Xianqin was invited to the stage, took a bouquet of flowers, faced the audience, smiled and excited, and could not say more.
In the theater of Nuoda, under the huge walnut tree on the stage, in the crowd of black pressure, she may have seen the shadow of her husband.
The original intention of the creation: "When I saw your group of comics, I was moved"
Each of the creative team members of this play is a big name in the theater industry. For example, the chief planner is Huang Xiangang, the former chairman of the Zhejiang Dramatists Association, the director is Yang Xiaoqing, and the screenwriter is Xie Lihong, vice chairman and secretary general of the Zhejiang Dramatists Association.
Yesterday, Xie Lihong and I talked about the reasons for creating this play.
Why is there this play? She said that Shi Ying, the director of the Provincial Department of Culture, first saw this group of cartoons adapted by the hourly news, which told the story of Wang Ronghao and Wang Xianqin, and recommended it to the Shengzhou Yue Opera Troupe. "This story is suitable for Pai Yue drama." Shi Ying said this to Xie Lihong at that time.
Not long after, the relevant parties in Shengzhou brought a lot of themes to Hangzhou, such as ties, small dumplings, and the group of cartoons created by The Hour News.
At that time, Huang Xiangang and Xie Lihong quickly picked this group of comics.
"I was struck by the story in the comics at first sight." Xie Lihong recalled, "It is very Yue opera, because it is very poetic, very romantic, there is life and death, especially in line with the elements of Yue opera." ”
In Huang Xiangang's view, although the original story in life is relatively simple and plain, the perspective is very good. "From the perspective of the love of a family and an ordinary person, and reflecting the background of national construction from the perspective of a family, it is very unique and also has a special warmth."
On the recommendation of Huang Xiangang, Xie Lihong served as the screenwriter of this play.
"The script was revised four times, and it took half a year." Xie Lihong said that in half a year, she conducted many on-site interviews and research.
She said that the biggest problem with the play is that the story is relatively thin. "For more than 2 hours of drama, there must be a lot of details and conflicts, which requires creation."
When she was collecting style in Shengzhou last August, Xie Lihong found that the story of the old lady was very simple, but her optimism and open-mindedness and cheerful enthusiasm were rare, which made her have a great creative impulse and imagination.
"Her life was very happy, she always felt that her husband was in her heart, and she never went far. Her brother also told me that my sister was very beautiful and could dance. As a result, the image of a literary and artistic youth born in the county town appeared in my heart. ”
"On the day of the premiere, I didn't dare to ask a friend to see it."
On the evening of January 16, the original modern yue opera "Walnut Tree Love", jointly performed by shengzhou Yue Opera Troupe and Zhejiang Xiaobaihuayue Theater (Zhejiang Yue Opera Troupe), premiered at the Grand Theater of Zhejiang Conservatory of Music.
On the day of the premiere, Xie Lihong did not invite friends and leaders to see the performance, because she was still worried that the play would not be performed well.
"The play needs to be constantly polished and improved, and the premiere is not the best and most mature state of a play, so I did not dare to invite friends, and none of them were invited." Xie Lihong said so.
However, the performance effect that night was unexpected by Xie Lihong, "a lot of the audience was moved." ”
What makes Xie Lihong even more surprised is that half a month has passed since the premiere, and the heat has not yet dissipated, which has caused a great response in the theater industry.
"There are very few such unique plays that not only perform the feelings of home and country, but also so poetic and romantic." Xie Lihong said.
Xie Lihong called this "Love of the Walnut Tree" a Yue opera literary film.
"I hope to show the sacrifice and dedication of a group of singable, respectable and lovely nuclear bombers and their families from the perspective and mental journey of the wife of the nuclear bomber; with warm and romantic brushstrokes, write the dream of a generation of unsung heroes of a strong country."
The show will tour the country this year
The two main actors of this play were also moved by the story of Wang Ronghao and Wang Xianqin. Playing the male protagonist Yu Jiaping is Lou Yujian, a national second-level actor at Zhejiang Xiaobaihuayue Theatre, who is not only a representative of the fourth generation of Yue opera male students, but also a well-known film and television actor.
"I didn't know their stories until I read the script, and I was very moved." Lou Yujian said that he has not been on the stage of Yue opera for more than 10 years, and this time he chose to return, largely moved by the script, and he went to the home of Wang Ronghao and Wang Xianqin with the main creative team.
"Although they are not big people, their persistence in love and their great love for the country are particularly valuable."
The heroine of this play, who plays Mei Achu in the play, is Ni Jinjin, a national second-class actor of the Shengzhou Yue Opera Troupe.
"Their love is pure and firm, and it is very desirable." Ni Jinjin admitted that when interpreting this "grandma-level" family love, she was particularly able to enter the play.
"This repertoire is both an ode to the times and an ode to all the unsung heroes who have paid silently to realize the dream of national prosperity and strength. We hope to draw strength from the stories of their sacrifice and dedication, not forget the original intention, and forge ahead. Zhu Hangcan, head of the Shengzhou Yue Opera Troupe, introduced that after the premiere, they will be further polished and promoted, and plan to carry out a round of tour in many cities in China before the arrival of this year's Founding Day to present the centenary of the founding of the Party.
Yue opera "Walnut Tree Love"
"The Love of the Walnut Tree" is based on the true story of Wang Xianqin in Shengzhou, written by the famous screenwriter Xie Lihong, directed by the famous director Yang Xiaoqing, starring the national second-level actors Ni Jinjin and Lou Yujian, with the heroine Mei Achu as the main perspective, starting from the word "love", telling the story of Yu Jiaping, a nuclear bomb technology worker, who dedicated himself to the cause of national defense science and technology and contributed to the outbreak of China's first atomic bomb, and his wife Mei Achu from the initial confusion to gradually understand and silently support, until he integrated his personal love into the story of great love for the country.
The whole drama takes the walnut tree as the main image of the whole play, from the tree species to the seedlings, and then to the growth into a big tree, running through the emotional process of the hero and heroine, with a small view of the big, the art reproduces the "unknown generation" in the history of the republic who forgot his own name and sacrificed his own interests, sought happiness for the people and sought rejuvenation for the nation, depicted the responsibility and responsibility of generations of scientific research workers who dedicated their lives to the cause of national defense science and technology in New China, and glimpsed the dream of the motherland's prosperity and strength from a small place.
(The original title "The Recent Premiere of "The Love of the Walnut Tree" The old man Wang Xianqin, whom we interviewed four times, said that when I looked at it, the tears fell down," the original author Shi Chunbo. Edited by Guo Yilin)