19 years ago, she participated in the Shanghai International Arts Festival in China with the drama "The Field of Life and Death", confident and anxious. After the success of the performance, she became the director of the National Drama Theatre of China, and since then she has been associated with the art festival, shanghai, invited to make an appointment, and be a mentor... She said that thanksgiving, I did not hesitate to contribute.
Q: Do you remember your first experience at the Shanghai International Arts Festival?
Tian Qinxin: I remember, "The Field of Life and Death", that was my first play in the National Theatre.
Q: Where to perform?
Tian Qinxin: Yifu Theater.
Q: What memorable things were there at that time?
Tian: Zhao Zhenjuan, the female number one of our "Field of Life and Death", passed away after performing in Beijing, very suddenly, before we did not know her physical condition, her immunity was very low, fever, malignant cell necrosis. This is very shocking and in a bad mood for me as a young director. Later, the academy said that there was an invitation to the Shanghai International Arts Festival, and it was necessary to continue to complete the task. I had mixed feelings, and I chose a Communist Party member in the theater, named Zhang Ying, and I felt that I could complete the play, and I was very grateful to this actor. We spent two weeks practicing lines with her, and when I talked to her, I always had Zhao Zhenjuan's shadow in my head. Teacher Han Tongsheng and her have a rival play, Teacher Ni Dahong and other whole crews looked at this female number one in these two weeks, with mixed feelings, it is difficult to feel uncomfortable, yin and yang are eternally separated, life and death are different. I had never encountered anything like this before, but it was my duty to talk about something I couldn't accept. I tell you that Juanjuan actually went on a tour, a long-term trip, for her is a relief, a kind of freedom, we have to continue our work... Later, we participated in the Shanghai International Arts Festival, the performance was very popular, Zhang Ying later cried with me once, because she was also very depressed, the mood was very complicated, for us this is a lifetime can not forget.
Q: After experiencing this life and death, will you have a new understanding of "Life and Death Field", which is different from when you first did it?
Tian Qinxin: Yes, it seems to have the ability to balance, and before it was more pure and exciting to complete their own ideas. Experiencing a life and death brought me back to a very calm state to watch this play.
Q: An artist's view of even the same thing at different times may be different. For example, in "Wild Ride", you are now looking at the version of that year and the current version, what is the difference, or do you have any new understanding?
Tian Qinxin: "Wild Ride" is a work I wrote from 17 years ago, last year to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the drama, the president of the National Drama Theatre hopes to rehearse this play, the president and secretary of the Shanghai Theater Academy also hope to have a graduation performance, hope that I will be the director, so the play "Wild Ride" was born in the play, last May 5th participated in the opening of the Shanghai Jing'an Modern Drama Valley. I used some modern technical means for this scene, with eight cameras on stage, live shooting, live editing, and instant projection. The young and beautiful students of the Shanghai Theater Academy were shown on the stage in this semi-cinematic way, and the audience was very enthusiastic.
I did not use this method to deliberately distinguish between the "Wild Ride" seventeen years ago, which was also performed at the Shanghai International Arts Festival, starring Xin Baiqing, Zhu Yuanyuan, Tao Hong, Yuan Quan, Shi Chunling, and Yin Xiaotian, all of whom had just graduated from the Acting Department of the Central Academy of Drama. Seventeen years later, in Shanghai, I am still a student of the acting department of the Drama Academy, but I have only changed to a student in the theater school, which really feels so youthful and exciting for me like the name "Wild Ride". What I was thinking about at that time was that if as a graduation performance, maybe the young acting students did not have the skills of stage performance, I wanted to try to use the way of film and television, they are very beautiful, I think the current theater creation, the way of live shooting is also a new topic, I want to try it, the performance effect is very good. The play "Wild Ride" was written by myself, the script also made some small adjustments, and finally presented a sense of power that was as youthful and youthful as sixteen or seventeen years ago, and the sadness of romantic thoughts, and at the same time, this version of "Wild Ride" also has the technical means to be close to modern audiences to assist it, allowing us to enter a world of artists that is youthful and passionate. Maybe this point the audience still likes, there are many viewers have watched more than once, a literary film combined with new means, may bring some new ideas to everyone.
Q: Did the audience's reactions make any difference around seventeen years?
Tian Qinxin: Seventeen years ago, it was first performed in the Centennial Lecture Hall of Peking University, and at the end we sang the national anthem, and the audience all stood up and sang the national anthem, and we performed on may 4th, so we were very passionate. Seventeen years later, the audience loved it, and many people cried. Probably because this play is somewhat tragic, there are several touching places. I looked at Weibo, and some viewers said that there were a lot of tears. I think it may be that with my maturity, the director is more stable than in the past, less aggressive, so the level of warmth of this drama can be stripped quite clearly, and there is still a strong and exciting youth in it, and maybe today's audience will make the literary atmosphere more intense.
Q: Seventeen years ago, whether it was premiered in Beijing or performed at the Shanghai International Arts Festival, the audience stood up and sang the national anthem together, and the scene was very touching, which is also a way of communicating and interacting with the audience unique to the art of drama. Is that why you love the art so much, or is there any other reason?
Tian Qinxin: I think drama is a bit like a lover for me, like love, because I am not married. I have been a theater friend for twenty years, I have been a national theater for eighteen years, I have been rehearsing plays for eighteen years, my life and work have never been separated, every play, especially my own choreography, every play is like talking about a love, because only I can face it, every time a play ends, it is like a lost love. I'm a bit obsessed with drama, and sometimes I wonder how I can live so unintelligent in my life, so I put down the feelings thing. If life had started all over again, I don't know if I would have chosen it again.
Q: But at least your choice gave us a good theatrical crystallization and a good experience for the fans. You just mentioned that you have been a fan of the arts for 20 years, and this year is exactly the 20th year of the festival, can you talk about your relationship with the festival?
Tian Qinxin: In fact, when "The Field of Life and Death" came to Shanghai 20 years ago, I was not yet the director of the National Drama Theatre, I was borrowed to rehearse the play, and later because of "The Field of Life and Death" I became the director of the National Theatre, and I was very lucky. I am very grateful for such a platform as the Shanghai International Arts Festival, because when I first came, as a small director with no name, I was very confident that my drama would be liked by everyone, but the time for setting up the stage was very tight, and my mood was also very complicated, I don't know if the Shanghai audience will like this story written by Xiao Hong in the countryside near Harbin from the anti-Japanese period. I was a little nervous, but after the performance, I was recognized by everyone. The Shanghai International Arts Festival provides a good platform for young directors, so that my plays in Shanghai and are recognized by Shanghai audiences have made me and Shanghai an indissoluble relationship. In the 18 years since I was officially transferred to the National Theatre of Drama, my plays have appeared frequently in Shanghai, and every time my theatrical performances have been taken care of by the city of Shanghai, many of my works have been invited and invited by the festival, including commissioned plays like "Green Snake", I am grateful to the Shanghai International Arts Festival, I hope that the friendship will last forever.
Q: Two years ago, you became a mentor in the Festival's Youth Support Program, can you talk a little bit about your understanding and views on this program?
Tian Qinxin: The Shanghai International Arts Festival's Youth Support Program is a good platform for young artists. Young artists can show their understanding of art on this platform, and at the same time can be recognized by many audiences and theater practitioners here, on this platform, young artists can be displayed, can be selected, including repertoire can also be selected to send abroad, as a mentor I am very happy. I am also grateful for the help of the festival for my growth when I was young, so the festival needs me to contribute, I do not hesitate, and I also hope that more young artists can have more talents and become very good artists with the help of the Shanghai International Arts Festival. (Guo Ying, arranged)