Text/The Paper's reporter Wang Yi
Poster of "Thunderstorm"
After "Sunrise", the second new row of dramas "Thunderstorm" after the opening of the Beijing International Drama Center was officially met with the audience at the Cao Yu Theater on September 24, cao yu's birthday. On October 17, the premiere of the round ended.
One day at the end of September, on the eve of the new row of "Thunderstorm" that night, in his lounge at the Beijing International Drama Center, Pu Cunxin was interviewed by a surging reporter. In front of the makeup mirror, there is a ring that he plays Zhou Puyuan in the play. Next to a teacup, the cup is printed with "Seeking Enlightenment, Forgetting Oneself and Helping The Crowd", which is quite Zen to read. He noticed the reporter's gaze and explained with a smile that Master Koichi's pair could be used as a self-condition for the creative process.
Beijing International Drama Center
Before the formal interview, Pu Cunxin took out a zippered bag from his bag with great interest and carefulness, unveiled the layers of blue silk cloth, and the script of "Thunderstorm" ("Literature Journal", published by Cultural Life Publishing House in 1936, was read by Ba Jin himself as a proofreading of "Thunderstorm") and presented it to us - it turned out that Beijing Renyi had deleted the original script when rehearsing "Thunderstorm" in the 1950s. This time, the new row of "Thunderstorm" intends to present the appearance of the script when it was first published in 1934. The following is Pu Cunxin's introduction to how, as the director of the play, he discovered and gained from this originally difficult "Yuandian" and had the impulse to create "initially".
Pu Cunxin. Photography by Wang Yi
dictate:
"These episodes, we read like a treasure"
This is the ninth edition published in the 25th year of the Republic of China (1936) and revised in the 26th year of the Republic of China - it is not included in the relevant archives of Mr. Cao Yu in our theater. Supposedly one of the first editions, from the collection of a foreigner, the last page says that he purchased it on October 23 of that year (1937). The script "Thunderstorm" has been out for almost 90 years. We are delighted, so to speak, that we were able to find the earliest version from 1934. Compared with the revised version used in the rehearsal in the 1950s, you will find some clues and plots that are not there, which is the source power of the new row "Thunderstorm". Why is the new edition being arranged? It was as if we had pulled out the morning fog, and dug up the dust, the dust of the years (making the gesture of dusting off), and dug out something buried.
If you must find the main clue of the branch, zhou Puyuan is not an outsider, the background of the two major events he faces: the workers' strike and the family turmoil, constitute a door to this play, the environment of the story structure. Then the eight characters set up by him (Cao Yu) have the opportunity to interact in such a background. From the time he (Zhou Puyuan) returned home, the family turmoil slowly and slowly appeared, and all the people involved were uneasy, restless, and looking for their own way out. On the same day, the lover who had given birth to two children for him thirty years earlier, he had always regarded her in his heart as the one who was marrying the ming media, and thirty years later, he came.
Then one of the twists of the story is that he (Zhou Puyuan) misunderstands, and he misunderstands that her (Lu Shuping)'s appearance is related to the strike. So he said with absolute emotion, "From now on, the Lu family is not allowed to come to the Zhou family again." A third and four acts were derived, and finally this event was completely revealed. This is the most important discovery: Mr. Cao Yu seems to be buried in this story as an introduction, he does not press the table, that is, the writing, the technique is clever. We interpret it as a password-like existence, but the code that cannot be read, it is composed of various symbols, 3578, 465, 8534, 321... These codes appear, the relationship between it, the equations it forms, what happens after merging the same kind? This is particularly interesting.
Stills of "Thunderstorm" Gong Lijun (left) as Shi Ping, Pu Cunxin as Zhou Puyuan Stills, rehearsal photo photography / Li Chunguang
And then there are some, very vivid lines in it. For example, when Lu Shuping saw Zhou Puyuan subconsciously looking for old photos from thirty years ago, as a woman, she had an inexplicable sadness - you actually forgot me?! But in fact he did not forget. She shouted, the only one, "Park Yuan, Shu Ping is here." How beautiful this line is, but it was removed in the version of the 50s performance.
About the gun, in the 1934 script, it was the gun dropped by the police during the suppression of the strike, and Lu Dahai picked it up and carried it on his body. When he was expelled and his future was completely slim, when he lost the meaning of holding this gun, he gave this gun to Zhou Ping, who he thought was "you are still telling the truth", as long as you are good to my sister, I will not say anything else, because my sister is my mother's life. I'm useless with this gun, you take it. Wow, Zhou Ping thanked Dade and gave him a bow. Then he (Lu Dahai) said, you handed over my sister, and things developed into a new branch...
After watching these episodes, we are like treasures, as if we see a new ("Thunderstorm") face. From the director, the director group, tang Ye, and the field record Wanlu, we began to look for it in this book. Of course, we still need to use the script of the 50s as a basis. And then put 1934, its original version, in, and see where it can be added, and hey, this sentence is good, oh, this paragraph is good. Or so it seems, which is to give us the impulse to create initially from a textual (perspective).
In addition, we also mentioned some doubts. As an actor who has performed "Thunderstorm" (Pu Cunxin has played Zhou Ping many times), I have been wondering why (Zhou Puyuan and Shi Ping) recognize that scene, and Zhou Puyuan does not look back, but always does not look at each other and tells. This time in rehearsal, he boldly set it up that he saw Shi Ping, but did not recognize it. This makes a woman in her 40s who has been insulted and damaged deeper in her heart. Zhou Puyuan first heard Shi Ping's Suzhou accent, and then heard her habit of making words and sentences, and took the initiative not to turn back... This is not during the copywriting phase, but rather the idea that arises during rehearsal. In this way, the audience's senses will be more natural in the process of performance.
Zhou Puyuan and Lu Shuping, Zhou Puyuan and Fanyi, Zhou Ping and Fanyi, Zhou Ping and Sifeng, Sifeng and Zhou Chong, we must confirm that the love between these characters is real, and the conflicts, estrangement, and even rebukes between them are all derived from love. "Thunderstorm" is by no means a simple story of incest and stealing, and a thousand people have a thousand opinions on this big drama, and I don't expect everyone to be uniform in acceptance. Of course, the new row of "Thunderstorm" is the "homework" that we handed over to Mr. Cao Yu, and I don't want that shallow snickering from the audience, which is a very exciting thing, and this time it will not happen again.
Rehearsal photos
"Use three umbrellas to shield the living, the suffering, and the living from the wind and rain"
Mr. Cao Yu structured a story that may not happen in the human world. In 1934, the launch of China's first large-scale original play, no longer a one-act play, became a milestone. And since then, he has been out of control, and in just 10 years, he has created 4 classic works. He was born out of nowhere, his talent is brilliant, and he is still a representative of Chinese drama and world dialogue to this day. As contemporary theater workers, we have encountered such an opportunity, how can we not cherish it? Some people also suggested that I go outside and rehearse this play, freely organize the actors and creative team, and they help me do the business operations, but I must insist on putting the play in the human art. Having worked in renyi all my life, my upbringing and growth came from my predecessors in the theater and the repertoire of the theater. Before I bid farewell to the stage, this is my gift to Renyi, and it is also a summary of my own career in Renyi.
I dare not say that I will become a director (this profession) in the future, because that is another discipline. In the process of more than four years of dreams and more than two years of specific hands-on creation, this play has already had some new stage appearances and run-ins between new actors. The epidemic has given us considerable latitude in time, and I met with the choreography and music at the beginning of the epidemic, and then slowly explored and formed, and finally formed the current set and change on the stage.
I am very happy, many praises for us, finally through this limited space to see the outside, even to see the wilderness, to see the sky - in fact, the first two performances, because the hanging pole is limited, the "sky" did not shine that light. After that, we try to hit the light on the ground, and the light that shines out makes the audience breathe a breath when watching the complete play. This breath is related to heaven and earth, and hope can be felt. The last action of the live lighting operation was the reflection, which was finally completed in the third performance of the show.
I believe that Mr. Cao Yu's Spirit in Heaven will pay attention to this version of the performance, and I even feel as if every audience member is watching this play for him. I can even boldly say that if Cao Yu had lived to this day, he would not have been Cao Yu in the 1930s, and I firmly believe in this. The style of culture has been evolving and changing, and each generation of artists has constantly innovated in self-denial.
The "key props" antique sofa in the new row of "Thunderstorm" photography Wang Yi
In Mr. Cao Yu's original work, the prologue and epilogue are a separate clue, which most troupes do not use when performing. This time we imagined in the language of poetry the three umbrellas, which were related to the "thunderstorm" and were also conceived by me. Those three young people must die in front of the stage--I always felt that there was no end between the Second Young Master and the Fourth Phoenix. In the third act, the second young master was wronged in the Lu family, and none of the four fengs apologized. I asked the comrades in charge of the stage effects if they could present the arc light on the stage, and they tested it with a welding torch, which was very shocking, but the fire regulations did not allow it. Later, we used the electrical poles to energize and ignite, and we felt that (the effect) was too real. Finally, the strobe of the light was used to present the moment of the electric light flint, and in the four phoenixes' "Second Young Master--", the two embraced each other and died. This may be a bit like Romeo and Juliet.
After they died, they were still on stage. As people outside the realm, in heaven, comfort the living and suffering relatives, telling them that heaven is good and outside the world is beautiful. In the scene where they get up from behind the couch, I prompt the actors to read Sonia's last monologue from Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, "What's the solution, you have to live!" Uncle Vanya, we have to live, we have to spend a long series of nights; we have to endure the test that fate has given us patiently; we have to work tirelessly for others, both now and when we are old; and when our days come to an end, we die peacefully, we will say in another world, we have grieve, we have wept, we have been miserable, so that God will have mercy on us... Uncle, dear uncle, we will see a bright and beautiful life, we will be happy, we will look back on today's misfortune with tenderness and smile, we will rest... We're going to rest! We will hear the voices of angels, we will see the jewel-studded sky, we will see that all these human sins, all our sufferings, will be drowned in the love that fills the whole world, and our lives will become peaceful, gentle, and sweet as a kiss. (Reporter's Note: Quoted from Tong Daoming's translation)
We use three umbrellas to shield the living, the bitter, and the living. The design of the three umbrellas was a heartbeat for me: during the Daliangshan Drama Festival, a Yi girl who accompanied us on the tour stood on the internet red boardwalk with such an oil-paper umbrella - when there were few tourists, she turned a corner on the boardwalk, and it seemed that she was the only one in heaven and earth... I have felt that tranquil beauty.
The two-seat sofa on the stage was also something I came up with by accident. It witnesses the love of all the characters in the play, they all talk to each other on the couch, is it a garden of Eden? The sofa (style) that is now placed on the stage is what I saw in the carved building when I was touring Suzhou. At that time, the sofa was just a shelf, the sofa cushions and cushions were removed, and I felt that it should appear in "Thunderstorm" when I saw it. This time, the sofa that was customized was only shipped the day before the official performance, which was considered to be a wish. As a key prop for this play, a friend of mine suggested that when making the poster, make a reflection of it, so that the whole picture seems to be filled with water vapor. The curtain of this stage is also very chic, using a translucent Georgette thermal transfer screen, and then artificially painted. The lighting engineer then put a dappled light shadow on it.
In addition, if you have seen the performance of "Thunderstorm" before Renyi, the stage set has a ceiling. When the "ceiling" is changed in the third and fourth acts, the operation is extremely troublesome, and it takes about five minutes. During this rehearsal, I was wondering, can I change the room where the story of the fourth act takes place to the restaurant in the back kitchen of the Zhou Mansion? This time it happened, and the restaurant was full of codes for them to move— and in the original, why Zhou Puyuan wanted to move was a mystery. (This time) Fan Yi pushed a door to the scene, opposite the door of Zhou Puyuan and disappeared.
When the Russian National Theatre came to perform "Swan Lake", the newspaper had a headline, "The stage is set for audiences willing to discover miracles." On the hypothetical stage, the imagination of the image is precisely the charm of the stage. Modern technology can give us more possibilities for artistic creation, which has long been realized in other art forms, such as CGI technology in film. The drama stage is the same, which requires us to develop our imagination. Of course, this kind of imaginative release needs to be based on full understanding. What level can we understand about the interpretation of the copywriting? Can you read the author and feel the author's creative mood? The author combines the fragmented plot into a script, and the director also needs to recombine the fragmented plot to form a stage image.
In July 1934, recommended by the literary scholar Ba Jin, "Thunderstorm" was published in the third issue of the first volume of the Literary Quarterly.
In terms of stage art, there are still two places that need to be changed: first, the background of the "railway bridge" above the stage - this is really a whim, and Mr. Cao Yu's 4 works all contain the theme of "exodus". In "Thunderstorm", not only Zhou Ping and Si Feng are going to leave, but the old master (Zhou Puyuan) has to move without prosperity. When we carefully read the script, we found out why did Si Feng have to ask the young master on the night of her mother's arrival, at 11 o'clock? She has bitterness, and the "crisis" in her stomach is already about to be revealed. When the Second Young Master came to see her, when she said all kinds of longings and ideals, she was stroking her stomach and crying bitterly, like a train speeding by, crushing all dreams...
Also, why can't No. 10 Xinghua Lane (Lu Jia) be arranged next to the railway transporting slag? Looking at the historical data again, there were also railway culverts in that era. This time, due to the production time constraints, the "railway bridge" was made into a flat one, and in the future I want to make it into a three-dimensional relief. And then there's the backstage, and I hope that at the end of act TWO, the storm is coming, all the curtains are moving, all the curtains are bulging at a forty-five-degree angle, and there are countless freehand "windows" opening and closing in the vertical direction.
This story is actually written about the people of heaven and earth. Reading the script, we know how far away the Zhou Mansion and the Lu family must be, and the rich area and the slum must not be close, so Before Zhou Ping had to drive the car to send Si Feng home. This time, it was Si Feng who snatched the door and ran to the Zhou Mansion in the dark night, and Zhou Ping followed him. It was raining heavily, stepping on the mud, and they were definitely one foot deep and one foot shallow, stumbling as you chased me. I wondered if I could present it in the form of modern dance? There was this dance on the wasteland. Zhou Chong was on his way home, and we arranged for him to be drenched in rain, and the slanted street lamp on the stage became a shower.
"Literature is a tree, and the trunk is always tied down"
In this new row, we hope to get close to the hardships and happiness of Mr. Cao Yu's creation in the creation. The characters in "Thunderstorm" are all around us, in our hearts. I believe that later artists, when they do the classic inheritance, will also innovate new styles, and this time it is just an opening. Now at the major international theater festivals, the starring plays are still Shakespeare, still Chekhov, I believe that in the future there will be "Thunderstorm", there will be "Beijinger". "Peking Man" has been rehearsed in the United States, and Mr. Yingruocheng has rehearsed a campus drama. I think that as long as Mr. Cao Yu's scripts are well interpreted, his plays themselves have a cosmopolitan nature and a view of the world, and in the future they will definitely become a dialogue between different countries and nationalities.
In the original script, there are (in the fourth act of the new layout "Thunderstorm", Zhou Ping and Lu Dahai) these two brothers talk on their knees, and Zhou Ping tells Lu Dahai the deepest and most frightening secret in his heart. In fact, he didn't expect that he would go to Talk to Lu Dahai about these things. In fact, there are all kinds of desires hidden in people's instincts, some of which are suppressed by us, and some of which are revealed. Mr. Cao Yu said that some people have used "God's guidance" or the so-called "impermanence of fate" to interpret the unimaginable behavior of human beings, which have a strong curiosity and exploration in Mr. Cao Yu.
For example, Fanyi is the first character generated by Mr. Cao Yu's pen. He observed many of the girls around him, after a few years of marriage, and thought that marriage was like a cage, like a barbaric cave, that could destroy and destroy human nature into such a way. He wrote a one that was not willing to perish, not willing to be in the ripples of fate. In the previous stage performances, she was more expressed as resentment, helplessness and self-pity. But I think That Fanyi must use her own actions to fight for it, when she completely broke with Zhou Ping, when she saw that in front of Zhou Ping, all her efforts were ineffective, and then her behavior began to break the net, which was an unreasonable move. But this is the woman, the woman's heart is their own, but men often have to take into account social status and personal reputation. Men will take money to settle everything, but women will use their lives to balance everything.
In 1954, Beijing Renyi performed "Thunderstorm" for the first time. The first stage of the performance of 59 performances, the audience reached more than 53,000 people. After the last performance of this round, Cao Yu and all the cast members signed the instruction manual as a souvenir.
Teacher Zheng Rong (reporter's note: Beijing Renyi veteran actor, from 1954 to 1979, he has been on the renyi stage to play Zhou Puyuan in "Thunderstorm") told me a story of their family. When he was a child, the family suddenly had to move, and he had no idea what was going on. Later, I heard that it was the neighbor's parents who came to complain, saying that the young master of your family was seducing the widow of our family. Isn't that ridiculous? Teacher Zheng Rong was still a child at that time. He then suddenly remembered that one day he was playing in the attic and saw the widow who had just passed through the door of the house next door, who also happened to be standing at the window. The family originally wanted to use this daughter-in-law to celebrate and let the sick son live for a few more days, but he did not expect that just after passing through the door, the son died. The bride became a widow, locked upstairs and not allowed to go downstairs, and every day someone brought her food on time and on time, as if feeding a pet. This woman just looked at the rain and pushed open the window--Teacher Zheng Rong was very curious, and she also looked at her sheepishly and looked at this woman. Slowly, one by one, she stripped off her blouse, reached out to catch the rain, and then leaned out, spreading her hair out, letting the rain wet her hair... It was a memory of his childhood.
In 1979, Beijing Renyi rehearsed "Thunderstorm", and 69-year-old Cao Yu (second from right) and director Xia Chun (first from right) discussed the script with the cast and crew
Once, Teacher Zheng Rong gave us a play and mentioned this matter. He said that in a corner of the flourishing soul, in a certain moment of time and space where she lived, her pain was the same as the pain of the woman she had seen in her childhood. Who among our actors today has ever experienced such pain? This time at the rehearsal hall, I told the story to the actors. I hope for the 21st century, the 22nd century... As long as there is a light in the eyes and blood flowing in the veins, we should all be able to experience the pain of "death" in that situation, the kind of "death" that cannot die. Why do people look at antiques, look at antiquities, see the real thing? In fact, today's contemporary art may not be worse than it was then, but we still want to see the original, so that we can have a sense of space in the aesthetic vision. If Teacher Zheng Rong did not speak to the younger generation, and now I did not speak to the younger generation, 50 years later, the "Thunderstorm" seen by the world may not be like this now. Therefore, innovation must not be the driving force, innovation is only a way, inheritance is the most important. We listen to an experience, and if we don't understand it, we have to listen, because if we don't know that there has been such a situation in this world, there may be problems in the future.
In 2004, veteran artist Zheng Rong instructed new typeset actor Yang Lixin to portray the role
In 2004, veteran artist Su Min instructed the new typeset actor Wang Ban to portray the role
The role of Zhou Ping, my father (Su Min) and I have all played on the stage of renyi. It turned out that to act (Zhou Ping), it was all to find a handsome (laughs). This time in the new row, I want to find a Zhou Ping with eyes like a bird, and don't look for me (actors to play) anymore. Of course, Wang Junqi, who played Zhou Ping this time, has worked very hard, and he is also very handsome. The character of Zhou Ping was raised by the old mother, is a child left behind, he grew up with the old mother to cook and eat, in the school has been scolded bastard, wild boy. Therefore, his sense of inferiority and lack of self-confidence, cowardice is in nature. When he has sexual maturity and a desire for the opposite sex, this will naturally collide with his innate inferiority.
It can be said that literature is a tree, this year it grows a few branches, next year it grows a little taller, the next year it is cut off a few branches, and a few years later, new branches grow where the branches are cut, but the trunk is forever tied down. Every theater has its own historical background, and our theater also has its own repertoire, and through this, it trains actors from generation to generation. In 1954, when "Thunderstorm" was first rehearsed, the revised script was not yet completed, so the teacher played Zhou Ping, if the teacher played the right thing? I am afraid that people today can no longer imagine. So we still have to go back to the original work itself, Zhou Ping and Fan Yi are not mutually attracted in appearance, but have the same bitterness, pity for the same disease, talk to each other, contact and hug each other when crying, and even go to bed in order to get revenge on Zhou Puyuan. Today's people can no longer imagine that Zhou Puyuan has not returned home for more than a year, and a couple can not see each other for a year, and not talk for a year...
Beijing Renyi premiered in 1954 as Zhou Ping (left) Picture from the official public account of Beijing Renyi
Xie Tian, the actor who plays Lu Dahai, has just entered the theater for more than a year, and this time he has acted well. I hope he can lower the "fire" a little more, and it will be better to collect a little more. We have two groups of actors who play Zhou Chong, which I (choose) are more proud of. Because this role is actually not easy to find, Zhou Chong is to use the eyes of children to see the world, with the eyes of children to reflect the world, today's children seem to lack that clean in their eyes. What I'm looking for is the pure gaze of a schoolboy – I'm 68 years old and I'm constantly telling myself to see the world through the eyes of a child, equality, equality, equality, and try not to be complacent and self-righteous, which is a very good feeling.
Chen Yongxiang, the stage designer of "Thunderstorm" in 1989, hand-painted design drawings - the first scene Note the stage set The "room" has a roof
In the soundtrack of the new row of "Thunderstorm", we use Lu You's poem "Phoenix". In the play, this poem was read by me, and at the same time, I also used excerpts from the commentary of "The Phoenix". This poem is written about the hopeless love between Lu You and his cousin Tang Wan, and when I read it, I felt that the story and the plot in the play were in line with the festival, "Red crispy hands, yellow wine." The city is full of spring color palace wall willows. The east wind is evil, and the joy is thin. A few years of sorrow. Wrong, wrong, wrong..." Later, when I was in Suzhou, I heard the comments on this poem again, and I immediately found one of the musical images in the play.
Conductor Yu Long once said to me, "Your play, our China Philharmonic Orchestra is all inclusive." At the same time, the symphony is also suitable for the layout of "Thunderstorm", and the final choice is a small form: I like the cello, mainly the cello, and the lute is combined with the commentary, and there is a contrast in the musical image between thirty years ago and the present. In fact, the latest thing we determined this time is music, I am not in a hurry to do it, music is something out of nothing, even words can not explain, it is absolutely in need of inspiration, can only be felt with life. What is presented now is that the sofa rises on the stage and the piano enters - we must use contemporary music common to the world, originally wanted to use the guitar, but the guitar has regionality, and the piano has no regionality. With the piano as the main key, and the cello echo also has a connection, at this time add a little lute, plus some percussion instruments. It was as if a voice from outside the heavens came, soothing the human world.
Editor-in-Charge: Liang Jia
Proofreader: Luan Meng