In the backstage dressing room of Cao Yu Theater in Beijing Renyi International Drama Center, an hour before the premiere of the new row of "Thunderstorm", Pu Cunxin was asking the makeup artist to hang his eyes upwards, "so that Zhou Puyuan is more powerful", Gong Lijun, who played Lu Mama in the play, deliberately wore an orange coat, "Before the premiere of the new play, I will wear a little bit of joy, this orange represents success ..."
What makes these two veterans who have been tested on the stage more or less nervous and excited is the new row of Beijing Renyi". "The inexhaustible Cao Yu, the endless "Thunderstorm"", but in Beijing Renyi has been acting in the 1956 version for decades.
Stills from the old version of "Thunderstorm"
Pu Cunxin and "Thunderstorm" have a lot of roots, and he and his father Su Min have both starred in it as the great young master Zhou Ping. It's just that this role once left him with pain.
In the 1990s, Pu Cunxin was well known to the public for playing Gao Tian, the head of the public security bureau, in the TV series "Heroes Without Regrets", and when zhou Ping, who he played, played the scene of "Jumping Out of the Window", the audience under the stage of "Director Gao Jumping Window" could not help but snicker at this scene. This made Pu Cunxin, who was very serious about the stage, very painful, and today he still said: "Actually, I did not bring the audience into the plot." ”
Pu Cunxin played Zhou Ping in "Thunderstorm"
Because of his age, Pu Cunxin quit the "Thunderstorm" crew in 2003, but he always had a "Thunderstorm" dream in his heart.
A few years ago, Beijing Renyi had introduced the "Wedding" of the Belarusian State Model Theatre, and when Pu Cunxin learned that this was the 17th version of the troupe's rehearsal for this play, his heart was moved, "I think we Renyi can also have many versions and different interpretations of "Thunderstorm". This is the attitude of our people. Because of this, the new row of "Thunderstorm" chose to premiere on the day of the 111th anniversary of Mr. Cao Yu's birth, "This is a study to Report to Mr. Cao Yu and the audience." Pu Cunxin said.
How did Pu Cunxin, who left "Thunderstorm" with regrets, perform this time when he returned to the "Zhou Mansion" as a director and Zhou Puyuan?
Pu Cunxin discussed with the actors in the rehearsal hall
Pu Cunxin said that the opportunity to really start preparing for the new row of "Thunderstorm" was because I saw the 1934 version of the "Thunderstorm" script a few years ago, "It was simply a valuable mine, and I found many forgotten precious fragments when I read it." Therefore, this version of "Thunderstorm" is based on the 1956 version, and adds a lot of the content from the 1934 version," During the rehearsal performance, many audience members said that this sentence was well written, but in fact, it was not written by us, it was the words in Cao Yu's original script. Tang Ye, the director who co-directed "Thunderstorm" with Pu Cunxin, said.
Pu Cunxin and Tang Ye are in rehearsal
The newly added part has delicate emotional dramas and important plots, such as Zhou Ping's suicide gun is not from Zhou Puyuan, but lu Dahai gave him. Pu Cunxin also believes that he found a password for this play, "Is Zhou Puyuan a person in the bureau, does he know the turmoil that has occurred at home?" In the previous version, Zhou Puyuan did not know, more like a bystander, and in this version, he implied that he actually knew by saying that he was moving. These details unearthed from the 1934 version of the script are like clues, strung together to give rise to different interpretations of the characters.
In the new row of "Thunderstorm", Pu Cunxin played Zhou Puyuan
In terms of character presentation, everyone has some differences. Lu Ma, played by Gong Lijun, is less patient and more strong, And Xuan Yi, played by Bai Hui, is not just struggling in despair, but actually thinks of ways, Zhou Puyuan is also less indifferent, showing his deep love for Shi Ping, and Lu Gui also has more warmth, "There are no complete bad people in this play, they are all some people with shortcomings." Tang Ye said.
Zhou Puyuan and Lu Shuping
Director Tang Ye said: "Pu Ge gave us a big direction, that is, bravery, breaking and breaking and breaking, Pu Ge is very emotional, he often has many wild ideas..."
Gong Lijun, who plays Lu Mama in the play, said: Pu Ge is a particularly passionate and thoughtful, fickle and emotional director, every day there are new ideas, new changes, before the start of the show, also told everyone, do not fix the performance, every scene is exploring, the next round may have a new way of acting...
In addition to the performances of the actors, the entire stage is also very different from the previous version, from realism to "writing poetry", and the stage presentation highlights the concept of "poetry". In particular, the "cloud" above the stage has become the visual center of the stage design, layered on top of each other, romantic and aesthetic and has a strong ideographic function.
At the same time, according to the musical hints written in Mr. Cao Yu's original work, the play not only uses the foreshadowing of the fragment of the commentary" "Baotou Phoenix", but also integrates the elements of classical music and ethnic music through it, and finally ends with piano and strings. "This is a heavenly voice, the poetic pity of Mr. Cao Yu." The two directors said.
Although he is already the chairman of the China Drama Association and a well-known drama performance artist, as a newcomer director, Pu Cunxin still behaves very "low-key", "We have accepted a lot of criticism, and we will hear more criticism." ”
The show will run until October 17, but tickets are sold out.
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