On the evening of September 3, the drama "The Player" opened as scheduled at the Beijing Capital Theater, but Ban Zan, who originally played the role of "Wei Youliang", was gone.
In the early morning of the same day, Ban Zan, a young actor and director of the Beijing People's Art Theater, died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 41.
At noon, Feng Yuanzheng, who played "Jin Bo'an" in "The Player", uploaded two recent photos on Weibo, one was with Banzan in the canteen on September 1 to talk about the "current situation and future of human art", and the other was a stage photo that night. Feng said this "should be Banzan's last photo." Young actors Song Yi and Lan Yingying also mourned the industry seniors and brothers through Weibo.
<h5>On September 1, Banzan also performed for "The Player". </h5>
Everything happens too suddenly, but for the actor, "the drama is bigger than the sky". The "Player" crew could only hold back their grief and urgently make adjustments to the performance of the night.
Over the past 20 years, Banzan has not only participated in many classic plays of the Beijing People's Art Theatre, but also won the "Best Actor" of the Fifth International Academy of Drama Awards and was nominated for the "Best Actor" of the Asian Newcomer Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival for his accurate interpretation of the roles of security guards in the movie "Twelve Citizens" and "Wu Fatzi" in the TV series "Days Related to Youth".
In recent years, he has "acted and directed", and the 5 stage drama works he has directed are all word-of-mouth works, of which the new rehearsal play "Old-fashioned Comedy" directed by him and performed by Li Youbin and Shi Lanya has just premiered in June this year.
<h5>Banzan. </h5>
In the view of Li Longyin, a veteran dramatist and director of the Chinese Dramatists Association, Banzan's directing talent even surpasses his profound achievements in acting. His sudden death is a deplorable loss for Beijing Renyi and even in the Chinese drama industry.
Regardless of the role, he is willing to go on stage
Born in 1978, Banzan was a former soldier in the army. In order to continuously improve in performance, he participated in the college entrance examination several times before being admitted to the acting department of the Central Academy of Drama in 1999, and became an undergraduate classmate with Li Guangjie and Chen Sicheng. During his studies, he made cameo appearances in Feng Xiaogang's film "Big Shots", and also acted in sketches, and after graduating in 2003, he entered the Beijing People's Art Theater as he wished.
Banzan once recalled in an interview with the media that he could not remember how many roles he played in the Chinese opera, but "played the father of everyone in the class." After arriving in Beijing Renyi, he was the security guard "Erkui" in "North Street South Courtyard", the juror who had no role in "Mutiny", and also played the leading role in "Paint Not Dried" and "Barbershop", and he also appeared in classic dramas such as "Tea House", "Mutiny", "Player" and "The First Floor of the World" of Beijing Renyi. In Banzan's words, the large and small dressing rooms in the backstage of renyi, from the top starring room in the west to the ordinary actors room in the east, he sat down, "I just want to go on stage." ”
A beijing artist for many years recalled to the Nandu reporter: "In all the plays I have seen, Mr. Banzan has a strong personal style in shaping and interpreting each role, with a deep foundation of lines and strong plasticity, and is a rare 'full-life' actor, which is what we usually say 'what is like acting'." In the eyes of this veteran theater fan, no matter how much the role, Banzan on the stage can always impress the audience, "very relaxed, not obtrusive, not dramatic, but just right for the role, especially brilliant." ”
<h5>In 2007, Banzan participated in the drama "Looking for the Spring Willow Society". </h5>
In 2007, Li Longyin, the screenwriter of the drama "Looking for Chunliu Society", met Banzan for the first time, and the latter played "Li Supervisor" in this play. Li Longyin described that Banzan at that time was a "chubby, smiling big man, especially fun", especially like the smiling "student drama club teacher" in his own pen, but in the last paragraph of this play, Banzan had to switch to "Old Tom". When performing that paragraph, he suddenly stared at the eyes and his lines were exciting, pushing the emotions of the whole play to the climax, full of explosive power.
As a director, he had high hopes
In addition to being active on the drama stage, in recent years, Banzan has also starred in a number of film and television dramas, such as "Twelve Citizens", "Forgetful Village", "Days Related to Youth", "Legendary Treasurer" and so on. He was nominated for "Best Actor" at the Asian Newcomer Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival for his film "North by Northeast".
<h5>Banzan's classic role in the drama "The First Floor under Heaven" is "Tang Maochang". </h5>
In recent years, Banzan has begun to have the opportunity to direct some plays for Beijing Renyi, the first "Life Seen in obscurity", and the subsequent "Three Comedies of the Republic of Ding Xilin", "Some Chekhov's Little Plays" and "Ikus", which have received good response and high recognition in the industry. Banzan once told the media that as a director, "to play all the roles, and even each role must be better than the actor", which is a challenge and exercise. In addition, the director's work has richer requirements for comprehensive cultivation, which is also a test of his own artistic ability.
As a drama critic, Li Longyin told Nandu reporter that the most prominent feature of Banzan's directorial style is that it is "very delicate", which can inspire actors to come up with a relaxed and lifelike state, so that the entire stage is full of inherent dramatic conflicts, which is difficult but clever. Therefore, from the time he watched the "Three Rules of Comedy of the Republic of China" directed by him, he said to Ren Ming, the director of Beijing Renyi: "A big director and a good director of Renyi was born. ”
In June this year, the new rehearsal drama "Old-fashioned Comedy" directed by Banzan premiered in Beijing and was well received by all parties, which is also the return of the famous actor Li Youbin after 25 years of leaving the drama stage. At the time, Banzan fell to work on a motorcycle and had to complete his work as a director on crutches and in a wheelchair.
When Li Longyin went to visit the class, he remembered Li Youbin saying to himself: "Banzan is very smart, I basically listen to him." What Banzan told me makes a lot of sense. But later at the seminar, Banzan admitted, "There is still a lot of difference", but he did not know how to get better, so he was very distressed.
"I've known Banzan for so many years and often hear him go to the hospital for a check-up and advise him not to get too tired. He still smiled and said, 'It's not a big deal, it's ok'. Li Longyin recalled, "He was particularly competitive in art; as a director, he could not inspire the actors, nor did he get angry with the actors, but he was worried about himself." He was too tired. ”
Written by: Nandu reporter Hou Jingjing