Beijing News (reporter Liu Zhen) On October 26, the classic beijing renyi play "Li Bai" was staged again at the Capital Theatre. From its premiere in 1991 to the 3rd Wenhua Awards in 1993, when it won five awards, namely the Screenplay Award, the Director's Award, the Stage Design Award, the Acting Award and the Performance Award, and now it is difficult to find a ticket for each performance, and it has achieved a stage classic in 30 years. It is reported that the classic beijing renyi drama "Li Bai" will be performed until November 7.
The moon on the stage of "Li Bai" echoes the yin and yang of life. Photo: Li Chunguang
Although it is about Li Bai, which is familiar to the audience, the angle of this play is different from the poets that the audience has always known. The author Guo Qihong just gave up Li Baifei's unbridled side and chose the later stage of his life, telling his helplessness after serving the national situation but being deeply involved in power plots, as well as the dilemma between "birth" and "entry into the world". "This play we showed the audience on stage like a Chinese painting." Director Tang Ye introduced that all stage presentations must be poetic, just like the moon rising in each scene, using blank stages and representative imagery to show the relationship between scenery and people, echoing the yin and yang of life. "The simple, atmospheric, ethereal sense of stage is poetic; the lines and moods like ancient poems are even more poetic." Screenwriter Guo Qihong used "Li Bai" to tell us that good lines sound beautiful. ”
This drama chooses the later stages of Li Bai's life to tell. Photo: Li Chunguang
Thirty years after the performance, the "Li Bai" crew has both Pu Cunxin and Gong Lijun, who have acted from the first performance to the current "elders", as well as Zou Jian, Zhang Wankun, Mi Tiezeng, Wu Shanshan and other generations of artists who have been performing in the crew for more than ten years, and in the view of director Tang Ye, each of them is completing the inheritance of the classic. "Brother Pu and Sister Gong shared the stage with Teacher Lu Qi, Teacher Tong Di, and Teacher Yan Minqiu, and now they are with many young people, and I also took over this play from Teacher Su Min. Together, we pass on the classics left to us by the old artists and the creative attitude towards the classics. ”
Stills from "Li Bai". Photo: Li Chunguang
With "Li Bai" for thirty years, Pu Cunxin and Gong Lijun also achieved a stage record. Thirty years of partnering, thirty years of performance, in their view, "Li Bai" accompanied their own artistic and life path, to this day, this work is still often performed. "After acting for thirty years, from the beginning of playing his full of sorrow and indignation, to now playing his return to basics, I have a new understanding of life and art." Pu Cunxin, who plays Li Bai, has been inseparable from the character, in his view, the exploration of life and self, the true love of art, so that every time he goes on stage, he can be fresh and exciting. "My understanding of Li Bai is a piece of sincerity, which is also my attitude towards creation." Gong Lijun, the actor of Li Bai's wife Zong Yan in the play, believes that playing such an open-minded, intelligent and loving woman for thirty years is completely co-created with the audience, "The script of this play is so well written that it provides us with a lot of space to create, and also provides a lot of space for the audience to appreciate." Some viewers have watched it many times, and some have put forward their own ideas and opinions from a professional point of view," Gong Lijun said, "We are making progress with the audience."
Beijing News reporter Liu Zhen
Edited by Xu Meilin Proofreader Wu Xingfa