Thus the classic role (part) played on the stage. Photo/Visual China
On July 16, 1992, after the farewell performance of "The Tea House", he signed the audience for the last time in the backstage of the Capital Theatre. Courtesy of Tong Daoming
So after the farewell performance of "Tea House", he took a group photo with his friend Tong Daoming backstage after removing his makeup. Courtesy of Tong Daoming
"I've been lucky enough to meet such an amazing person on my path."
Courtesy of Tong Daoming
A few days ago, Beijing Renyi "Tea House" ended this round of performances, since its birth in 1958, it has performed more than 700 times, and this classic drama has been staged on the stage for a full sixty years. As the first generation of "treasurer" Wang Lifa, the significance of "Tea House" is self-evident, Cao Yu once said that "'Tea House' is a treasure in the history of Chinese drama, so it is a civilian artist who supports this treasure.". Even if he could no longer stand on the stage of human art to release the light because of physical reasons in the later stage, he still protected and supported a group of young people who loved drama and had the courage to innovate with their own energy.
It's been 5 years since it left us this year. The Beijing News exclusively interviewed Tong Daoming, an old friend and theater critic for many years, who restored the "people's actors" and thus in front of and behind the scenes. In Tong Daoming's view, he and he are "also teachers and friends", the two know each other because of drama, so their influence on him is far beyond the scope of drama.
Friends
So it was & Tong Daoming
The big locust tree and the agreement on the third day of the new year
Therefore, the acquaintance of Zhizhi and Tong Daoming can be regarded as a sympathetic and at first sight.
In 1979, Tong Daoming published an article entitled "Stanislavsky's System of Right and Wrong", in which the concept of drama resonated with it, but Tong Daoming did not know it. Since then, many theater magazines have approached Tong Daoming to write articles, and Tong Daoming soon became an active theater critic in the circle. In 1988, at a theater festival in Nanjing, Tong Daoming learned about it, so he went to the editorial office to recommend him, "He said that there is a man named Tong Daoming, you may wish to ask him to write some articles." ”
At the end of the 1980s, Zhizhi and Tong Daoming often went for a walk in Zizhuyuan Park early in the morning. At that time, Tong Daoming lived in Guanyuan Bridge, so he lived opposite the Shangri-La Hotel, and if he wanted to chat, he would make a phone call and meet the next morning to go to Zizhuyuan Park. Once we talked until it was almost noon, so we said, "Go! Come to my house for shabu lamb! The two men walked up to the Zizhu Bridge, so they stopped, pointed to a large tree on the south side of the bridge, and said, "You see, this locust tree should be two or three hundred years old, you can imagine that the workers who pulled coal in those years delivered coal from Mentougou to the city of Beijing, and when they came here, they would definitely rest under this big tree." After saying that, he stood silently facing the big tree for a while. A few years later, he and Tong Daoming had a "theatrical dialogue", although the discussion was about drama, but eventually the topic fell to the old locust tree: "In front of my house, there is a lawn, there is a tree. I often went to see them, and when I didn't go for a day, it was like losing a friend. "Since then, Tong Daoming has talked to people about this, often talking about his tree." I often reverie about the scene of 'looking at the big locust tree' with me, you know, this can also be included in poetry and painting! ”
So he left, Tong Daoming thought, that the big locust tree must be very lonely, because no one ever visits it every day like a friend, close to it.
There is also an agreement between the two, every year at two o'clock in the afternoon of the third day of the new year, it is the day when Tong Daoming and therefore meet, and on this day of the year, Tong Daoming will definitely appear next to him on time, so Tong Daoming abides by this agreement before and after his illness. So after he was hospitalized, Tong Daoming would sit on the edge of the bed and chat with him, and then he said, your old friend Lao Tong is coming. There was no response, but sometimes tears would flow from the corners of the eyes. "He can't speak," Tong said. "But he can shed tears."
To this day, Tong Daoming still cherishes the "cow" character that he gave him, and every time he sees the word, it is like seeing an old friend.
Remember the actor so
He was never proud of "The Teahouse", or even embarrassed to mention it
"When did Wang Lifa want to die?" Tong Daoming remembers the 80s, so he was still discussing this issue with people. From its premiere in 1958 to its closing in 1992, "The Teahouse" performed a total of 374 times, so I kept thinking about it, but there was no answer until the end. "He can think about a question like this for so long, and you know how he treats the character." Tong Daoming said.
Therefore, the speculation of the characters is based on the details. In the play, Wang Lifa constantly pasted a note "Don't talk about state affairs" in the conspicuous place of the tea house, but "state affairs" never left the tea house. As a treasurer, he also repeatedly talked about state affairs. The "sticky note" has a crucial role in the play. Considering that sticking the note will inevitably be stained with paste on the hand, it will keep the hands and the body at a considerable distance. What the audience saw was that when Wang Lifa talked to others, the two hands that were not very clean had nowhere to go, and could only be raised in front of his chest. This gesture comes from uncle Chen, an old worker who lived in a small school and was a neighbor who was a child. In 1957, before the "Tea House", he went to visit him. In addition to listening to Uncle Chen's memories of the past, some aspects of Uncle Chen's personality also inspired him: "Although it is hard, it is good to clean hands." Although Wang Lifa lives at the bottom, he is also a diligent and thrifty person who pays attention to cleanliness. The movement of the "hand" reveals a lot of details.
Wang Lifa in "The Tea House" can be seen as one of the most important stage roles, but he has never been proud of it, and even a little embarrassed to mention it. Tong Daoming said that he felt that he had received too much honor because of Wang Lifa. "His stubbornness dictates that he himself cannot talk about the meaning of The Teahouse as we do."
Compared with Wang Lifa, the role he is more willing to talk about and feels that he plays well is the old horse in "Camel Xiangzi". So he told Tong Daoming that in the "old horse", he "played the fake acting really". With his usual humble and low-key personality, it was rare for him to utter such a sentence.
There is also a love story behind the "old horse". Ordinary actors are rushing to play big roles. As soon as "Camel Shoko" was announced, it was scheduled to open, so it grabbed the old horse. The number of scenes and lines in the old horse drama is not large, and the appearance time is only more than ten minutes, so the number of words in the application report at the turn of the year is not even less than the line of the old horse. Tong Daoming said that the reason why he had a special love for old horses was because there was such a tricycle driver in a large courtyard where he lived in his youth, so he was very familiar with the coachmen. The coachmen have an organization, and everyone gathers their hard-earned money to solve the urgent needs of the poor brothers, and when it is time to send a notice and keep a ledger, they will find a way to help copy and write.
"He always felt like something had to be done to be worthy of these old neighbors."
Remember the intellectuals
He can see through vulgarity, and he will not say beautiful things and engage in relationships for a lifetime
So he loves to read, likes to chat with intellectuals, and has great respect for intellectuals. There is one thing that Tong Daoming still remembers deeply. When Ying Ruocheng was seriously ill, he went to visit him, and when he returned, he was in a very bad mood and called Tong Daoming to chat, "He said that there are three Tsinghua graduates in Beijing Renyi, two have died, and one is sick like this. At that time, Yingruocheng had cirrhosis of the liver and was vomiting blood. So it was painful.
Therefore, he has the intellectual's independent thinking nature, and he will not say beautiful things or engage in relationships in his lifetime. Tong Daoming recalled that when a certain leader wrote calligraphy and held a painting exhibition, many people went to the scene and praised him, but then they would not do this set, "because the old Yu felt that his words were not good." In the early 1980s, "Tea House" came to Tokyo to perform, and at that time, Chinese were eager to become interested in Japanese electrical appliances. Before the performance, some of the actors were still exchanging what electrical appliances they had bought, so they were very angry and threw their teacups on the ground, "Why are we coming?" "He can see through vulgarity. He is this kind of intellectualism. ”
Tong Daoming asked too much, which title do performing artists and actors prefer? Hence the actor. In Tong Daoming's view, this is not only modesty, but also the thinking of his own profession. "Why don't writers and poets say they're language artists? Why do actors feel that the title of an actor is not too addictive, and they have to add performing artists and first-class actors? So he was proud of his profession.
Remember the master and then
Lin Zhaohua admired Li Baotian and Jiang Wen
From 1984 to 1992, he served as the vice president of Beijing Renyi for 8 years. Tong Daoming said that he really did not want to be this official, "but it is also fortunate that he became an official and achieved Lin Zhaohua." "Lin Zhaohua is a person who is reluctant to hold a meeting. So at the memorial service, Lin Zhaohua went and said a sentence, "Without it, there would be no me." After saying that, he stood up and left. In Tong Daoming's view, the shortest speaker is Lin Zhaohua, and it is he who has the most weight in his speech.
In 1982, Lin Zhaohua's "Absolute Signal" was born in the rehearsal hall on the first floor of Renyi, which was considered to be "China's first real small theater drama". Tong Daoming said, "At that time, the concept was that we could not learn (the West), and the small theater came from the West, so Lin Zhaohua could be strangled in the cradle, the leaders of the theater and the older generation were opposed to "Absolute Signal", and with the support of Cao Yu and Sozhi, this play was smoothly staged. At the same time, it supports Lin Zhaohua's use of many modernist techniques such as "stream of consciousness" in "Absolute Signal" to enrich the realism of drama. ”
Ten years later, in 1992, the then vice president of Beijing Renyi wrote an article entitled "Footprints of Exploration" for the 40th anniversary celebration of the Beijing Renyi Academy, summarizing the development trajectory of Beijing Renyi in the past 40 years with the series of three plays of "Longsugou", "Tiger Rune" and "Absolute Signal". "Longsugou" laid the foundation for the realism of human art, "Tiger Rune" began the exploration of the nationalization of Jiao Juyin's drama, and put "Absolute Signal" and the first two works together, which seems to the outside world to give Lin Zhaohua a fairly high affirmation, which is equivalent to seeing Lin Zhaohua as the inheritor of Beijing Renyi in the directing art after Jiao Juyin.
Therefore, his love for Lin Zhaohua, there is also a saying that - "during the Cultural Revolution", Lin Zhaohua's worker family could wear the Red Guard armband, but Lin Zhaohua did not become a rebel, he never looked at the old leaders and artists in the cowshed coldly, and his character withstood the test, so he especially appreciated Lin Zhaohua.
Therefore, he is also the "enlightened master" of many actors, such as Jiang Wen. Tong Daoming said that there were two actors that he admired very much, one was Li Baotian, and once he called Tong Daoming very happy, because he heard that Li Baotian talked about having two teachers, one of whom was himself. And another actor he likes is Jiang Wen, and at the same time, it is also enlightening to Jiang Wen.
In 1997, jiang Wen was rehearsing the drama "Konok or the Victory of Medicine", and Tong Daoming asked him if he wanted to see Jiang Wen's play. Jiang Wen was very happy after hearing this, and he said, "Teacher Yu wants to come to the theater is more important than the leader to watch the play." Tong Daoming clearly remembers, so he went to the Capital Theater to see Jiang Wen's "Konok" on February 14, 1998, which happened to be Valentine's Day, and many audiences greeted him with roses in their hands, which was also the last time they walked into the Capital Theater.
According to Tong Daoming's recollection, jiang Wen also went to the last performance of "Tea House" in 1992 and found his signature. "I asked Jiang Wen how many times has he seen "The Tea House"? He said he couldn't remember clearly, and he could say all the lines. Jiang Wen very much wanted to play "The Tea House" and wanted to play the role of Wang Treasurer, so he also felt that Jiang Wen was suitable. But in the end it didn't work out. Tong Recalled.
Remembering the leadership is then
He has great respect for the labor of others
In the eyes of many people, the reason why he fell ill in his later years was that he was tired as a vice dean. From 1984 to his departure in 1992, in addition to performances, room division, salary increases and other things have to be managed, and the heavy administrative work also makes it very stressful.
Therefore, the first person in charge of Renyi was the creative group, and all the creative group members of Renyi especially liked him. Usually, the screenwriters' lives are very free, so they will organize six or seven screenwriters to chat and eat together every week, and under the supervision of this, the creative environment of the screenwriting team is very relaxed. At the same time, she has been encouraging and helping the newcomer to the drama - the screenwriter He Jiping had just graduated when she arrived at Renyi, and at first she wanted to write a script about roast duck, which made Him Zhi very worried, but then he agreed, and encouraged He Jiping To have a promising and fresh theme. In the end, He Jiping wrote "The First Floor under the Heavens". Including helping Guo Qihong to improve the script of "Li Bai" together, giving a lot of suggestions, Tong Daoming said, "Even Guo Qihong himself has said that if you take care to change the script in other units, the screenwriter's signature must be signed." ”
Therefore, when dealing with screenwriting scripts, he also has his own habits. For example, even if you make an opinion, you must write it with a pencil, so that you can erase it at any time. Therefore, he has great respect for the labor of others, and he has to read the scripts of others twice in advance, which makes Tong Daoming very impressed and admits that he cannot learn them. "He thinks that people have worked hard for a long time to write a script for you, and it is not enough for you to give advice to others after reading it once." But I think after reading the script once, I can give advice. ”
Tong Daoming never regarded Him as just an actor, "He is an excellent intellectual in China, and I am fortunate to meet such a great person on the road of life." ”
Chief reporter of Beijing News Liu Wei Intern Liu Shujun