Stills from Lost in the Endless Wilderness of Time. Image courtesy of Starry Drama Village
BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Many people have seen one-man shows and know the latest immersion dramas, but the combination of the two is not common. Director Huang Yanzhuo made a bold attempt to make an immersive monologue - "Lost in the Endless Wilderness of Time".
The name comes from Zhang Ailing's novel, so long that some people can't remember it. Huang Yanzhuo said that the one-man show looks simple, but it is very difficult to do, and she is still adjusting the script five days before the performance. "It's a challenge and hopefully it can be successful." She said.
The inspiration for the story is the sea firefly
The Gulf of Japan has a stunning spectacle, with dots of blue light at night, surging with the waves and as brilliant as the Milky Way. This is not some man-made landscape, but because there are countless glowing plankton living inside, the sea fireflies.
Sea fireflies, as the name suggests, are "fireflies in the sea", and there is a structure called luminous glands in its body, which produce light blue light when stimulated by waves and so on.
Sea fireflies generally appear in June and July of each year, and are distributed along the beach in a band, so they are also called "blue tears".
The sea firefly is small, only three millimeters, but it has a heart, which is a big difference from other crustaceans.
Huang Yanzhuo said that she accidentally saw the introduction of the sea fireflies, which made her feel very deeply. It turns out that no matter what kind of creature, it must first have its own "heart", not only the "heart" in the physical sense, but also the "heart" at the spiritual level. This triggered her to want to create a work based on the loss and search of the "heart".
"Lost in the Endless Wilderness of Time" is based on the protagonist of the sea firefly, telling the story of "Blue" who lost his heart and embarked on a journey of loss and chase.
"Is your heart yours?" Now, are you with your heart? That's the question she wants to ask everyone.
At first, Huang Yanzhuo just wanted to do a one-man show, but after telling her friends this story, her friends suggested that she do an environmental drama, and under the current conditions, it seems that it is more appropriate to do an immersive drama. So after talking with the producer Fanxing Drama Village, Huang Yanzhuo began to do experiments to make arguments.
"At the moment, immersion one-man shows are really rare, so making such an attempt is also a challenge, and I hope it can be successful." She said.
"Yellow Trench Coat" combination
Although it is said to be a one-man show, this play is not simple at all. When the protagonist "Blue" finds his heart, he has to go through the dark matter world and experience the "reincarnation" of life again and again, there are red sweaters on cats, there are guestbooks in bookstores, there are turtles... Playing six or seven roles in a play is also a challenge for the actors.
Huang Yanzhuo found two actors who had worked with her for five or six years, Zhang Weiyi and Zuo Lingfeng, to play "Lan", both of whom had never acted in a one-man show before.
When he first graduated from college, Zhang Weiyi cooperated with Huang Yanzhuo in a play, and later the two also cooperated in "That Desperate Love" and "That Trip That Walked Away". He said that as long as he had time, as long as Huang Yanzhuo summoned, he would come back at any time to act. Three years ago, he had the idea of acting in a one-man show, but he was too busy to put it on hold, and this time he finally had the opportunity to push off some film and television work.
"I think it's still important for an actor to play a one-man show." Zhang Weiyi said.
Zuo Lingfeng is also an actor who Huang Yanzhuo often cooperates with, he has acted in "That Desperate Love", "That Trip That Says Go", "Love in the City without Love" and so on.
The team was assembled, and the rehearsal began. However, what I did not expect was that a seemingly simple play was quite difficult to operate. Huang Yanzhuo said that the general play takes about 40 days to prepare, but this play took two months, and both actors lost more than a dozen pounds.
During two months of rehearsals, she kept overturning the script. "For example, a play, maybe I have to overturn five or six times, just five days before the show, I'm still overturning the third and fourth scenes." Huang Yanzhuo said that thanks to the two actors who trust her, the average actor may be "crazy".
Actors are important, and she wants to give them the best possible state, a good story, to present themselves.
They gave the three people a name, "Yellow Wind (Peak) Dress (Yi)", and bought three yellow trench coats.
Lose yourself and find yourself
The play is called "Lost in the Endless Wilderness of Time", and many viewers said that the name is too long to remember. In this regard, Huang Yanzhuo said that in fact, there was no particularly accurate name at the beginning, and they were ready to call it "Blue" or "Blue Tears". Because the drama is not very attractive, I later thought of "Lost", but there are also many film and television dramas called "Lost".
Finally, it was a choreographer who put forward Zhang Ailing's words: "Among thousands of people, meet the people you want to meet, in the endless wilderness of time, there is no step earlier, no step later, just caught up, there is nothing else to say, only to ask softly: 'Oh, you are also here?'" ’”
Huang Yanzhuo felt at that time that this sentence was in line with their theme. "There's time, there's a sense of infinity, and a lot of people say it's too long, but I think the name is the most accurate and the most expressive of what we want to express." She said.
"Blue" is the protagonist of this play and the main color of the whole play. In order to present an immersive viewing environment, the theater was also renovated and transformed into a panoramic stage. Actors can perform in the center of the theater and around the theater, and the audience can also watch from any location.
Huang Yanzhuo said that this time the immersion stage is more complicated, and she has been trying with the visual director to overturn several drafts. "Because it's just an actor, it's still quite difficult to give the audience a visual aesthetic, but also to consider gameplay and commerciality."
Plato said in the Dialogues: "Man is originally hermaphrodite, and throughout his life we are searching for the missing half." Or is the half we're looking for, not someone else, but ourselves? The long road of life, we all try to understand what kind of person the real me really is, only by knowing ourselves, life is complete. ”
Knowing yourself, that's the purpose of the play. "Lan is lost all the way, and we hope that while everyone has pity on him, they will also think about whether they are lost at this moment, or whether they have been lost." Zhang Weiyi said. (End)