The documentary film "Peking Opera Search for Orphans and Rescue Orphans" began to be released in major theaters across the country on October 28. At the advanced screening held in Beijing and Shanghai at the same time, Wang Peiyu enjoyed the film with the audience and exchanged post-screening exchanges. In addition to watching "Peking Opera Search for Orphans and Save Orphans", Wang Peiyu was also interviewed by reporters. She said: "I am a slash youth, but the most important thing is Peking Opera. ”
I have a special love for the drama of "Search for Orphans and Rescue Orphans"
Reporter: How did you think of shooting high-definition theatrical images? Is this process any different from acting?
Wang Peiyu: The filming of "Peking Opera Search for Orphans and Orphans" was initiated by director Ma Qian, who has worked with me for many years, and several of our teams came together to cooperate. Director Ma Qian is both a fan of traditional opera and a fan of European avant-garde theatre, as well as a television director. I've worked with him for almost twenty years and I always feel like he's a very good mirror for me. The reason why we have been able to cooperate for such a long time is because he does not take himself as a director, I do not take myself as an actor, our cooperation includes the original state of the ink shell "Wu Peng Ji", Mo Ben Danqing's "Orphan of Zhao", the Peking Opera Qingyin Society, the "Random Bullet" Concert, the "Wentu Society", "Spring Water Crossing" and so on, as well as this "Peking Opera Search for Orphans and Rescue Orphans".
Reporter: You have a lot of works, why did you choose the drama "Search for Orphans and Save Orphans" to shoot?
Wang Peiyu: The play of "Searching for Orphans and Saving Orphans" is very meaningful to me personally. One is to learn early, the second is to act early, and the third is that I acted in this play and won some more important awards. "Search for Orphans and Rescue Orphans" is a very important enlightenment for my personal aesthetic. In 1991, before I entered the department, I learned "Search for Orphans and Save Orphans", and I would sing the whole play. At that time, I still bought a tape of Mr. Meng Xiaodong's 1947 live recording while listening to it, and I was too obsessed with her singing and reading, too much adoration! In 1992, I was admitted to the Shanghai Opera School, studied under Wang Sihe and his teacher, and the second play I learned was "Search for Orphans and Save Orphans". At that time, I was already familiar with this play, so that I could sing every character's play, even the upper and lower positions of the dragon set next to me. It can be said that I entered the line with the drama of "Search for Orphans and Rescue Orphans". In 1994, when I was 16 years old, I went to Tianjin on behalf of the professional group of the Shanghai Opera School to participate in the National New Miao Cup Competition, and it was with the play "Search for Orphans and Rescue Orphans" that I won the first place in the professional group of the National Children's Competition for the first time. In 1996, I went to Beijing to perform "Search for Orphans and Save Orphans", Mr. Tan Yuanshou watched me act below, and after watching it, he was very happy, and said to our principal: "When I was 19 years old, I saw Mr. Meng Xiaodong perform this play in Shanghai, and this child is very similar to Mr. Meng. "This is also a great encouragement given to me by Mr. Tan Yuanshou. In 2001, I participated in the National Television Competition and won the Best Performance Award for "Search for Orphans and Orphans". In 2012, I combined "Search for Orphans and Rescue Orphans" with Ma Pai's "Orphans of Zhao", and there was a Moben Danqing version of "Orphans of Zhao", so I won the Plum Blossom Award. Therefore, "Search for Orphans and Rescue Orphans" is very meaningful to me, from my ignorance to the later artistic growth, it can be said that it has accompanied me all the way. Therefore, I have a special love for this play, and taking this play as the first high-definition theatrical video record, I think on the one hand, it is an important record of my personal growth, and on the other hand, it is also a very good tribute to my many teachers.
Peking opera movies will not replace stage performances
Reporter: Watching Peking Opera movies in a movie theater is completely different from the feeling of everyone watching live Peking Opera performances in the theater. Therefore, this way of combining Peking Opera and film is actually changing the way everyone appreciates it. What do you think about this?
Wang Peiyu: When watching Peking Opera in a movie theater, the audience is facing the screen, and it is useless to applaud, because the actors are not on the stage and cannot hear the audience applauding. In the opera theater, the applause is to let the audience and the actors have a very good interaction. As an actor, I designed this point in my performance and hope that the audience will applaud, the audience will applaud, I will feel very cool, the audience is also very cool. This sense of excitement and satisfaction is only available on the spot. Therefore, opera is the art of theater, and only in theater can you feel this way. We now have such high-definition theatrical video records, not to replace stage performances, but to have more opportunities to supplement theater performances on the basis of other possibilities.
Reporter: In "Search for Orphans and Rescue Orphans", Cheng Baby regards faith and justice as an attitude higher than life, which is worthy of respect and admiration, but his attitude towards his wife is not recognized by many contemporary young women. What do you think of this phenomenon?
Wang Peiyu: This is a particularly good question. Our traditional bone old drama, whether it is Peking Opera or Kunqu opera or other traditional operas, will have a certain distance from today's people in terms of the text of the drama and even the values transmitted. As performers of opera, we are more about presenting and telling, than analyzing it, or trying to achieve a kind of enlightenment. But we all know that the imperfection of life should be sought in the drama. The reason why so many audiences love to watch drama is because there are many unsatisfactory things in our lives, and a very important feature of Chinese opera is that no matter how sadistic, crazy, and unbelievable the process is, it must be a happy ending in the end. Like the story of "Search for Orphans and Rescue Orphans", many dramas in ancient and modern China and abroad have been interpreted, and we will find that some of the problems are incomprehensible to many people today, but everyone will be moved in the end, because everyone feels that good will definitely overcome evil, which is what many audiences expect and hope for.
When we learned this play when we were young, we did have a lot of incomprehension. Cheng Bao has a happy and harmonious small family, more than half a hundred years old to get a child, how for an irrelevant person, can give up their own children, they also have to bear a lot of grievances, this is too incomprehensible. Later, when our teacher told us about the play, he repeatedly told us, don't judge, don't criticize, the things of thousands of years ago are very far from our lives today, we just need to understand, once China has such a story that happens every day, such stories as searching for orphans and saving orphans, changing children in the legal field, etc., abound in Peking Opera. It may be difficult for us to understand today, but this has happened often in China's thousands of years of history. Many literati doctors care about reputation and faithfulness to a degree that people today cannot understand, but it is vividly reflected in such a play. So I think that through such a play, we can also influence people today to think, what is our personal ultimate pursuit? Is it the fame and fortune in front of you, or the values and spirit that you have to pursue all your life? I think that's important, and maybe you can get the answer in a lot of scenes.
Reporter: You act in more traditional plays, and now there are many new plays. What is your attitude towards traditional plays and new plays?
Wang Peiyu: Friends who know me know that I am very much in favor of traditional drama. But I've actually been doing some new choreography, and there's no contradiction in that. Even the great artists of Mr. Tan Xinpei, Mr. Mei Lanfang, and the Four Great Masters of The Four Great Masters more than a hundred years ago, their new choreography in their heyday was successful and unsuccessful. Therefore, I would like to say that what can be passed down and turned into a classic must take time to practice, and at the same time need a wide audience base. Some people like to watch, some people like to learn, they pass it on, they spread it, and there is a basis for the genre. Now the state has invested so much financial, material and manpower in order to get more markets for opera art and let more audiences love it. But it also takes a long time, slowly to hatch, and to continue to perform. I think there is also scum in the traditional drama, and there are also pearls in the new drama, which must take time to verify, and the audience needs to constantly buy tickets to see it, in order to prove whether the play is good or not. As long as the audience likes to watch, it shows that the play has vitality.
A lot of time is still spent on the inheritance and dissemination of Peking Opera
Reporter: In addition to the professional field of Peking Opera over the years, you have also participated in some variety shows. What are the considerations for this? What will be the focus of your work next?
Wang Peiyu: I am a person who can't stay idle, and every year there will be new actions, new inputs, and new gains. I'm going to get back on stage more. I personally learn to act, which is both inheritance and dissemination, because the performance itself is a good inheritance and the best communication. Every year, many old gentlemen, old artists, and masters leave us, which makes us feel very sad. Therefore, for the Peking Opera industry and the Mesozoic practitioners of Peking Opera, how to more effectively and better inherit the art of old artists, and then pass it on to the audience through us and pass it on to the next generation, this is a very important lesson. I've been doing these things all these years, but I don't report too much to the public because I always think that learning drama and practicing are very private things. For the audience, the most they want to see is the actors presenting good works on the stage, but the process is actually very difficult. Many people only know that Wang Peiyu is on a variety show, and only know what party I attended and sang a song, but I didn't know that I spent a lot of time in the practice room to learn drama. Originally, I planned to tour all over the country this year, and I have already traveled to 5 cities in the first half of the year, but because of the recurrence of the epidemic, many work can only be postponed. As an actor, the early 40s are the best age to sing on stage, but for various reasons, there is no way to sing on stage every day, so it is also regrettable. Nowadays, the high-definition drama image "Peking Opera Search for Orphans and Save Orphans" can meet with everyone, and I have mixed feelings in my heart, because it is really not easy!
Reporter: So what new plans do you have now?
Wang Peiyu: On the one hand, I will learn more plays and performances, and on the other hand, I will continue to pass on the plays I have learned, and my thinking and practice on opera education and Peking opera inheritance will also be carried out in the future work. I have a lot of identities now, I am not only a Peking Opera actor, but also a teacher, but also a communicator. Today everyone loves to say "slash youth", I am a "slash youth", and there are many "slashes" behind my identity.