(Zhao Yanxia stills)
In the 1980s, there was a retirement storm of Zhao Yanxia, a famous Peking Opera performance artist with high popularity and influence, and her sudden retirement from the stage for no reason naturally attracted widespread attention. The majority of fans wondered how this artist, who had just reached the age of 60 and was still active on the stage, suddenly said goodbye to the audience.
Zhao Yanxia himself did not understand, as if falling into the fog of five miles. Since the early 1980s, Zhao Yanxia has not avoided difficulties and actively participated in the upsurge of the reform of the Peking Opera system, and as the leader of a troupe of Beijing Opera House, she led a group of 70 people from the reform experimental performance team to tour the grassroots. This performance team is led by Zhao Yanxia, with Liu Xuetao, Gao Baoxian, Ye Jinyuan, Yan Guixiang and other assistants, and the lineup is not weak. In 1986, the theater was adjusted, and Zhao Yanxia was transferred to the sixth troupe of the Beijing Opera House, and it should be said that the lineup of this troupe was very untidy, and even the indispensable students of Hua Dan opera were delayed. However, Zhao Yanxia's enthusiasm for reform has not diminished, and she continues to lead everyone to perform at the grassroots level. Over the past few years, a group of experimental performance teams led by Zhao Yanxia and later the sixth troupe of the Beijing Opera House have successively run docks in dozens of large, medium, and small cities across the country, and even to Chongqing, Sichuan, where performances were rarely performed in the past. Along the way, it was warmly welcomed by the local people, and the facts show that it is not that Peking Opera has no market, but that the current rigid system restricts the troupe from going to the grassroots level and the audience, forming a passive situation in which everyone "eats a big pot of rice" and the troupe relies on huge state subsidies.
(Zhao Yanxia casual clothes photo)
Just as Zhao Yanxia was confidently carrying out reforms, the six troupes she led had just returned from the Sichuan performance, and the leaders of the academy found Zhao Yanxia and officially notified her to announce her retirement. According to the description of the book "Zhao Yanxia of Its Own Faction" written by He Baotang, Zhao Yanxia, who was surprised, asked: "Why?" Many provincial and municipal performance contracts have not yet been completed, and I can still sing for two years!" the leader replied: "60 years old one-size-fits-all, when you are old, you have to retire, and when you are old, you have to give way to young people." Zhao Yanxia asked for a farewell stage performance, and the leader categorically refused, "All of them will engage in farewell performances, will the farewell come over?" Go through the formalities today, tomorrow you won't have to go to work. The leader finally dropped this sentence.
In this way, Zhao Yanxia, a 14-year-old learned art from a teacher, performed on stage at the age of 15, picked a class "Yanming Society" at the age of 19, one of the five top brands of the Beijing Peking Opera Troupe after liberation, the creator of the modern drama "Shajiabang" Ah Qingyi, and the famous Peking Opera performance artist Zhao Yanxia instantly disappeared from the stage without a trace, without farewell performances, without news reports, without reminiscence articles... Some are just fans' whispers and extreme disappointment in this retirement storm.
In fact, Zhao Yanxia is not the only one who has encountered the "retirement storm"!
In 1985, the Beijing Opera House of China carried out institutional reform and implemented a new system, and the first and second troupes held a "performance according to the new system after the structural reform", and the main actors of the troupe were Li Shiji, Feng Zhixiao, Li Guang, Tian Bing, Yu Kuizhi and so on. Two old artists, Yuan Shihai and Du Jinfang, have disappeared from the list of leading actors in a group. The main actors of the second troupe are Sun Yue, Qi Xiaoyun, Zhang Manling, Gao Mukun, Li Mingyan, etc., and Zhang Chunhua serves as an artistic consultant. From this point of view, although there is no official announcement, it can be inferred that in this round of institutional reconstruction, old artists Yuan Shihai, Du Jinfang, Zhang Chunhua, etc. withdrew from the front line and left the stage.
(Du Jinfang stills)
How these three artists felt about their retirement is unknown, but from the fact that they later did not want to be lonely and actively organized performance groups to "walk the cave" in other places, we can see their mood at that time. This is also very normal, learning drama, singing opera for a lifetime, now in good health, still able to take the stage, and is well received by the audience, which one is willing to go home immediately to guard the loneliness. Yuan Shihai spoke quickly and immediately after retirement, organizing a performance team, which had three Yuan Duzhang, but lacked a top veteran. Yuan Shihai often co-starred with Feng Zhixiao, an old student of Ma Pai, in "Group Borrowing Hua" and "Qingmei Boiled Wine on Heroes", etc. when he was in a group, and now he can only find other partners when he retires. At this time, Zhang Xuejin had just been transferred back to Beijing from Shanghai and was waiting for work arrangements at the Beijing Opera House. Therefore, Yuan Shihai found Zhang Xuejin and invited him to temporarily participate in the performance group. Zhang Xuejin, who was waiting for the assignment, wanted to be idle and idle, so he joined the group at once. The performance group toured Shandong, Hebei Province for three months and was warmly welcomed by the local audience.
For the performance activities of Zhao Yanxia and Yuan Shihai, there is no consensus in society, and the affirmers believe that this is a reform of the system and a beneficial exploration, while the negatives believe that this is a cave-out behavior of individuals to earn money. Who supports and who opposes? The Ministry of Culture and the Beijing MunicipalIty supported it, because it was a reform experiment, and the audience also supported it, because it had the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful performances of old artists that were rarely seen. The objections mainly come from the leaders of the troupe, because once the actors organize their own troupes to perform, the troupe is chaotic and cannot be managed. They would rather be overwhelmed, eat a cauldron of rice, and lose money for years in the troupe than break the iron rice bowl. And those who are enthusiastic about reform are those old artists who have the ability to "reach the sky". The wave of retirements of old artists in the '80s may have something to do with this resistance.
Along with the retirement of old artists is the "let the stage" wind. Some famous actors have taken the lead in publishing a speech in the newspaper, calling for young actors to be given a stage so that young people have more opportunities to stand out. When the leader asked Zhao Yanxia to retire, he clearly said, "When you are old, you must give way to young people." "60-year-old retirement one-size-fits-all" and "let the stage", this is simply unheard of in the past, whether the old actor has the energy to perform varies from person to person, can not act without acting, how can you use 60 years old to cut it? The stage is a place of artistic competition, and the fame of actors depends on their own strength, how can they rely on others to make the stage? However, under the current drama group system, all this seems very necessary and natural, and even becomes the so-called "breakthrough point" of institutional reform.
Think of that year, Ma Lianliang, who was born in 1901, was still actively involved in the upsurge of acting in modern dramas in the mid-1960s, and he and Qiu Shengrong, Zhao Yanxia, Li Shiji and others created and performed "Cuckoo Mountain" and "Letter from the South", and Zhang Junqiu co-arranged "Nian Nian You Yu", if it were not for his persecution and death in 1966, Ma Lianliang might have rehearsed more plays. If we had "60 one-size-fits-all" at that time, we would not have seen the new stage image created by Ma Lianliang, such as Zheng Laowan.
Speaking of "letting the stage", the Beijing Peking Opera Troupe attached great importance to the training and training of young actors. Ma Tan Zhang Qiu Zhao led the five top cards, but at the same time launched a "small group" independent performance, with young outstanding actors occupying the stage. Tan Yuanshou, Ma Changli, Li Shiji, Li Yufang, Xiao Wang Yurong, Yang Shaochun and a number of other outstanding talents have thus stood out and gradually become pillars. Among them, there is no way for old artists to withdraw from giving way to new artists, but to bring the old to the new and complement each other, so that young actors gradually mature and get the recognition of the audience. This approach is probably better than the "one-size-fits-all" and "concession" surgical approach.