Burlesque is one of the local drama genres in shanghai, which is now mainly popular in Shanghai and its surrounding Wu-speaking areas. Most of them use Shanghai dialect as the language of expression, and at the same time imitate the Wu dialect of Taihu Tablets in large quantities, and occasionally imitate other dialects such as northern dialects and Cantonese.
Burlesque is a new type of opera that was gradually formed in the middle of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when Shanghai's opera "one-man show" accepted the influence of Chinese and foreign comedies, farces and local operas in Jiangnan. It is popular in Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, Zhejiang and many other regions, and is popular with a wide audience. From 1957 to 1965, the Nanjing Burlesque Troupe often performed along the ports in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River and in Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi and other places. The footprints of Suzhou Burlesque Troupe also cover Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Anhui, Hubei, Henan and other provinces and cities.
The formation and development of burlesque plays are inextricably linked to civilization plays (new plays) and one-legged plays. Civilization drama, also known as popular drama or dialect drama, is differentiated from "new drama" (also known as Love American drama). The characters in the civilization drama have funny lines, and together with Xiaosheng, Saddan, Po Dan, and Lao sheng, they are collectively called "four court pillars and one positive beam".
When burlesque drama was first derived from civilized drama, its performing arts and foot color were still civilized drama styles, and only the actors who were changed to big funny lines were led, and more jokes were arranged in the play. After the one-legged play merged with the civilized drama, a special theatrical performance art with rap and singing focused on making jokes was formed. In the early stage of its formation, Suzhou's burlesque drama was mainly based on dialogue, and there was very little singing insertion, and later the composition of singing in the play gradually increased. Zhang Xian'er opposed "hard funny" and advocated, "gimmick in the flesh", everything was reasonable, and everywhere was unexpected, which caused the audience to laugh. He pursues the humor of laughter and timelessness, so that the audience will laugh after watching it for many days, which is the consistent style of Suzhou burlesque.
Burlesque drama is conceived in civilized drama, and its trade division is also according to the old practice of civilized drama, there are funny, old students, small students, Dan, old Dan, and old Dan, and the main is funny. Because his performance body movements maintain the original form of life, slightly exaggerated, so in the character branch, the characters with roughly the same personality in life are grouped into one category and stereotyped, resulting in the wind and turmoil, sadness, speech, speech, insidious, riding coat funny, vest funny and so on. In addition, due to the different performance styles of some actors, the so-called cold-sided funny, dull-fashioned funny and other factions have emerged.
The "speech zhengsheng" in the old student was originally the core role in the play, so it was called the "positive beam" of "four court pillars and one positive beam". After 1930, burlesque gradually flourished, and burlesque rose to the main line, but became a "positive beam", which was directly inherited after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Funny is divided into two kinds: "horse coat" and "horse clip (A)":
The hood is comical and plays the role of the gown wearing a robe, which requires humor, humor, speaking, gimmicking, teasing, and singing.
Horse clip funny is collectively known as "small funny", acting book servants, servants, works, palm ceremonies, gongtang, juggling, etc., as well as non-robe horse coat roles, such roles require strange shapes, exaggerated movements, can sing various tunes, good at speaking various dialects. Especially in the early stage of the curtain play, it is necessary to have the ability to improvise, play a role in setting off the plot and foiling the main characters, such as Wuxian Zhixian (Xiao Suzhou) in "Qian Du Qiu Qiu Yu", teaching etiquette in the "Military Master's Mansion", Qian Du's jokes are all dependent on his foil.
After 1946, due to the performance of modern dramas and dress plays, the difference between horse coats and horse clips was broken, and some plays were played by horse clips funny. Such as the three hairs of "Sanmao Student Intentions", the three six nine of "Seventy-two Tenants" and so on.
The housekeeper dramas and characteristics of the burlesque actors are the so-called "cold-faced funny", "dumb funny", "humorous funny", "trend funny", "funny times", "child funny", "noh funny", "singing funny", "northern funny", "old funny".
Funny old students occupy an important position in the play, play a wide range of roles, require rich life, wide knowledge, good singing, humor and humor.
Funny little students play witty and straight, stupid and slippery characters. For example, Zhao Xiaomao in "Half a Pound and Eight Two", Wang Xuan in "Qian Du Qiu Qiu Yu", Wang Hu in "Wang Tiger Robs Relatives", etc., this kind of drama pays attention to exaggerated appearance and action, and is good at using various local dialects and various singing voices. Funny little students also play dolls, playing all kinds of children.
Funny Lao Dan, also known as Xu Niangdan, plays a variety of funny and ugly and spicy women, such as Xu Siniang in "Qian Du Qiu Qiu Rain", the boss lady of "Sanmao Student Intention", and the square flower of "Pearl Tower". Sometimes male actors can also reverse the string.
Funny Hua Dan plays smart, lively, exquisite and well-behaved characters, such as Ge Sangu in "Yang Naiwu and the Little Cabbage". It requires clear oral age, flexible hands and eyes, and good singing. You can also play dolls at the same time.
After the mid-1950s, burlesque drama mainly played modern drama, paying attention to the comedy structure, highlighting the character of the character, requiring actors to play various roles, and the inherent burlesque industry has broken through.
Like the drama performance, the stage movements of burlesque have no procedural norms, but some famous actors mostly have special and commonly used physical movements, so that they become an important part of their entire performance style.
The repertoire of burlesque plays can be roughly divided into five categories: the first type is developed and adapted according to the "paragraphs" of one-legged plays. Among them, "Sanmao Student Intention" and "Seventy-two Tenants", because of their profound ideology and complete artistic integrity, have become excellent traditions of burlesque to retain the repertoire and have been put on the screen. The second category is transplanted from the drama of civilization.
There are mainly "Fang Qing Sees the Girl", "Bao Gong Catches the Wind of the Hat", "Ji Gong", and so on. The third category is transplanted and adapted from dramas, operas, and film scripts in the early days of liberation. The transplanted local drama repertoire includes "Suzhou Ergong" (i.e., "Lianyin"), "Mr. Good" (i.e., "Three Family Blessings"), adapted from the drama script, such as "Happiness" and "West Looking forward to Chang'an";
Based on the drama script, there are "Little Nine Sisters" (that is, "Dragonfly Girl"),"Foolproof" (that is, "Tianluodi Net") and so on. The fourth category is a play adapted from a foreign script, such as "The Living Bodhisattva", which has been performed for one year and nine months, setting a record for the most performances since the existence of burlesque plays. The fifth category is newly created repertoire. Such as "Sample Pipe", "The Village That Never Sleeps", "Spring In the Garden", "Life Pass", "One Thousand and One Days" and so on. In September 1981, when lu xun commemorated the centenary of his birth, the burlesque "The True Biography of Ah Q" was listed as one of the key plays of the Shanghai commemorative performance. (The picture in this article is from the network, if there is infringement contact deleted)