The large-scale historical original drama "The Great Qing Xiangguo", produced by the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, was held at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on September 5. Written by screenwriter Hong Jinghui and directed by Wang Xiaoying, vice president of the National Theatre of China, the play recreates the story of Chen Tingjing, a talented man of a generation and a famous minister of two dynasties.
In this historical drama that brings together three generations of outstanding actors from the old, middle and young generations, Tian Rui, a young actor from the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, plays Chen Tingjing; Ding Meiting plays Chen Tingjing's sweetheart, Hesheli Yueyuan; and Xu Shengnan plays Zhang Fan, who went to the examination with Chen Tingjing to become an official.
At the beginning of the performance, the Kangxi Emperor slowly walked to the front of the curtain, "The Great Qing Dynasty has not had the position of Xiangguo since the founding of the country, and the title of Xiangguo of the Great Qing dynasty has only been given to Chen Tingjing." On the stage, the mottled Forbidden City Wall read the words "Great Qing Xiangguo", and then the curtain slowly rose, the time went back to the fifteenth year of Shunzhi, opening up science and taking scholars, and recruiting talents. Chen Tingjing, Zhang Feng, and Zheng Heng, who are still sons, walked to the front of the stage, and when they talked about what is the ambition of Honghu? Each of the three replied, "Establish a heart for heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the people, continue to learn from the saints, and open up peace for all the worlds." The story of Chen Tingjing, the Xiangguo of the Qing Dynasty, began.
On September 5, The Paper interviewed Yang Shaolin, general manager of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, director Wang Xiaoying, and screenwriter Hong Jinghui.
Yang Shaolin, general manager of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, said: "This time to come to the party school to perform is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and an important aspect of our current transformation is spiritual reconstruction, and drama should also become an important force for promoting social progress." Four years ago, among the twenty books recommended on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection was "The Great Qing Xiangguo", which we noticed and eventually presented on the stage. ”
"Drama is not just about telling stories, it's about digging into humanity through desire and spirit. Drama has an irreplaceable role, that is, to breathe with the times and share the fate with the motherland. Good interaction with modern culture is the main mission of drama. Through the drama, the audience has a deeper understanding of the relationship between people and society, and has a resonance with how people adhere to their spiritual homeland in the era of material desires, which is the most important. Yang Shaolin said.
Screenwriter Hong Jinghui: What I want to write about is the realization of the value of an intellectual
Screenwriter Hong Jinghui said that the transformation from the huge volume of the novel to the short stage drama, and how to be loved by young audiences is her first consideration. "The novel of "Great Qing Xiangguo" is very large and there are many characters, but the total performance time on the stage is three hours, so a transformation of literary works to the stage is the first thing to consider. The second is what I ask myself: I want this play to be loved by young audiences, so I will pay more attention to small climaxes in the narrative angle and story layout, so that the audience can empathize with the characters in the play within ten minutes of the opening ten minutes. ”
Hong Jinghui said that she wanted to write about Chen Tingjing's original intention and ideals and loneliness and helplessness, so she tried to dialogue with the protagonist's soul through the script. She needs to write about Chen Tingjing's ruthless suffering while writing about his sentientity. In the script, she designed three scenes for Chen Tingjing and her sweetheart Yueyuan to take the vow of commitment, the oath of resignation, and the oath of farewell, and at the same time designed three bows with different meanings.
In addition to anti-corruption, I want to write about the value realization of an intellectual, the pursuit of an idealist's self-consciousness. Therefore, in addition to writing About Chen Tingjing, through contrast, I want to write that anti-corruption is a ruthless thing, then I write that he is a sentient person; I want to write that he as an intellectual adheres to ideals, then I have to write how the rest of the people are alienated. Character shaping is strong when encountering strength, weak is weak, we must write Chen Tingjing well, and we must also write the rest of the characters well. Hong Jinghui said.
The script of "The Great Qing Xiangguo", written by screenwriter Hong Jinghui for three years, said that in terms of language, she pursues a sense of rhythm: "You will feel that some chapters are also very good to read, and you can feel a kind of poetry through the presentation of the actors." In addition, on the basis of the original work, the screenwriter has also added and modified, through the scientific expedition corruption case, the Shandong people's voluntary donation of grain, the Yangqu people's donation to build a longting case, the copper money shortage money law case, the Yunnan Treasury silver deficit case and other series of cases as the background, to show Chen Tingjing's story.
"The difficulty of writing 'The Great Qing Xiangguo' is no less difficult for me than making a TV series. It turned out that I had seen Chen Daoming's "Kangxi Dynasty" and had a certain intuitive feeling for Chen Tingjing. And in addition to the stories provided by the novel, the creation of historical dramas needs to be done with big things and small things. Hong Jinghui said.
Director Wang Xiaoying: Chen Tingjing is very different from traditional literati
Wang Xiaoying said: "The play "The Great Qing Xiangguo" is actually composed of a group of characters and its opposites, including the people he loves. The emotional relationship between these people, the confrontation between these people, and the changes and contrasts between these people have jointly shaped the character of Chen Tingjing. In this process, the impact and hurt in his heart, whether it is for his friends or lovers, including the irreparable shortcomings left behind, are also unknown to outsiders. Through the expression of stage art, it can just allow the audience sitting under the stage to truly feel the emotional process he really experienced in his heart. ”
"The character of Chen Tingjing is different from that of traditional Chinese people. The fate of the cultural people in the official arena was unambitious, and then they began to write poetry and became famous poets and literary heroes. Chen Tingjing himself is a cultural person, and he has the ability to do it as an official, although there are some ups and downs in the middle, but he still dies well in the official field, and even in the end he goes to compile the Kangxi Dictionary, which is also the reward of his success in the official field. Wang Xiaoying said.
"'The Great Qing Xiangguo' is not just about anti-corruption, not about how Chen Tingjingjin is punishing corruption and how he is solving cases. In fact, the focus is on the changes in Chen Tingjing and his classmates and friends, and from the different fates of each person, you can see how valuable it is to maintain your original intention and preserve your own nature as a cultural person. As Chen Tingjing said at the end: I can tell you that maybe I will be discouraged, maybe I will be depressed, maybe I can only live at home for the rest of my life, but I was not greedy, if I am powerless to get rid of the thief in the mountain, I must try my best to get rid of the thief in my heart. Wang Xiaoying said.
Wang Xiaoying believes that the background of the times, historical events, and the fate of the characters in the creation of historical theme works all need to return to historical reality; although the story arrangement and details are fictional, the thinking perspective on history must be contemporary. And this kind of contemporary thinking cannot be rigidly added to the stage interpretation, but gradually penetrates through the portrayal of characters. In order to make Chen Tingjing, a "good official", stand up, Chen Tingjing in the original novel is not a "saint" image in the air, but an image of a capable minister who is in a specific and complex historical situation and makes a difficult choice of personality, morality, and behavior, which has realistic reference.
Wang Xiaoying said that from the director's point of view, the main thing that has been worked hard is the final fate collision between the classmates, emphasizing not the punishment of corrupt people, but whether it is anti-corruption or punished people, he has a huge pain in his heart, his regrets and regrets, and the deep pain after his original intention is hurt. So when we dealt with Zheng Heng's death on stage, we made the kind of imagery that floated down from the sky, like paper money and like snow in the sky.