"Who's in the Center of the Stage": Fang Zichun, the curtain puller of Beijing Renyi, has been stunning on the beach
"A vegetable spirit" Fang Zichun has repeatedly mentioned this purpose of human art proposed by Jiao Juyin: "Beijing Renyi is a vegetable, with vegetable hearts, vegetable leaves, and vegetable gangs, and everyone is playing their own role." Maybe it wasn't someone else standing in the center of the stage, it was something he made. But this thing represents his spirit and talent. "Who is Uncle Zhang?" Even a hardcore fan, filtering the names of the directors and actors of the Beijing People's Art Theater in their minds, can't remember him.
However, he is indeed a character, and he is a "treasure of the town house" located in the compound of the Renyi Dormitory at No. 56 Shijia Hutong in Beijing. Uncle Zhang is the janitor of the dormitory communication room, and the big things and small things such as sending and receiving newspapers and letters, taking milk, fire prevention and theft, and idle people entering and leaving the dormitory are all under his control. His tall stature and not handsome face often provoke children's games with nervous and excited expressions.
Fang Zichun wrote in his new book, Who's in the Center of the Stage: The Things about Those Horns in Human Art: "'Lao Zhang, Lao Zhang, Lao Zhang's daughter-in-law will shoot; gun to gun, rod to pole, no more than sixteen points. 'This is a children's song that children in the courtyard of the Beijing Renyi Dormitory must sing in the early years." This children's song Fang Zichun also sang when he was a child. Growing up as the dean of the Renyi dormitory, famous directors like Jiao Juyin and Ouyang Shanzun, and stars such as Zhu Lin and Lan Tianye are the uncles and aunts who live around her. Same chai rice oil and salt, the same parents in the short.
On a cold morning in the autumn of 1941, the young master Song Yan, who was in charge of the three major medicine shops in Guiyang City, left home to join the anti-enemy drama team. Yin and yang, become a lighting engineer. In the early 1950s, when his skills were so stretched that there were not enough lamps and lanterns, he had no choice but to do it himself. Sometimes even the lamps of street "iron pot" craftsmen have to be used. Song Yao, who is now nearly ninety years old, is a little forgetful. But every five o'clock in the afternoon, he would rush to eat, because as long as there was a performance in the past few decades, he would definitely rush to the backstage before six o'clock to manage the lights.
Ding Li went to the Liberated Areas at his prosperous age and became an excellent prop master. He once "cleverly got it", drawing "stockings" on the thighs of actor Jin Yaqin, and also made dumplings with white cloth and paper filling. "Not only do you want to do it, but you also have to save money and make the best thing with the simplest materials." There are also stage artist Wang Wenchong, sound effects artist Feng Qin, Capital Theatre manager Yang Qing, and even ordinary installation workers, all of whom have left their mark on Fang Zichun's book.
The book tells such a story: Du Guangpei, the director of the installation team, pulled the curtain. His kung fu of pulling the curtain shocked Shanghai Beach in the 1960s. Why? At that time, the drama "Cai Wenji" created by Guo Moruo, directed by Jiao Juyin and starring Zhu Lin was performed in Shanghai. Zhu Lin recalled: "At the end of the scene, Cai Wenji was full of misses about her hometown. This requires the cooperation of various art disciplines on the stage. Du Guangpei did a very good job. I walked forward from the depths of the stage, the curtain slowly followed, and finally the 'whoosh' closed. No one had done this before, and Shanghai was shocked! ”
Fang Zichun is not an actor in renyi, and when it comes to Fang Zige, everyone still has the impression that it is her brother, who has lived in the renyi dormitory since she was a child, and fortunately learned some basic acting skills with her uncles and aunts, so she can walk into their homes after decades to interview one by one. "I didn't write this book for nostalgia, but the spirit of human art should be passed on. I just want everyone to know how that generation came to be, what is 'innocent behavior, down-to-earth acting'. ”