The 17th Chinese Drama Festival is being held in Wuhan
Wuhan Peking Opera House Peking Opera "Mother"
Wuhan Chu Theater Chu Opera "Xiang Police"
Wuhan People's Art Theater Drama "Retrograde"
Three major plays participated in the exhibition
The three works have different types of dramas and different themes
All are written by the famous playwright Zhao Ruitai
In the 33-year history of Chinese theater festivals
This is the first time that three works by a screenwriter have been exhibited at the same time
Famous playwright Zhao Ruitai. Photo by reporter Xu Weiwei
Growing up on the stage of the people's paradise, he has only engaged in drama in his life, and has dug a well of revolutionary historical themes for half a lifetime, adhering to the concept of staring at people to write and create for people, Zhao Ruitai, who is still in his eighties, has ushered in another explosive period in his creative career.
"Drama Pier" nourishes a lifetime of "drama idiots"//
"I was nourished by the 'play docks.'" In the studio of the Wuhan Art Creation Research Center, Zhao Ruitai's memory returns to his youth, "When I was a teenager, my family lived in Jiqingli, Hankou, and not far away was the people's paradise, where Peking Opera, Han Opera, Chu Opera, Acrobatics... There are all kinds of dramas. "In his spare time, Zhao Ruitai soaked in the people's paradise to watch plays and watch everything." My favorite is still the drama, watching "Thunderstorm" is about to go crazy, the Grand Gong Repertory Theatre is staged on the stage, and I will hold Cao Yu's script and look at it below. ”
When he graduated from high school, Zhao Ruitai, who had excellent grades, did not even receive a graduation certificate and applied for the Wuhan Drama Theatre without his family. "I wasn't that tall at the time, so I took a poem I wrote and went to the interview." At the age of 18, he began the road of "dream hunting" in drama.comprehension. In 1960, he enlisted in the army, formed a performance team of 7 "Wuhan soldiers", wrote and directed himself, and temporarily erected a few paving boards on the border between China and Vietnam to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Guangzhou.
"A person's dreams in infancy, in childhood, can have great power." When he was a child, he squatted under the stage to watch Xia Chrysanthemum's Wuhan acrobatics, and later Zhao Ruitai wrote "The Legend of Xia Chrysanthemum"; he watched all major dramas in the people's paradise, and his creations also covered various art disciplines such as film and television dramas, Peking opera, Chu opera, and drama. "Many people say that these three plays are a small climax of my creation, and from the root, I still have to thank Wuhan for this 'drama dock'."
Now that he is nearly eighty years old, Zhao Ruitai is still working tirelessly, almost all year round. When he was creating, he locked himself in a room, and sometimes he couldn't untie a knot, so he thought all night. "I can now say that I have not done anything else in my life, it is all about creating."
A well with revolutionary historical themes, dug deep for 40 years //
Stills from the Peking opera "Mother". Image source: Wuhan Peking Opera House
The Peking opera "Mother" and the Chu opera "Xiang Police" have different types and different contents, but they both come from the same well that Zhao Ruitai has dug deeply for more than 40 years. In 1978, Zhao Ruitai's drama "Xiang Jingyu" was premiered by the Wuhan Drama Theatre, and he and Cai Hesen, Xiang Jingyu's children Cai Bo and Cai Ni also began to know and know each other. In June 1984, Cai Bolaihan and Zhao Ruitai had a long conversation all night, "You should write about my grandmother." Since then, this small-footed old lady who was inscribed by Chairman Mao as "Old Woman, Bride Dao; Son Heroic Martyr, Heroine" also "broke into" Zhao Ruitai's life.
Over the past few decades, Zhao Ruitai has traveled to the mountains of Hunan several times to visit Ge Jianhao's cemetery; to visit historical witnesses related to this family, to read tens of millions of words of historical materials; and has successively created many works such as the TV series "Xiang Jianyu", the drama "Mother", and the long-form documentary literature "Ge Jianhao and Her Children".
The scene of the performance of the Chu opera "Xiang Police". (Yangtze River Daily data map) reporter Xu Weiwei photo
"For more than 40 years, they were not my subjects, they were already a family." In 2012, Cai Ni told Zhao Ruitai, "I miss my mother and want to go to Turtle Mountain to see." Without waiting for her to come, Zhao Ruitai waited for the news that Cai Ni was injured and hospitalized in Shanghai, and after rushing to Shanghai, Cai Ni on the sickbed held Zhao Ruitai's hand and burst into tears: "You have worked hard for decades, and spent so much energy for our family." Cai Ni's husband Hong Ge said: "Our family represents many people in that era, and you are actually writing that history." "Not long after, Cai Ni died, and Zhao Ruitai and his whole family went to the tomb of Xiang Jianyu to present flowers to his mother on behalf of his daughter." People's energy is limited, and if they can do one thing well and dig a well, they will live up to life. ”
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People write, people act, people watch
Created for the people of this era
At the expert review meeting of the drama "Retrograde", Liu Ping, a researcher at the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, praised that the success of this play lies in writing a sense of reality and shaping the persistence and spirit of each little character.
Stills from the play "Retrograde". Image source: Wuhan People's Art Theatre
"Writing people" is exactly the pursuit of Zhao Ruitai's creation, in his work table, "Xiang Jingyu", "Zhang Zhidong", "Wang Hebo" and so on simply use the name of the person as the title. "Looking back at Chinese drama, you will find that all that remains are characters. There are a lot of works, you may not be able to tell the whole story, but the characters will be engraved in the heart. "With the character as the main line and the character relationship to promote the formation of contradictions, a play is half successful."
After experiencing the era when people lined up for a few streets to watch the drama, all the way to the moment when watching the drama and watching the drama became a "minority", Zhao Ruitai felt: "Everyone has more choices for cultural entertainment, which is a good thing. But the weight of the audience in his heart has never diminished. In the process of creation, he often does "useless work", "after writing a play, think that the audience will not like it, and resolutely delete it". He always remembers: "A stage has three walls, the sides and the back are facing him, but don't forget that there are so many spectators in front of you watching, that is the most important wall." ”
In the creation of the main theme theme, people are still one of the parts he attaches the most importance to. "Drama actually moves the big society to a small stage and refracts the times with a small stage", "We can't leave the times in our creation, we must hear the voice of the times from it, and we must also remember that no matter what the subject matter, it is for the people of the present era." Drama is written by people, performed by people, watched by people, and created for people. ”
Produced by Yangtze River Daily Editor: Reporter Wan Xuming Editor: Wang Rongfei Proofreader: Yu Wenting