“Xiongguan Mandao” stills
On the evening of July 15th, the large-scale panoramic epic drama “Xiongguan Mandao” was performed wonderfully at the Guizhou International Convention Center. During the nearly three-hour performance, the actors used solid stage performance to vividly interpret the shocking Long March story , Presenting the turbulent revolutionary history 87 years ago on the stage, the opera artists and critics from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Guizhou were deeply shocked by the performance that night.
At 11 o’clock in the evening after the performance, experts and scholars from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Guizhou critics, the main creator of the drama “Xiongguan Mandao”, and relevant persons in charge of the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism held a seminar to discuss the performance of the work and its artistic value. Experts and scholars from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism conducted closed-door comments on the play as a project of “Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China”. They believe that the play “Xiongguan Mandao” is a historical drama with a grand pattern and a panoramic view. After the magnificent story of the Long March, it passed the acceptance of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s “The Stage Art Creation Project to Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China”.
The drama “Xiongguan Mandao” takes “the fiasco of the Xiangjiang River, crosses the old mountain boundary, channel transfers, Liping meeting, forced crossing of the Wujiang natural dangers, advancing to Zunyi city, and convening the Zunyi meeting” as the main narrative clues, telling the story of the Red Army in the situation of being surrounded and intercepted by powerful enemies. Where is the road from the confusion, confusion, anxiety, and pain, to the point of climbing up in a pool of blood, firm belief, and indomitable. The play was jointly created by Guizhou Provincial Repertory Troupe and Zhejiang Repertory Troupe. In 2019, the Zhejiang Repertory Troupe version of “Xiongguan Mandao” was staged. Affected by the epidemic, the Guizhou Provincial Repertory Troupe version of “Xiongguan Mandao” that was originally staged in 2020 has been delayed.
As the director of the play, Gong Xiaodong has directed the dramas “The Silent Loud”, “China’s 1949”, “Mao Zedong’s Imagination in Xibaipo”, “Who Controls the Ups and Downs”, “This Heart Is Bright” and the TV series “The Passion Burning Years” ” Works such as Da Song mentioning criminals”, “Lin Haixueyuan” and so on.
“Xiongguan Mandao” is mainly narrative, allowing the soul to come back to life. If there is no script basis, there is no such way of presentation on the stage.” Gong Xiaodong introduced that the play is based on the first-level screenwriters Li Baoqun and Wang Hong, Zongzheng Xiao Li, the former director of the TV Drama Department of the Repertory Theatre, was based on the creation of three heavyweight screenwriters. In order to better present the Red Army’s firm beliefs and the realization of revolutionary ideals, the play broke the usual dialogue structure of lines and adopted a narrative form. The protagonist’s perspective tells their time situation, the confusion of their future, and tells the audience their inner entanglement and yearning for the future.
Liu Yanjun, an expert from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and former director and researcher of the Drama Research Institute of China Academy of Art, expressed his love for the play. She commented that the space design and layout of the show are very orderly, especially the use of springboards throughout the show makes people feel that it is a mountain, time is water, and time is a ship. The formation of the whole show is neat and concise. The stage scheduling was a big deal, and more than 50 actors performed on the same stage without making the audience feel confused. This showed the director’s skill, and the director used his own strengths to the fullest. The drama “Xiongguan Mandao” shows the grand pattern and atmosphere, and is a distinctive and creative drama.
Zhang Xian, an expert in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the former director and professor of the Department of Drama and Literature of the Central Academy of Drama, believes that the drama “Xiongguan Mandao” is very good from director to stage art to actors, because it is a panoramic repertoire of historical facts, and the show allows the audience to see the actors. We are fully engaged in the wonderful performance of the role. He said that from the whole play, it is not difficult to see that the director has a very deep historical sentiment. On the stage, the director tried to use the concept of a new drama to present it, and the expression technique was very in place.
Luo Yunqi, former secretary of the Party Committee of the Department of Culture of Guizhou Province and chairman of the Guizhou Provincial Local Opera Art Research Association, said that the play focuses on the detailed description of the roles of ordinary soldiers, ordinary people, porters, etc., and strives to reflect the grand narrative from the small, whether it is deep lyrical. It is still intense historical speculation, showing exciting shining points.
“The big scene is very shocking, the stage scheduling action design is very strong, the actor’s performance is relaxed and explosive, and it is very contagious when passed to the stage, allowing the audience to watch a good show.” The former director of the Art Department of “People’s Daily” Senior editor Liu Yuqin commented that the value of this play is that it condenses a special history in the performance of more than two hours, which shows that the Chinese Communist Party has gone through a series of important historical events from the confusion of the defeat of the anti-encirclement and suppression campaign. Gradually from firm to strong.
Liu Yuqin believes that the logic of the play is clear, and it is not the same as the stage presentation of previous dramas. The stage is full of grand historical narratives, and people all over the stage are narrating themselves, resurrected narratives of revolutionary martyrs, and many poetic recitations. This breakthrough from the conventional is familiar and unfamiliar, including the creative staff. Thinking about creation.
Chen Songying, former deputy director of Guizhou People’s Broadcasting Station and commentator of the Propaganda Department of Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, said that Director Gong Xiaodong is a passionate person. He uses a passionate drama to make contributions through high-density lines and stage A shocking and soul-stirring performance, full of positive energy and full-course theme, gave the audience an art party class that was baptized by thought.
Chen Songying believes that as a gift to the celebration of the centenary of the founding of the party, it must be a true and concrete display of major events and important figures in the past, so that the selection of materials must be strict, the excavation must be deep, the expression must be new, and the presentation must be true. The story not only depicts great revolutionary figures such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, but also embodies the relationship between the Communist Party and the people through small figures. It vividly presents the great idea of ”the country is the people, and the people are the country”, standing at the historical node of the party’s centuries. Above, the drama “Xiongguan Mandao” has extremely valuable artistic and ideological value. (Zhao Xiangkang, reporter of Tianyan News of Guizhou Daily)