From the Cantonese version of the Hong Kong Repertory Theater to the Mandarin version of the play Nine
The drama “Principles” shows the power of thinking
Beijing Daily reporter Wang Run
The front hall of the National Theater of China was crowded with people, and even before the show started, the “mobile library” outside the theater and the different “school visit instructions” recorded by various characters in the theater had already brought the audience into the plot; The free program catalog carefully produced as the “Zhiheng Middle School Admission Guide” is full of details, giving theater fans various surprises. When the lights dimmed, a debate over a new school rule, five people with different opinions, and eleven lively debates made everyone on and off the stage fall into deep thinking.
Stills from the Mandarin version of “Principle”. Photo by Beijing Daily reporter Fang Fei
From May 10th to 19th, the Mandarin version of the play “Principles”, authorized by the Hong Kong Repertory Theater and produced by nine drama actors, written by Guo Yongkang and directed by Zhu Hongxuan, ushered in its first performance at the Mandarin Theater. In the past, every work performed by the nine dramatists would arouse overwhelming responses from the audience. The strong speculative nature of “The Principle”, a “campus fable”, has aroused endless heated discussions.
Good script leads to cooperation between two places in adaptation
The creation of the play “Principles” originated from a student assignment with the theme of “The Conflict between Legal Principles and Human Relations” when the Hong Kong Repertory Theater screenwriter Kwok Wing-kang was studying at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. There have been many debates in the history of thought about such an enduring problem, but how to implement abstract conceptual disputes onto the dramatic stage? Guo Yongkang chose to return to the middle school campus and started with the promulgation of a new school rule. This is a past event that he personally experienced when he was a boy. Many years later, as a creator, he put this old campus event on the stage. The new principal arrived with the mission of “improving the school’s performance.” However, due to his “principles first, human feelings second” style of dealing with things, he was frequently hindered in implementing the new school rule of “wearing sportswear when playing on the playground.” The vice-principal who changes everything in style, the dean who responds to injustice, and the young and ignorant students. The “principles” of each of them are gradually revealed with the twists and turns of the story, making this ideological meeting on campus a self-exploration.
As soon as the play was released, it attracted strong attention and received high praise. It won many awards such as Best Screenplay at the Hong Kong Drama Awards and Best Screenplay of the Year at the Shanghai Jing’an Modern Drama Valley One Drama Awards. The Hong Kong Repertory Theater also held an online live screening of “Principles”, and Zhu Hongxuan, the director of the nine-member drama, became one of the countless viewers of the play.
Zhu Hongxuan believes that the most impressive thing about “Principles” is “truth”: “‘True’ does not mean that it needs to correspond to a year in real life or a place to be restored. The sincerity and complexity that always exist in human nature transcend specific situations. Time and space.” This eternal pursuit of “truth” also made Guo Yongkang and Zhu Hongxuan become “pen pals”. After sincere communication with each other, the nine dramatists were authorized by the Hong Kong Repertory Theater. Zhu Hongxuan personally served as the director of the Mandarin version of “Principles”, bringing this work to the mainland stage with a new look and cast. For Zhu Hongxuan, who has always directed his own screenplays in the past, he chose “Principle” because “the script is solid, full of speculation and discussion of the ‘goodness’ in human nature. It is a good script with social care and construction significance. ”
From the Cantonese version to the Mandarin version, “Principles” has gained new vitality. Guo Yongkang was deeply moved by this: “The value of a screenwriter lies in whether he can find a close friend for his work. This is the most important thing.” Zhu Hongxuan also felt a strong resonance from this work: “The core of the past works of the nine drama writers, I actually I have never known how to sum it up. Now I found a sentence from “Principles”, “Choose the right and be stubborn.”
The cast brings a new chemical reaction
After the Mandarin version of “Principle” went on sale, tickets for the nine performances were quickly sold out, and tickets for the additional performance were still hard to come by. With the current box office appeal of the play Nine, it is completely possible to produce a large theater play that can accommodate more audiences, but Zhu Hongxuan still chose to perform “Principle” in a small theater. She said, “The original version of this work is a small theater play, with a minimalist stage but delicate expressions. I like it very much and hope to maintain the closeness of the small theater in terms of communication, interaction and viewing experience.” Zhu Hongxuan hopes that the whole The performance brings the feeling to the audience, as if everyone is sitting together on campus or on the court, breathing together and feeling each other.
Regarding the script, Zhu Hongxuan made minor modifications and adjustments after full communication with the screenwriter, replacing some lines with local characteristics in the Cantonese environment with content more suitable for mainland performances, while retaining its humorous color. Zhu Hongxuan also carefully selected 7 outstanding actors for “Principle”. Each actor wrote a “biography” of thousands or even tens of thousands of words for the role, and recorded a “rehearsal diary” in the rehearsal hall every day, fully immersed in it. creation.
Everyone in the play is real and multi-faceted: Principal Yang, played by Ren Yijie, may seem inhumane, but there is also a painful history behind sticking to the principles; the students have flamboyant personalities, but they can’t help but shed tears when Vice Principal Chen leaves. . It is worth mentioning that in the Cantonese version of “Principle”, the two roles of Fu Mingzhen and Liang Jiawen are played by two actors, one female and one male respectively, while the Mandarin version of “Principle” uses a more diverse combination – Ren Zhenhui and Luo Qi Four actors, Yue, Xu Wenxin and Wen Ziqi, play Fu Mingzhen and Liang Jiawen in different scenes. Their genders and roles are interchangeable, and each combination brings a new chemical reaction. In this regard, Zhu Hongxuan believes: “Human beings are rich, and I don’t want them to be restricted to a single gender portrayal.”
There is no standard answer to trigger multi-dimensional thinking
The most touching thing about the “Principles” is that it does not give a so-called answer. After the fierce confrontation of opinions, introspection and questions about education, growth, and choices in difficult situations not only exist between teachers and students in the play, but also inspire multi-dimensional thinking in the audience. The power of speculation leaps like a badminton in the wind, flying out of the stage and out of the story, becoming a lingering sound to the audience.
“As a middle school teacher, I was very touched by the conflict between different educational concepts shown in “Principles.”” After the performance, a teacher audience member shared his feelings. Viewer Jian Wei also said that as a mother, this story moved and inspired her greatly. “Children will eventually grow up. Teaching them how to make choices and how to be responsible for themselves is the shared responsibility of schools and parents.”
Song Baozhen, director of the Drama Research Institute of the China Academy of Arts, believes that “Principles” guides the audience to look at problems from different angles and viewpoints, making the critical thinking more deeply rooted in people’s hearts. “Especially Principal Yang, she performed the part where intellectual women are more rational than emotional. It is very rare to maintain a stable temperament in any situation.” Yang Qianwu, director of the New Literary Organization Working Committee of the Beijing Dramatists Association, commented: “”Principle” is a great play, and its conflict is not a simple conflict between good and evil, but a conflict between good and evil. It is a true inward and deep excavation. It can be said to be a campus fable that transcends reality. It will make the audience care about some issues that are deeper than reality, and some issues that may require young people to think about.”