Stills of the full version of “The Peony Pavilion” created by the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe. (Photo courtesy of Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe)
■Reporter Wang Xiaoli
Above the Golden Palace, the emperor invited out the demon mirror, and finally ruled that Du Liniang was a human being and not a demon. Everyone in the Du family was overjoyed… As the grand scene of the 55th “Yuan Jia” came to an end, the Kunqu Opera “The Peony Pavilion” presented its full version to the audience for the first time in a long time. Meet. Last night, the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe’s 55 full-length performances of the three major plays of “The Peony Pavilion” came to a successful conclusion at the Shanghai Grand Theater. The story after Du Liniang’s “return to life” restores the broader social landscape and deeper philosophical thoughts in Tang Xianzu’s pen. From the small fingertips to the battlefield, the life, ideals and life picture scroll constructed by Tang Weng slowly unfolded on the stage.
The love doesn’t know where it started, and it goes deeper and deeper. Just as Gu Haohao, director of the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe, said, the whole version of “The Peony Pavilion” embodies the dedication and love of generations of people in Shanghai to the cause of Kunqu Opera, and it is also the hope and dream of every Kunqu Opera performer. Critics in the industry pointed out that, as an annual grand event in Shanghai’s stage industry, the full version of “The Peony Pavilion” embodies the responsibility and character of the Shanghai Art Troupe. It combines inheritance and innovation while gazing deeply at traditional classics, which is a symbol of cultural confidence and self-improvement. vivid display.
Eight hours of “The Peony Pavilion” achieves the actor’s transformation
Before the last performance, “Liu Mengmei” Hu Weilu brought “Du Liniang” Luo Chenxue a bowl of “Heart-warming Chicken Soup”, “We know and love each other in the play, and we also cheer each other up outside the play.” Luo Chenxue said with a smile Reporter said. Although the two had performed the excerpt of “The Peony Pavilion” together before, they completed three performances totaling eight hours in two days. Whether it is physical strength or the shaping of the characters on stage, the two young actors of “Kun Fourth Class” Presents no small test.
“”Looking for Dreams” sang ‘the most provocative spring is this year’, and I felt the girl in my heart awakened again, embracing the throbbing and longing for love.” In the dressing room, Luo Chenxue took off her makeup while applying makeup. The performance on the stage. Although she has already been familiar with the libretto and figure in countless rehearsals, when she officially took the stage, the audience’s attention and applause still made her regain the freshness she had when she first met Du Liniang.
“The Peony Pavilion can’t be played enough, and Du Liniang can’t sing enough.” Zhang Jingxian, a famous Kunqu opera artist, often said this sentence. This time, Luo Chenxue really realized the meaning of the teacher’s words. For Guimen Dan, “The Peony Pavilion” and the role of Du Liniang are unavoidable topics. Luo Chenxue calls “Du Liniang” her “root”. From learning opera to going on stage in the future, the role has witnessed her all the way Growing up, but this time starting the whole book, Luo Chenxue felt as if she had spent her whole life with “Du Liniang”. “In the past, my understanding of Du Liniang focused on her love, but now I find that this is only a part of her life. In the resurrection After that, she needs to answer the questions that reality throws at her.”
In 1999, Shanghai Kunming rehearsed 35 “The Peony Pavilion”. Hu Weilu, who had just entered the theater school at that time, was a “little fan” in the audience. “Performance, dance, music, everything is so beautiful and shocking that you can’t take your eyes off the stage.” After watching the performance, Hu Weilu put the postcards of Yue Meiti and Cai Zhengren on the desk in the room. Dare to imagine that one day I will become the protagonist of 55 “Peony Pavilion”. Hu Weilu regards the whole performance as a process of “re-experiencing” “The Peony Pavilion”. “After the connection between the excerpts is changed, the relationship between the characters and the performance also change. The actors need to re-examine the work, just like rehearsing It’s like a new play.”
“Du Liniang is not impatient and has an excellent sense of proportion, while Liu Mengmei, played by a young girl, is elegant and free.” Rong Guangrun, a professor at the Shanghai Theater Academy, was deeply impressed by the mature performance on stage. The task has been accomplished brilliantly, and for the troupe, this is a huge achievement in talent cultivation.” While inheriting and innovating at the same time, the young “Du Liniang” and “Liu Mengmei” both lamented the importance of the whole book “The Peony Pavilion” in their artistic career The heavy weight, although there was distress and confusion, the “New World of Kunqu Opera” that opened up after that is just like the one sung in “A Tour of the Garden”: “If you don’t go to the garden, how will you know the beauty of spring.”
Looking back at history in a panoramic manner is also a tribute to history
With a new spiritual outlook, new humanistic interpretations, new expression trends, new performance methods and new stage presentations, director Guo Xiaonan expected to present a traditional yet innovative performance at the beginning of the creation of the entire “The Peony Pavilion”. “A Magnificent Dream”. How to avoid the fatigue of the audience during the eight-hour performance is the primary issue. “The three-channel performance does not seem protracted and lengthy. The director’s efforts for this can be seen.” Fang Jiajun, a literary critic, told reporters: “On the turn stage, The alternation of the three performance areas not only speeds up the rhythm of changing scenes, but also enriches the visual effects.” On the stage, performance, music, and choreography are harmoniously blended together. Fang Jiajun believes that the whole “The Peony Pavilion” shows a kind of relaxed “big beauty”.
Since the establishment of the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe more than 40 years ago, there have been more than ten revisions, enhancements and interpretations of “The Peony Pavilion”. With various versions of pearls and jades in the forefront, why does the contemporary stage need 55 full-length copies of “The Peony Pavilion” ? In Fang Jiajun’s view, the splendor of Chinese classical literature can only be felt by facing the whole picture of “The Peony Pavilion”. “The exquisite diction in the original work and the collection of Tang poems in perfect harmony reflect the profound traditional culture.”
Unbiased, unsimplified, and without losing the original context, “The Peony Pavilion” has achieved a return and reshaping of the original through another artistic interpretation. “Presenting “The Peony Pavilion” in a panoramic manner and placing it on a brand-new cultural base is a feedback, feedback, and tribute to history and culture.” Fang Jiajun said, “The reason why classics become classics is not only because A beautiful love legend, because of this, we can see the historical and cultural environment in which the classic was produced and the profound humanistic connotation in it.”
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责编：张晓荣 ]