Lai Shengchuan came to Hangzhou to share the creation experience of “It Was Like It Was Once”
Hangzhou Daily News “Images cannot be equated to the scene. Just like the two hours we spent here today, if you go back to watch the video, you can watch two hours, but the feeling is different because we are not in the same In the space.” On the evening of November 5th, at the invitation of the Hangzhou Grand Theater and Zhejiang University, Chinese dramatist Lai Shengchuan came to Hangzhou Unidirectional Space to share with the Hangzhou theater fans his work on the journey of life and environment that he has brewed for ten years. “It used to be.”
“Why are the two works of “Dream Like a Dream” and “Once Like This” are put together? I think they do have similarities. They have a long time. The performances have a special form-the lotus pond, but It’s very different. The age difference is 19 years.” Lai Shengchuan said that the lotus pond was set up to allow the theater to return to its ritual function. “Ancient drama originated from human rituals, and Greek tragedies also grew out of rituals. Does our theater still retain ritualism or just become pure entertainment? It is worth pondering.”
The lotus pond in “It Was Once” took ten days to build. At the end, there is a scene where the character “accidentally” sits down, and the “time” of the other character also stops. The audience asked, why is it designed like this? Lai Shengchuan did not respond positively: “This is something that can only be done in theaters, but it cannot be done in movies.”
From the original intention of “It Was Once”, the brewing of the story, the rehearsal and the casting of the cast to the official premiere, Lai Shengchuan described a ten-year fantasy journey. “When “It Was Once” was performed in Wuzhen, a friend of my friend wrote a poem after reading it. It probably meant: There is no audience tonight. We are all on the road. Let’s finish this thing together. I was very moved. It seems that we are trying to do one thing, which is to return drama to ritual.”
In the program “Thirteen Invitations”, Xu Zhiyuan asked why Lai Shengchuan was so productive? Lai Shengchuan said with a smile, this is probably a kind of “disease.” “Creation is a kind of illness, a kind of imaginary, and I feel that my own things are helpful to people.” At the sharing meeting, he frankly said that there are some such imaginings in the creation of “It used to be”, which wants to stimulate more people to reflect and settle. “Why watch a play? When you watch a play, do you forget it with a smile, or is it really infused into life, let us think about life, and take care of more lives?”
This evening, in addition to the play “It Was Once”, what is more worthy of careful recollection is Lai Shengchuan’s in-depth thoughts on the drama experience. He said that for many years, as a screenwriter and director, he has been thinking about how to approach the audience. “Why “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Spring” can be played for so many years, I am very curious. “Treasure Island A Village” tells stories of Taiwanese military villages. Those stories are mostly dark background, but do they have to be expressed in dark? The same is true of “It used to be”. If I have something very heavy or even difficult and obscure to pass on to you, I may not let you know. What is in this drama, you have to watch it and experience it by yourself. As for whether it is fate to see, I think the perception of each audience is different.”
In the last question and exchange session, some theater fans asked what is the driving force that encourages young creators to create and express endlessly? Lai Shengchuan said that they can get inspiration from many people. “But the last thing is your own. You must find out what you want to say to the world from your heart most sincerely.”