“It used to be”, “Yaoyao Dongba”, “Blue Horse”, “Millennium Eve, Let’s Say Crosstalk”… This year, Lai Shengchuan brought too many stage surprises to the audience in Hangzhou. At the end of 2021, this old friend brought us a new expectation-he “hands in” the great Russian writer Chekov, and will bring the American Chekhov scholar Carlo Rocamora to the American Chekhov scholar next spring. “Let me hold your hand…” screenplay by Zhang was moved to the stage of drama.
Zhao Xiaosu played Chekhov and Huang Shengyi played his wife Ou Jia. In six years, they wrote together 800 letters that traveled through time and space… This time, Lai Shengchuan borrowed a letter to draw out the drama with love, waiting, and thoughts. In the last 6 years of the writer’s life, and his wife Ou Jia’s shared pursuit of drama and art beyond love.
From May 13th to 14th next year, Lai Shengchuan’s new work “Let Me Hold Your Hand…” will land at the Hangzhou Grand Theater. Currently, the show has officially opened tickets.
“Chekhov is the confidant in my soul”
As we all know, Lai Shengchuan is a creative dramatist. “I rarely adapt other people’s art works, but Chekhov is an exception.” To him, Chekhov was like a teacher and an old friend. “My creation was most influenced by Chekhov and Shakespeare. Sometimes I I feel that I have a friend in my soul who is Chekhov.”
As early as 2014, “Let Me Hold Your Hand…” was translated into Chinese by Lai Shengchuan and put on stage, starring Jiang Wenli and Sun Qiang. “This is my second stage work related to Chekhov after translating and rehearsing Chekhov’s work “The Seagull” in 1990.” This time, he hoped that the audience could see a more comprehensive and realistic one. Chekhov.
In the play, Chekhov and Ou Jia, who are separated by a few places and gather less and more, use letters to confide in each other’s inner thoughts and love. “Writing letters is itself a luxury in modern people’s lives.” Lai Shengchuan said, Chekhov was in Yalta and Oga was in Moscow, and it took several days and nights for the fastest letter to be received. “The emotional weight carried in their letters far exceeds the current WeChat, QQ, and SMS.”
Just like Chekhov’s work, “Let Me Hold Your Hand…” does not have the bizarre and tortuous story clues, nor the ups and downs of the plot. At the beginning of the play, an actor and an actress discussed the 800 letters of Chekhov and his wife Ou Jia in the rehearsal hall. They started the discussion from the “Seagull” reading meeting they knew… During the six years, they met, fell in love, met, and separated. The passionate love between the two and their selfless pursuit and dedication to theater art are presented in every sentence of the letter.
Shock comes from plainness. This is Lai Shengchuan’s understanding of Chekhov. “His materials are derived from life, the plot is simple, and the development is gentle, just like daily life. But in such a plot, the contradiction between the characters and real life and social systems arises.” In his opinion, this It is a great drama revolution in itself. “The ordinary life of ordinary characters, their destiny, love, and hatred all happen at this time, and then slowly reflect into our current real life.”
One person has many horns, so let people be born in letters and slow down
In “Let Me Hold Your Hand…”, Zhao Xiaosu and Huang Shengyi are not only the actors of Chekhov and Ou Jia, they also have more important identities-actors and actresses in the play, And third-party storytellers.
“I was self-recommended, and I took the initiative to find Director Lai, hoping to have a chance to cooperate. I didn’t expect to re-create “Let Me Hold Your Hand…” this time, and he invited me to play Ou Jia.” This is Huang Shengyi’s first time. Trying stage plays is a new exploration for her and a “return to her original heart”. “In the story of Chekhov and Ou Jia, the thing that touched me the most is that after Chekhov’s death, Ou Jia did not remarry and continued to interpret Chekhov’s works on stage. This kind of love is extremely sacred, and it’s me. Where your heart is.”
Huang Shengyi’s lines in the play are huge, and the characters have multiple identities, which are no small challenges. On the one hand, she constantly reads Chekhov’s books and works, and at the same time carries out professional training in stage plays such as sound, stage, shape, and appearance. “My screen experience can play a role in replenishment and empowerment on the stage of drama. I will seek common ground and keep small differences in the interpretation of drama, and integrate similar emotions in life into the role.”
“Chekhov is the most coquettish and cute person in Russian literary circles, and he is also the best person in Russian theater to strike up a conversation with actresses. Isn’t that what I mean?” Zhao Xiaosu appeared in front of the audience again with a funny and lively side. , Let people forget for a while his professionalism and toughness in acting. Audiences who have watched the variety show “A New Life in Drama” know that Zhao Xiaosu jumped into the river in Wuzhen with Ding Yiteng, who also sacrificed his life for the show, in the -4℃ north wind blowing weather.
In 2018, Zhao Xiaosu joined the crew of “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Spring” and was hailed by Lai Shengchuan as the strongest “director’s assistant” in history. “He showed me that no matter which role, a truly capable actor will give off a different light.” Lai Shengchuan said. When I was reviewing “Peach Blossom Spring”, I heard Zhao Xiaosu’s voice again, as if I had found what I felt in my heart. “Chekhov”.
After taking over the role, Zhao Xiaosu has been trying to enter Chekhov’s world. “I have finished reading six books about Chekhov, and there are seven books on the road. There is a book called “Chekhov’s Rose”. The cover is a portrait of Chekhov’s brother, and it stays there. In my mind.” Zhao Xiaosu said that he enjoyed the process of planting the character in his body, taking all the accumulation of hearing and seeing as nutrients, and letting the character grow up slowly.