Original title: Let the world feel the charm of Chinese drama
Since the birth of Chinese drama, it has maintained a cultural correspondence with the world‘s drama thoughts. Chinese dramatists have introduced dramas from the West, carried out creative transformations, and achieved innovative development.
Show the Chinese legend in the form of drama
Through the veil of stage art, the Chinese people’s cultural ambitions and national sentiments were displayed internationally at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1907, Chinese student Li Shu and others in Japan performed in Tokyo, Japan, the drama “Chun Ji” based on “La Traviata” and the drama “Black Slave Calling the Sky” based on the novel of the same name, which can be regarded as the history of Chinese drama. beginning.
In 1921, Chinese students studying in the United States and drama lovers Zhang Pengchun, Hong Shen and others adapted the classical poem “Mulan Ci” into a stage play “Mulan Joins the Army”, which was performed in New York and Washington for 8 consecutive shows, and the audience responded enthusiastically. Although the play maintains the character style of traditional Chinese opera, the actors will also step with the gongs and drums. However, due to the use of spoken English instead of traditional Chinese singing, it can also be regarded as an overseas performance of Chinese opera.
Foreigners admire Chinese opera. At first, because of novelty, they regarded it as a magical technique of the far east. When they watched Chinese dramas, their sense of difference and surprise was greatly reduced. As a result, watching Chinese dramas by foreigners can arouse their interest in watching, and have more space for dialogue and opportunities for exchanges. The huge success of the play “Tea House” in the West shows this truth.
From September to November 1980, the drama “Tea House” by the Beijing People’s Art Theater was invited to perform 25 performances in 15 cities in Germany, France, and Switzerland. Before going to Germany to perform, the playwright Cao Yu and the leading actor were quite worried, because in addition to the slightly changed setting and basic theatrical actions of “Tea House”, the dramatic effects are almost all reflected in the image and in the lines. How can foreigners understand the enthusiasm and sadness of the old shopkeeper of Chinese teahouses? How can they understand the life background of the “three acts and three eras”? With such doubts, the crew of “Tea House” went to Europe for a long journey. After the first performance, the curtain slowly closed, and the theater was silent. The actors in the backstage are tense. Could it be that the acting failed? Their immediate anxiety was quickly dissipated by thunderous applause-the best drama, the audience can not immediately jump out of the situation, wait until they are relieved, then can they release their heartfelt cheers and passion in their chests! Westerners not only understood the “Teahouse”, but also understood the loneliness and misery of the people in the play. They understood the rationality of the Chinese revolution in Wang Lifa’s life situation of “improving and reforming, getting colder”, desperate, and committing suicide. And inevitability. They felt the performance skills and artistic tacit understanding of Chinese actors, and “Tea House” was therefore hailed by Westerners as “a miracle on the Eastern stage.”
To enhance understanding and mutual trust with Chinese voice
Culture is the soul of a country and nation. Cultural self-confidence is a more basic, broader, and deeper self-confidence, a more basic, deeper, and more lasting force. It is one of the important missions of contemporary Chinese culture to let Chinese drama go out and pass on the friendship, blessings and goodwill of the Chinese people to the people of the world.
Cooperation and exchanges always go hand in hand, and “please come in” and “go out” complement each other. Just take the Beijing People’s Art Theatre as an example, it has invited many world-class directors to China for artistic exchanges and cooperation, and produced many outstanding drama results: In 1981, British director Toby Robertson came to China to direct Shakespeare’s play “Invite the Lord”. In 1983, American director Arthur Miller directed “Death of a Salesman”, in 1988 American director Charlton Heston directed “Mutition”, and in 1991 Russian director Oleg Yevremov directed “Seagull”, in 2013 Russian director Petrov directed “Six People in the Play Looking for a Playwright”… In 2019, Polish director Christian Lupa rehearsed “Couldn’t Alcoholics” for Chinese actors. In 2021, he again Directed “A Madman’s Diary” adapted from Lu Xun’s novel…
At the same time, the overseas influence of Chinese dramas has gradually increased, and Cao Yu’s plays have been translated into multiple languages and performed many times in Britain, France, the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries. At the Chekhov Theater Festival in Russia, the Avignon Theater Festival in France, the Edinburgh Theater Festival in the UK, the Berlin Theater Festival in Germany, and the European Children’s Theater Festival in Spain, the glorious images of Chinese dramas and children’s dramas have gradually appeared. Take children’s drama as an example. In 2018, “Three Monks” won a special nomination award at the 25th Subotica International Children’s Theatre Festival in Serbia, and “Snipe·Clam·Fish” at the 14th Bucharest International Festival in Romania Won the Best Stage Art Award at the Animation Theater Festival, and in 2019, “Mu You Cun” won the Best Contemporary Drama Screenplay Award at the 15th Bucharest International Animation Theater Festival…
French dramatist Younescu said that drama is the essential need of mankind. Drama art with a long history and a wide audience is undoubtedly an important carrier of human soul and spiritual communication. The Romans could conquer Greece, but they could not hide the charm of Greek mythology and drama. To this day, ancient Greek tragedies are still being staged all over the world, and its artistic vitality continues.
China is a country with a long history, rich culture and excellent arts, and a profound cultural heritage of drama. In recent years, Chinese and foreign drama exchanges have become more frequent, cross-cultural cooperation has gradually increased, and overseas performances have been enriched. More and more foreign audiences have resonated with the people in the drama through watching dramas, thus deepening their understanding of Chinese culture and Chinese society. Understanding has shortened the spiritual distance between each other.
Engrave the memory of civilization with artistic charm
Civilized exchanges and mutual learning should be established on the basis of equal dialogue and silent moisturizing. Only because of equality can communication be achieved; because of goodwill, communication can be sincere. Nourished by the excellent Chinese traditional culture, Chinese dramas adhere to the creative ideas that draw lessons from history and an open and inclusive communication attitude. They have a steady stream of artistic vitality and can play a greater role in presenting the true and three-dimensional charm of China and the essence of Chinese civilization to overseas audiences. effect.
In 2011, the drama “A Dream of Yellow Beams” by the young Chinese director Huang Ying was performed in a row at the Avignon Theatre Festival for 24 times. It is about the scholar Lu’s encounter with the Taoist Lu Weng at the hotel. Lu Weng gave him a magic pillow and made him dream of a spring and autumn. In the dream, he spent his life of being promoted, promoted, getting rich, and enjoying the spring breeze. When he woke up, the millet cooked by the owner was not yet cooked. The play absorbs the freehand methods of traditional opera, looking for Chinese-style physical expression with opera characteristics. The simple setting, Chinese opera-style costumes, the heat of cooking on the stage, and the Tang Dynasty legends narrated by the narrator are full of philosophical significance. The French audience said that they understood this Chinese story. It was thinking about the speed and slowness of modern life. People often care about the future and ignore the present. In the following 10 years, “A Dream of Yellow Beams” was staged in five countries in Europe and Asia for nearly a hundred shows.
During the 2012 London Olympics, the United Kingdom regarded Shakespeare’s plays as a hotspot for cultural transmission. It invited 37 famous directors from all over the world to rehearse a Shakespeare play for a performance, forming the “Cultural Olympia”. Wang Xiaoying, director of the National Theater of China, led Chinese actors to participate in the show in the rehearsal of “Richard III”. Under the premise of maintaining the structural framework and aesthetic style of the original drama, Wang Xiaoying carried out a Chinese interpretation and interpretation of the original drama, adding a large number of Chinese cultural elements to the performance, such as opera, Hanfu, calligraphy, gongs and drums, and Sanxingdui totem, etc. The cross-cultural docking and organic integration of classic texts and Chinese aesthetics has conquered foreign audiences with its concise, vivid, and expressive artistic charm, and has won wide acclaim.
The performances of these Chinese dramas abroad have continued the excellent Chinese cultural traditions. Creators pay attention to finding creative inspiration from national artistic resources, using traditional and modern artistic techniques to create brand-new art forms that are both Chinese and the world, highlight the excellence and uniqueness of oriental aesthetics, and create cultural integration and civilization The bright prospect of mutual learning. According to this, when Chinese drama goes out, first, it is necessary to respect the laws of art and tell Chinese stories well in a dramatic way. This requires not only a correct cultural standpoint and superb narrative strategy, but also superb drama skills and perfect artistic presentation. Second, it is necessary to create a successful typical character image. Drama is the art of human beings. It depends on the emotional power shown by the actions of people in specific situations to directly target the human heart, interpret human nature, and illuminate the soul. Third, we must achieve the perfect unity of theme, thought, content, and form, and create drama classics that are at the peak of literature and art based on the goal orientation of profound thinking, exquisite art, and excellent production.
(The author of Song Baozhen is the director of the Drama Research Institute of China Academy of Art)
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