“The newly edited modern Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei” is like a modern lyric poem of revolutionary romanticism and revolutionary heroism.” “The play highlights the performance characteristics of Cheng school art, creating a heavy, romantic, beautiful, poetic artistic conception, and at the same time It has a poignant and tragic artistic style.” “This is a modern Peking Opera drama with a unique cultural temperament, which provides new and valuable experience for the integrity and innovation of Peking Opera art and the modernization of opera art.” “After the wonderful performances at the National Local Opera Performance Center in Beijing on July 23 and 24, the Beijing Peking Opera Theatre organized a premiere symposium on July 29. Experts and scholars at the meeting conducted in-depth discussions on the pursuit of the play’s creation and stage presentation. Make specific suggestions for further polishing and improving the play.
The newly edited modern Peking Opera “Stone Ping Mei”, which is highly anticipated by many parties, is one of the key repertoires of the Beijing Peking Opera Theatre in 2022. It has been included in the key creation projects of the Propaganda Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and the Excerpt Project of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, and won the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League. With the strong support of the committee, it has also become the first work of the “Welcome to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China-Excellent Theme Drama Works Creation Support Program” project by the Chinese Drama Association. Its active exploration in the creation of modern Peking Opera plays has practical significance and is particularly interesting.
Both poignant and majestic, focusing on innovative expression
“Full of talents, he can set youth on fire; he is full of courage, and his blood has been sprinkled into plums.” Shi Pingmei and Gao Junyu’s short and splendid lives are like two dazzling stars in the bright galaxy in the universe, leaving a legacy in the modern history of China. Heart-shattering bloody memory. The newly edited modern Peking Opera “Shi Pingmei” revolves around the revolution and love story of Shi Pingmei, one of the “Four Talented Women of the Republic of China”. It describes a group of new youths represented by Shi Pingmei and Gao Junyu under the background of the New Culture Movement, facing the empire The aggression of feudalism, the oppression of feudal ethics and the rule of warlords, the fearless spirit of sacrifice in pursuit of lofty revolutionary ideals and pure love. At the same time, it shows that in the torrent of the May 4th wave, the new young people’s thinking and criticism of the real society, not afraid of sacrifice, and the firm pursuit of the ideal society.
“The combination of revolution and love is based on new materials, the creative ideas of the main creative team are new, the overall presentation of the stage is refreshing, and the performances of the actors are also innovative.” New play, new play is good” to evaluate the Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei”, and believes that the selection of repertoire, highlight innovation, stage presentation, actor performance and other aspects reflect the excellent artistic quality of this new play.
“The Peking Opera “Shi Pingmei” is like a modern lyric poem of revolutionary romanticism and revolutionary heroism. Against the background of the turbulent era, it depicts Shi Pingmei, the representative of an outstanding intellectual woman, who, under the influence of Gao Junyu, has devoted herself to the cause of communism step by step. The struggle process and the mental journey of becoming a revolutionary, as well as their like-minded love. The text language is fresh and romantic, and the poems of the characters in the play are used. It has the humanistic atmosphere of the times and the language characteristics of the early vernacular, giving people a familiar strangeness sense and freshness.” Zhang Zhenggui, deputy director and associate researcher of the National Peking Opera Creation Center, and head of the magazine “China Peking Opera”, said that the play has grasped the characteristics of the industry, genre elements, new artistic images, and the degree of integration between artistic characters. fit. Shi Pingmei, played by Guo Wei, uses the artistic characteristics of the Cheng School to show it, which blends with the character’s temperament and the emotional expression in the play. The rendering of the hair is combined with natural ironing. Gao Junyu, played by Zhou Enxu, played a role in martial arts, especially his clear voice, both civil and military. What is surprising is that Li Hongtu plays Yu Shuhao with Xiaosheng and Yepai art. The voice is seamless and the transition is natural, highlighting the character’s temperament, not much ink, but not shallow, which shows that Xiaosheng can play a good modern character, right and wrong. Facialized shaping.
The music of this play uses the music melody of “Farewell” as the theme music element of the whole play, which reflects the temperament and connotation of the times. Cheng Pai’s singing features are well integrated into the characters’ personalities and emotions, and the specially designed “Anti-Er Yellow Wide Plate” specially designed for the second show is novel and powerful, which strengthens the rhythm of the drama. The duet of Kunqu Opera elements creates an elegant and clean artistic conception. The play can also be further enriched and solid in the kinks of the special relationships of the characters and the details of the personalized drama, and the accurate and in-depth control of the characters’ characteristics and the appropriateness of the transformation of the stage space from reality to reality can be further polished and improved.
Stills of the newly edited modern Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei”
Minimalist style highlights modern aesthetic trends
“This is a clean and pure play, a well-crafted play. The theme is revolution, and the narrative is love, which is very interesting.” said Wang Shoude, former director of the General Political Art Bureau and literary critic, “One A good show needs the cooperation of the main creative team to achieve ‘all corners’. This play is well written first and has strong literary character; the stage is simple and elegant, including stage beauty, costume design, etc., using minimalist means to achieve high-quality stage effects; The music and vocal design are very moving. In particular, the combination of realism and romance brings a strong and rich ideological and aesthetic vision to the audience.”
“The directing style of minimalism, delicacy, meticulousness and freehand brushwork has laid a good foundation for this play. The biggest highlight of this play is the singing. The connection between music and singing is smart and smooth, like a slow stream, which is very rare. Wang Ping, Vice Chairman of Beijing Dramatists Association and Pingju Performing Artist, said that in the creation of modern operas, it is difficult to match the music creation with the vocal expressions of the characters and to write the theme music. The final stage of the drama character should echo the characteristics of the music. .
“The modern aesthetic trend of this play is very obvious, and bold explorations and attempts have been carried out. The aesthetics of the modern rhythm is particularly prominent, and the atmosphere flowing throughout the stage is modern.” Wang Baoshe, vice chairman of the Beijing Dramatists Association and a famous playwright, said, “Cleanness and simplicity are the hallmarks of modern art, and this play has done it. It is both upright and innovative, breaking tradition in many places. The choreography, vocal design, and stage scheduling are all modern. This minimalist style and manifesto-style aesthetics The pursuit is amazing. Subsequent revisions and polishing suggest that the text structure should be fastened, so as to enhance the fullness of the characters’ characters, and make the climax scenes more vivid.”
Stills of the newly edited modern Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei”
Focus on realistic themes to explore the modernization of opera
“Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei” is a modern poetic drama depicting poets and poetic sentiments. It is a modern Peking Opera drama with unique cultural temperament, which provides new and valuable experience for the integrity and innovation of Peking Opera art and the modernization of opera art.” Chinese Opera Ran Changjian, deputy dean of the college, said that in terms of literary exploration, the structure of poetry and drama is prose, expressing the lofty aspirations of the revolution and expressing pure and mournful feelings. Shi Pingmei’s characters show a variety of colors. On the one hand, it is a firm pursuit of social liberation and an unusual desire for light, and on the other hand, it is fragile and sad in love. She and Gao Junyu both truly love each other, but because of feudal customs and trauma, they could not live together in this world, and they can only be buried in a barren hill after their death. The Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei” is illusory based on real events, making art transcend the boundaries of life and interpreting a peerless love that transcends life and death.
“In recent years, with the strong support of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the Beijing Peking Opera Theater has focused on the problem of modern Peking Opera, and has created modern plays such as “Xu Yunfeng”, “Li Dazhao”, “The King of Swords Five”, and now another good play has been produced. “Shi Ping Mei” promotes positive energy through different themes and perspectives, and uses the art of Peking Opera to tell Chinese stories.” Zhang Guanzheng, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Opera, said that the diversity of forms is an important reason for the long-term prosperity of Peking Opera. It is a unique feature of Peking Opera. Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei” has carried out a useful exploration in exploring the expression of Peking Opera art on modern themes. It is hoped that this play will continue to be processed and improved and become a business card in Beijing opera circles.
Stills of the newly edited modern Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei”
Show the power of youth and practice “see Beijing in a big drama”
“Struggle is the most beautiful background of youth, and action is the most effective tempering of youth.” The new modern Peking Opera “Shi Pingmei” encountered a new round of new coronary pneumonia in Beijing at the beginning of its rehearsal, and the performing arts industry was pressed the pause button, however, The Beijing Peking Opera Theater “suspends performances and does not stop working.” The crew members used the cloud to exchange and grind scripts, did detailed desk work, arranged exercises reasonably, and made adequate preparations for the resumption of work and production. The theater’s strong anti-epidemic spirit of focusing on epidemic prevention and control on the one hand and artistic production and creation on the other echoes the revolutionary spirit of Shi Pingmei and Gao Junyu embodied in the play.
“This play uses the art form of Peking Opera to tell the story of the progressive youth a hundred years ago, in order to inspire contemporary youth to explore the power of their ideals and beliefs, no matter from the selection of themes, the theme of creation, the form of artistic expression, the process of creating and arranging, and the stage presentation, it all embodies opera. A youthful expression of art.” The three leading actors of Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei” have the same experience. It is the first time for all three of them to participate in a new modern drama. Guo Wei said that it is his duty to inherit the art of Peking Opera Cheng School. Its spirit affects more young people. Li Hongtu said that following Mr. Ye Shenglan’s performance in the Peking Opera “The White-Haired Girl” in 1958, Ye School’s Xiaosheng art once again radiated youthful brilliance in modern dramas, and there was innovation in inheritance. Zhou Enxu said that as a young actor of Peking Opera martial arts, he was greatly encouraged by learning and acting as a hero in the process of shaping his characters, which inspired him to move to a new level of art.
“Although Shi Pingmei passed away nearly a hundred years ago, her spirit has been passed down to this day and has never gone far. Shi Pingmei’s personal pursuits, political ambitions, and dreams of social progress, national liberation, and rejuvenation are closely related and inherited.” Implementing the work requirements of “seeing Beijing in great dramas”, and effectively promoting the creation of fine literary and artistic works, the Beijing Peking Opera Theater, based on regional history and culture, has created a new modern Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei”, an excellent work with the theme of patriotism, the theme of Beijing, and the theme of red, vividly displaying the ancient capital of Beijing. Culture, red culture, Beijing-style culture. Through the creation and performance of the Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei”, learn to carry forward the national spirit and patriotism of Shi Pingmei and Gao Junyu who committed themselves to the country and devoted themselves to the revolution. It is the responsibility of the Beijing Peking Opera Company as a state-owned literary and art troupe to present an excellent new version of modern Peking Opera to Beijing in the period and to the general audience.
In order to implement the work requirements of “guiding young literary and art workers to keep the right path and walk the road, encourage them to innovate more and produce high-quality products, and support them to take the lead and be the protagonists”, the Beijing Peking Opera Theatre insists on talent training in the central link of creation and performance. As a starting point, it is based on artistic inheritance. The creation and arrangement of the new modern Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei” fully revolves around the artistic characteristics of the Cheng School, and tailor-made innovative repertoires for the leading actor Guo Wei, the outstanding successor of the new generation of Peking Opera Cheng School, and based on this, deepens the traditional art genre of the theater Innovate and develop, enrich the repertoire reserve and the cultural life of the masses; at the same time, build a platform for the development and training of high-end performing talents, train the talent team, and expand the influence of art communication.
Liu Tong said that in recent years, according to the artistic characteristics of many outstanding talents of the Beijing Peking Opera Company, many big plays have been actively created. These repertoires have a wide range of materials and diverse styles, which fully reflect the heritage of the theatre’s genre, its profound characteristics and its artistic pursuit of blooming flowers. The theater has created excellent works “always on the road”. Next, it will further improve the newly edited modern Peking Opera “Shi Ping Mei”, and strive to polish it into a high-quality play that “sings well, can be retained, and can spread”. It has attracted wide attention from audiences, especially young audiences. It not only attracts young audiences in terms of artistic expression and stage presentation, but also inspires young people to think through the spiritual power contained in artistic images such as Shi Pingmei and Gao Junyu, so as to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The Chinese dream contributes to the power of youth. (Wenmu)
(Photo courtesy of Beijing Peking Opera Theatre)
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责编：张诗奇 ]