Author: Guo Qihong
Over the years, people have dubbed the Beijing People’s Art Theater as “Guo Lao Cao” theater, “Guo” is Guo Moruo, “Lao” is Lao She, and “Cao” is Cao Yu. The three are masters of playwrights. Their works, such as “Cai Wenji”, “Tea House”, “Thunderstorm”, “Sunrise” and “Beijing People”, have been performed in the Renyi Theater for a long time, and they have become classics and are well-known in Europe and the United States. Whenever people talk about the writer’s personal style and the theater’s school of drama, they all feel the difficult and magnificent era, the multi-talented and unique group, and the extraordinary and vital art. So what exactly is the relationship between writers and theaters? In the 70 years since the establishment of the Beijing Institute of Humanities and Arts, experts and scholars have given thousands of opinions. Or to say “coral jade tree” “to complement each other”, or to say “strong combination” “to complement each other”, or to use the old word, “the famous horse carving saddle”, or to use the modern word, “standard”.
I came to Beijing Renyi in the 1980s. The theater seems to have passed its heyday, but the sky is still full of beautiful clouds, and I deeply feel that the afterglow is still there. At that time, Guan Creation was the first vice president, so he didn’t assign me a task, he just said indifferently, “If you get stuck, you might as well have a chat, maybe it will help you”, polite and gentle . I know he privately doesn’t like the playwright’s “fight where he points”. Li Bai, which I have been working on for decades, is in the process of being conceived, and I consciously speed up the progress. Half a year later, I took the first draft and knocked on his office. He was stunned: “Li Bai? I’ll come!” I suddenly shook my head: “I wrote it for you.” Li Bai in the play is in his twilight years, and he wants to play , that couldn’t be better! In hindsight, am I not shooting a horse? Turning to think about it, if you change it, the gentleman should be able to forgive. Or try to improve the book, this is the right way.
Profile picture
After a while, I met him in the theater hallway, and he said, “Don’t leave at noon, come to my place for a working lunch.” I guess he wanted to “talk.” When I got to his room, I saw that Director Su Min was already sitting on the sofa and was opening a beer bottle. The working meal in front of me reminded me of what Lao Su said: “What do the dean and the secretary do? Two things, one is the driver, who sends a car to pick up the artist, and the other is the cook, who asks the canteen to cook two more dishes as a reward.” It was said by Cao Yu or Zhao Qiyang. Lao Su said cheerfully, “I’ve read the book of “Li Bai”, well, it’s well written.” I guess Lao Yu has already invited Lao Su to rehearse the play. Lao Yu took a sip of beer, took out a stack of notes, and wrote more than ten pages. Listening to his eloquence, he talked about Engels’s letter to Minna Kautsky, Shakespeare’s tragedy, Dylan Matt’s “Romulus the Great”, and talked about “created environment, future life”. To play”, to “care and note”, talk about foreshadowing, reflection, contrast, and even the consideration and scrutiny of lines, “delete empty words without action”, “need details”, “sentences are too elaborate, it seems that they are not enough to write emotions. Ups and downs”, as well as the elegant and vulgar style and literary wildness. I thought to myself, “I’m really convinced, Lao Yu! No wonder you not only act well, but also write touching prose.”
This kind of “chat” has gone through several times, and I don’t remember it. I just feel that during that time, I was very diligent, working day and night, as if I became a student in the classroom again. Teaching and urging. A colleague in the studio, Wang Zhian, told me that he once went to a meeting with Lao Yu in the suburbs. He opened the drawer unintentionally and found that Lao Yu had brought books about Li Bai. Zhian said with emotion: “It is our great luck for our screenwriters to have such a leader!” I also said that back then, the “Big Three” (the elegant names given to the president Cao Yu, the secretary Zhao Qiyang, and the chief director Jiao Juyin) discussed the construction of the “Big Three”. The academy’s policy is to build Renyi into a scholar-type theater, with great foresight.
One time in “Chat”, when it comes to the second scene, Lao Yu frowned a little: “I have an idea, but I haven’t figured it out yet, and it’s a bit difficult for a writer.” Lao Su and Lao Yu are close in age, comrades and friends, He said, “You can pour it all out, Qihong is not the kind of person who can’t stand his opinions.” Then Lao Yu said slowly, “I think that Li Bai is different from Du Fu, and he is different from Wang Wei and Gao Shi. It’s different, there should be something unique to him.” “What’s different?” “For example, ethereal. Hey, I didn’t think about it, it’s just intuition.” “Can you be more specific?” “Well, I mean, it’s hard for a writer!” I Said to go back and do a few more days of homework. I seem to understand Lao Yu, but I am at a loss. When I read Mr. Guo Moruo’s “Li Bai and Du Fu”, in which he talked about the breakup of Li Bai and his wife, Madam Zong, as a goodbye of “love and affection”, my eyes suddenly lit up. Abrupt, isn’t his jumping thinking also a poet’s ethereal? When I think about it, the ethereal spirit is close to poetry, but far from drama, and drama must have various dramatic scenes such as contradictions, conflicts, climaxes, sudden turns, expectations, and discoveries. Where can you find a recipe for having it both ways? I have repeatedly researched Li Bai’s uniqueness and Zong’s uniqueness. Later, after reading the revised manuscript and discussing it for several rounds, Lao Yu said, “It can only be written like this, and I retract my original opinion.” I have been studying opera for decades, and this is the first time I heard about Guan Chuan. The “supervisor” withdraws the opinion. I was so moved that I was moved to tears, this is Beijing Renyi!
So Zhi often said that Renyi’s scripts were not “caught” by leaders, but written by writers: “You must respect their labor. You must dare to admit that you are not as good as the author, at least in terms of the topics he writes, you are not as good as them. He encouraged innovation, saying: “Creation is creative work. This determines that they can’t be too ‘safe’ and always have to explore something new. As long as they explore, there will be success and failure. There are gains and losses, right and wrong.” He strictly demanded himself, believing that a script had no right to be read more than three times. “Pencil revision, don’t look at the final draft.” “If you make a good revision, it will be absorbed naturally when it is finalized; if it is not good, they will use an eraser to erase the words of Zuncha. You don’t read it anymore, it is convenient for others, he has a choice. Freedom.” And so on. He said it and did it. Therefore, in Renyi, it has created a good creative ecological environment.
So three points are concluded. “First, there is no propositional composition. Screenwriters have different processes for entering the creation process. Some are willing to talk about the outline and listen to opinions, while others are not willing to disclose it to the world too early. Emotions are very fragile, and maybe a negative opinion will destroy a whole. The work that has been operated by the department for many years, ‘Caiyun Yi San Liu Li Crisp’. Faced with such an author, I will not rush, just wait for the melon to ripen and the water to come to fruition. Second, I am not a teacher. Anyone who dances and plays with ink will accept the principle of ‘writing never tire of reforming’ , the revision of the script is absolute, and the negation is negative. But if you want to change what you want, you can change it as you want, and you can’t make a good work.” If you are proud of your writing or get stuck when you encounter difficulties, I am willing to chat with you, there is no restriction.” “Third, respect the playwright. We emphasize people-oriented, and we must also put people first when we treat creation.” He once said that a playwright should be Inspirational quote: “The audience will allow me to thank the people who support the theatre with their pen on their behalf.”
In Beijing Renyi, after the premiere, the choreographer is usually invited to take the stage to make a curtain call, which may be the first of Renyi, which is a manifestation of respect for the creator. Therefore, in Renyi, drama has such a charm, which makes us addicted to writing dramas. At the end of the performance, the audience stood up and applauded—at this moment, the applause and praise reverberated, and the money and power were dejected, and I would always be moved. This is not only the best reward for the creator’s labor, but also imbued with a kind of sublime peculiar to theatrical art. I would like to dedicate myself to this nobleness.
“Guangming Daily” (15th edition on June 10, 2022)
[
责编：白冰 ]