The Beijing opera “Longxugou”, the drama “Teahouse”, “Lao She Going to the Market” and “Two Horses”, one “Lao She” connects four dramas in series. On December 28, the 6th Lao She Theater Festival “Drama Night” large-scale cloud live broadcast event co-sponsored by Beijing Xicheng District Culture and Tourism Bureau, Beijing Performance Co., Ltd., and Beijing Tianqiao Art Center, with 10 hours of drama The running water seats attracted more than 3.8 million audiences-this is a drama feast created for the cold Beijing at the end of the 6th Lao She Drama Festival in Beijing 2022.
2022 is the 70th anniversary of the naming of Beijing Opera, and this genre was named by Mr. Lao She himself. Mr. Lao She liked Quju and wrote the script “Willow Well”. When the play was successfully staged in 1952, Mr. Lao She officially named it “Quju” and added the word “Beijing” in front of “Quju”. It has its own local opera “Beijing Quju”.
The Beijing Opera “Longxugou” broadcast that day is one of the classic works created during the “Quju Phenomenon” period in the 1990s. Mr. Gu Wei, the director who directed the play, said: “This play has been performed hundreds of times so far. It is our honor to be able to participate in the show of ‘Drama Night’ at the Lao She Theater Festival.”
“Teahouse” from the Jinfan Repertory Theater of Beijing No. 166 Middle School presents a “fresh” taste based on the wise and sophisticated language of Mr. Lao She’s original work. The play was launched on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of Mr. Lao She’s birth. After watching the play, Zhang Fuyuan, an actor from Beijing People’s Arts, once praised “this is the best work of a student drama”.
Zhu Xueyan, who once played Pang Si’s grandma in the play, is now a student of the Film Academy. She said: “After this play rehearsal, a seed of learning to act was planted in my heart. I feel that “Tea House” The most memorable thing is the various characters in the play.” Li Yinghao, who plays Chang Siye in the play, is currently a student majoring in broadcasting and hosting at Zhejiang Institute of Communication, and serves as the head of the school drama troupe in the drama club. He said: “It is precisely because of the Jinfan Drama Troupe in high school and the experience of performing “Tea House” that I chose the drama club during college, and it also made me more determined on the road of art.”
The title of the play “Lao She Going to the Market” comes from Mr. Lao She’s collection of short stories “Going to the Market” published in 1934. It is selected from more than 70 short works of Mr. Lao She, including “Creating Disease”, “Sacrifice”, “Black and White Li”, “Neighbors”, “The Audience of Drama” Notes” “My Ideal Family”. Liu Xinran, an actor of the play, said: “The creation of “Lao She Going to the Market” is presented in a special humorous way. I hope the overall temperament will be brighter and closer to the life of modern people. The common theme of these short stories is the longing for a better life.”
The novel “Two Horses” is Mr. Lao She’s last work before returning to China after a short stay in England. The drama “Two Horses” directed by Fang Xu is a drama produced by Beijing Performance Company in 2016. It premiered at the Capital Theater with an all-male cast. The play received unanimous praise once it was launched, and was loved by audiences all over the world during the subsequent tour. In 2019, the play was invited to participate in the 30th Macau Arts Festival. As the only Mandarin work, the drama “Two Horses” was also welcomed by local audiences in Macau.
With nearly 10 hours of continuous broadcast of 4 dramas, the “Drama Night” event of the 6th Lao She Drama Festival attracted 3.8 million people to watch simultaneously, sending energy to overcome the epidemic to people who are returning to work and production on cold winter nights. The strong Beijing-style Beijing charm, the civilian life atmosphere, and the distinctive Lao She-style humor, through the wonderful interpretation of dramatists, make each drama unique and unique, and become a “popular, popular, and retainable” drama. Great drama. “This night is very Beijing,” said Wang Pengpeng, an audience in Xicheng District.
Lao She Theater Festival was founded in 2017 by Beijing Performance Co., Ltd. and co-sponsored by Beijing Tianqiao Art Center. In 2022, the Lao She Drama Festival will usher in its sixth year, and has been included in the key project of Beijing’s “Looking at Beijing with Great Dramas”.
So far, this year’s Lao She Drama Festival has held 40 performances, and more than 20 various forums and drama activities. Among them, “Strange People in the World“, “The Taoist of Virtual Images”, “This Life of Me”, “Peking Man”, “William and Me”, “Splashing Water Before the Horse”, “The Peony Pavilion” and many other works have been staged one after another, which are full of splendor. The repertoires “Dream” and “Red Sorghum Family”, which were postponed due to the epidemic, will also be staged at another date. The musical “Anna Karenina” has announced that it will be staged at Tianqiao Art Center from February 23 to 26, 2023.
