2024-01-21 16:37:32
Stills from Peking Opera “The Protagonist”.
Photography by Sichuan Online reporter Xue Weirui and Xiang Yu
“The protagonist is like the life of the play, and the protagonist is the soul of the play.” On the evening of January 21, as the closing drama of the 10th China Peking Opera Art Festival, the Peking Opera “Protagonist” was performed at the Sichuan Provincial Culture and Art Center, accompanied by the sound of drums and “ta-ta-ta” ” sounded, and characters from dramas such as “Yang Pai Feng”, “The Legend of White Snake” and “The Drunken Concubine” appeared. Generations of protagonists made the opera stage flourish.
“The Protagonist” is the National Peking Opera Theater’s new modern Peking opera in 2023. It is adapted from the Mao Dun Literary Award-winning work of the same name by the famous writer and playwright Chen Yan. Through narrative style, the play tells the story of Yi Qin’e, who walked out of a mountain village and was guided by her uncle Hu Sanyuan to embark on the road of art. With the encouragement and support of senior artists, with her extraordinary artistic talent and unremitting efforts, she never inadvertently performed on the stage. She rose to prominence and blossomed in the national opera world, eventually becoming a famous actress and continuing her opera life of inheriting the art.
“People cannot control their own destiny, but they must strive to be their own protagonist.” Director Zhang Manjun said that from his teens to his fifties, “Protagonist” interprets the protagonist’s roller coaster-like decades, “This is A Chinese story regarding our traditional art.”
Stills from Peking Opera “The Protagonist”.
Presenting opera stories in the grand historical changes
On the stage that night, several beams of bright light were cast, and several classic opera characters walked onto the stage. The bright red hanging rotatable frame was eye-catching. It not only marked the stage entrance, but also symbolized the passage of time and the changes of the times. It represented the stage of life. What goes around comes around.
The helplessness when his uncle was arrested, the despair of being maliciously slandered, the confusion when he survived the trough of the drama but had to give up the stage for a young actor… In the play, the protagonist Yi Qin’e experienced all kinds of ups and downs, and finally truly understood The meaning of “the drama is bigger than the sky” means that I understand the responsibility and responsibility of the “protagonist” and gain a new life – becoming my own protagonist.
Actor Fu Jia’s performance is dignified yet agile, showing Yi Qin’e’s perseverance and unyielding temperament, interpreting the ups and downs, sorrow and joy intertwined artistic life of a generation of famous actors, and also showing the traditional opera people in the context of the changing times. A life course of ups and downs.
As the actor who plays Hu Sanyuan, actor Wei Jijun integrates the performance skills of the colorful face profession into the character creation, vividly showing the character’s reckless and sincere personality. In the play, Hu Sanyuan always said that “the drama is bigger than the sky”, and finally interpreted this belief with his life. At the same time, as a drummer, Hu Sanyuan’s drumming runs throughout the play, suggesting plot twists and character psychological changes, becoming a spiritual symbol of opera people.
“The character Hu Sanyuan is very vivid and powerful, and he is the backbone of the opera stage.” In the view of the play’s director Zhang Manjun, Hu Sanyuan serves as drummer in the play and is the most important support and help among all the leading actors. When the drums are beating, the opera is there, so he is the soul of the opera performance. In Yi Qin’e’s artistic life, he is also a spiritual leader. Whenever Yi Qin’e faces a desperate situation, Hu Sanyuan will always appear. Even if the person is not around, the drums are still beating, which can inspire her to face the dark moments of life.
In addition, Feng Xiaoxiao, played by Li Bo, is handsome and unrestrained, outlining the character of a leading actor in a county theater troupe with majestic talent and sincere affection. Actors Zhang Xiaoqing, Liu Zheng, Ma Along, and Jin Xing use their four roles of Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou respectively to interpret Gou Cunzhong, Gu Cunxiao, Qiu Cunyi, and Zhou Cunren, four veteran artists from Ningzhou County who possess unique skills. The posture interprets the bitterness and bitterness, showing the artistic perseverance of the veteran artist regardless of hardships.
Stills from Peking Opera “The Protagonist”.
“Big Heroine” interprets 40 years of ups and downs in life
As a major heroine in the drama, Yi Qin’e played a large role in “The Protagonist”, performing the three roles of Hua Dan, Dao Ma Dan, and Qing Yi.
“After receiving this drama, I immediately bought the original work and read it in one sitting.” Fu Jia said, “I used to work mainly in Tsing Yi, and this drama has a lot of Wudan figures. From that time on, as long as I have time every day, I , I practiced kicking and lowering my waist to prepare for the role.”
“Traditional operas have many stylized performances to assist, but modern Peking opera is closer to life, and actors need to understand and interpret the characters more deeply.” In Fu Jia’s view, the biggest challenge in “Protagonist” is the age span of the characters. The play runs through most of Yi Qin’e’s life, from her teens to her fifties, and the timeline jumps in and out. “Sometimes it jumps to Yi Qin’e who is in her 50s, and sometimes it jumps back to 16-year-old Yi Qin’e. Qin E.”
After switching frequently in a short period of time, Fu Jia mightn’t feel it at first. “During the rehearsal process, the director kept explaining the characters to us. Through her demonstration and inspiration, we repeatedly polished the figure, eyes, etc., and gradually found a way to quickly adjust.”
As a director who has worked on the opera stage for many years, Zhang Manjun is also an opera actor who won the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award. “Because I am an actor myself, when faced with the expression of characters in modern dramas, I am more accustomed to using inner experience to influence external performance, so as to quickly enter the role.” In Zhang Manjun’s view, the creation of modern Peking Opera dramas needs to return to the The character’s psychological state is unfolded and presented through the character’s stage actions.
Stills from Peking Opera “The Protagonist”.
A strong creative team polishes the stage “protagonist”
In order to bring this literary masterpiece to the Peking Opera stage, the National Peking Opera Company obtained the sole right to adapt the work for the opera stage. It formed a strong creative team including screenwriters Xu Fen and Xu Xinhua, director Zhang Manjun, vocal designer and composer Zhu Shaoyu.
“We polished and adjusted the script repeatedly, revising more than ten drafts before finally presenting it as it is now.” Xu Xinhua said that from the first draft, “Protagonist” has been determined to be presented in the form of a narrative. Yi Qin’e’s review shows her life, telling the ups and downs she experienced on her way to becoming the protagonist.
“Protagonist” shows the life drama of Yi Qin’e, and it is also the drama life of almost all opera performers. In Xu Xinhua’s view, almost every protagonist on the opera stage has one thing in common, that is, they really love drama as much as their lives. If you want to become a horn, in addition to having innate conditions, you must also endure hardships that ordinary people cannot endure and endure hardships that ordinary people cannot imagine.
She and director Zhang Manjun are of the same age as Yi Qin’e in the play. They both came from grassroots troupes and have truly experienced the changes of the times in the development of opera. “We have basically experienced the changes in the times when Qin E lived,” Xu Xinhua said. “In the past, creating other modern dramas required a lot of retrieval of information, trying to get into the characters through the smoke and clouds of history, but this time the creation is almost like looking back. Come and look at our own lives and mobilize the life experiences of the past decades.”
As a Peking Opera actor, Fu Jia also feels the same way regarding recalling Qin’e’s life experience. “We have actually experienced a lot along the way, and there have been times when we wanted to give up, but in the end we still chose to stick to the stage because of our love for opera.”
The original author Chen Yan wrote in the postscript, “We are the masters of our own destiny, but we can never master our entire destiny.” In Xu Xinhua’s view, everyone is his own protagonist, whether he is the protagonist on the stage, Or the “protagonist” in other fields. Behind every protagonist’s glory, there are hardships and sacrifices that others can’t imagine. “If everyone walks into the theater and can find their own perception of the ‘protagonist’, our goal will be achieved.”
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