"Minister Wiley, Minister Wiley." Sounds majestic, doesn't it? This Minister Willie must be a big man who speaks his mind. Presumably everyone who walks into the theater will think so. But is this really the case?
This Mid-Autumn Festival, the Sohu Opera Troupe took us into the Haidian Theater , and watched the comedy "More than Bright Moonlight in Front of the Window" by Happy Twist .
Compared with Shen Teng and Ma Li's time, Ma Hua's dramas have probably moved in the direction of Chinese comedy. After all, the definition of comedy in Western art is to wrap a sad core in a happy shell. Just like Shakespeare 's famous dramas, whether it is comedy, tragedy or drama, tragedy is the ultimate core of drama, and it is the true meaning worth thinking about. And the early twist works also have such a core, but the last time I saw this concept applied freely was in " Charlotte Troubles ".
No matter what, watching such a moonlight-related drama on the Mid-Autumn Festival is enough for the occasion.
"Bright Moonlight" tells the story of a minister in the "British" cabinet who dated the secretary of the rival party's minister on the night of the debate. , and did not increase the cost of understanding for the majority of the audience. Of course, here, I have doubts whether the core of the show has the British cabinet , which is currently chaotic in connotation.
The whole play consists of multiple actors, Minister Willie, the opponent's secretary Jenny, the Indian doorman, Willie's secretary George, Jenny's husband Ronnie, and Ronnie's hired detective Maori Kojiro, in addition to starring, also There are a few supporting roles.
After the story began, Jenny accidentally discovered detective Xiao Erlang who was "smashed to death" by the broken window, which triggered a series of lies from Minister Willie. At the end of the story, it even turned into a series of lies in front of different people. Different lies, which also pushed the whole drama to a climax.
But we all know that lies will eventually be unravelled, so when all the key characters in the story go to room 648 and confront each other in the same space, everyone finally finds out that this whole night of farce is nothing but Willie The minister has weaved one after another lie for his own reputation and Jenny's reputation. In this lie one after another, he has slowly lost himself, lost his original face, and finally ended up with a ridiculous ending.
When I was watching the show, I found that the overall story outline was somewhat familiar. I found that this show was changed from British comedy master Ray Cooney's 1991 Oliver's award-winning "The Body on the Window", but from the characters to the details. , Twist has made a lot of changes, which led me to find out that it was an adapted work after watching it for nearly an hour. Compared with the original script,
has undoubtedly added a lot of content and baggage that is suitable for Chinese localization. For example, at the beginning of Willie's nickname Big Pig's Hoof, the mantra of the bed-making maid (you sabi~), and the identification of the corpse as Willie's younger brother Megatron, including the change of the private detective's name, all these will undoubtedly be Arouse the audience's awareness of the connection with the show, so that the audience can better bring themselves into the show. But it is a pity that although the screenwriter maintained a high degree of consistency in the plot with the original when adapting the play, he still could not escape the behavior of losing most of the logic during the adaptation. The stalks in the original work are intertwined, including explaining why the Italian maid's mantra came from, but the you sabi in the adaptation seems to be irrelevant, just to shake the burden, it will appear very blunt. In the last scene of the original work of
, the protagonists take turns appearing, and the rationalization of what they have done is omitted in "Moonlight", perhaps because of time problems, or because the screenwriter thinks this behavior is a bit redundant. But it is precisely because of the explanation of this scene that the whole "farce" is understood and rationalized, and this is the problem with many domestic adaptations now.
's adaptation is actually a process of re-creation. The new screenwriter has a new interpretation of the new story when he has thoroughly understood the old story. Either adjust the plot, or the character and composition, or redistribute the focus of the entire idea, but this time, Ma Hua lost the core of the idea while retaining the plot, which is indeed a major mistake. Domestic adaptation screenwriters will make mistakes. It's just that this mistake may be harmless to ordinary audiences. After all, the twist itself creates hilarious laughter. In their theaters, most people will shoot the wrong thigh in such a form.
When it comes to the art of adaptation, it may be a lesson that many domestic screenwriters and writers have not learned well. Until today, most of the Western classics have not been highly praised after adaptation, especially in the literary industry. In my opinion, this is mainly because we want to learn to run before we learn to walk. Of course, the problem of adaptation is not only in the adaptation of Western stories. The Chinese people are best at the magic reform of Liaozhai or other Chinese history. A familiar story.
In fact, as I mentioned above, it is not impossible for the adaptation to shake the central idea of the story itself, but it is absolutely impossible to lose this central idea. Whether it is literature or drama, no matter which form it takes, it will be included in the broad concept of culture, and culture itself uses the form of literature and art to educate the world. We always learn from the form of culture. to something. Yes, some people may say that the center of "Moonlight" is to teach others not to lie, but is that all it takes? This should be a concept that we will all be taught since childhood. I think it is unnecessary to use 120 minutes to educate people. In the last century, people may still need this kind of education, but in today's civilization level as high as 90%, there is no implication of sublimation, and it can be ignored.
I may not have enough say in the future of Chinese drama. But in my opinion, take every step in a down-to-earth way, and polish every story without sacrificing quality for the sake of quantity, so that more audiences who have lost their hearts in this era can regain that point in their hearts. The truth may be what a Chinese comedy team with such a high nationality should do.
Technology is indeed developing. There is no drama or text in the eyes of human beings, but it is not difficult to return to the era where classics are everywhere, and every literary and art worker must not give up Study, do not give up practice, and keep going on this road full of sparks.
2022.9.11
in the capital after the Mid-Autumn Festival
