Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Wang Run
The sky is wide and the clouds are wide, and the drums are noisy. On January 5, a ceremonial performance brought by Youren Divine Drum unveiled the Huichang Drama Town in Jiangxi Province. The prelude to Huichang Drama Season 001. Under the century-old banyan tree, founders Lai Shengchuan and Ding Naizhu, actors Huang Lei, Zhou Xun, and Tang Wei, founders and artistic directors of Youren Shengu Liu Ruoyu and Huang Zhiqun, Hong Kong Repertory Theater artistic director Pan Huisen and other artists jointly announced the opening of Huichang Drama Town.
That night, the 100th performance of the exclusive version of "Treasure Island Village" directed by Lai Shengchuan was performed as the opening drama at the Huichang Theater in Huichang Drama Town. The play, which has been performed for 100 performances, tells the story of homesickness about the parents' departure from their hometown. It also forms a dramatic echo of the wonderful fate of Lai Shengchuan, whose ancestral home is Huichang, Jiangxi, returning to his hometown to launch Huichang Drama Season 001, symbolizing a new beginning.
Drama lights up the old town
Huichang was once a cultural old town where poetry and rituals were passed down. Centuries-old banyan trees protect this blessed land. The nearly kilometer-long ancient city wall of the Southern Song Dynasty protects the tranquility of the town for thousands of years. The migration and residence of people in the past have formed a unique Hakka culture. The ancient houses and inscribed bricks from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties record the dust and smoke of the past. On the premise of retaining the style of the old county town, Huichang Theater Town has renovated four theaters, experimental theaters, garden theaters and rehearsal halls with different functions to accommodate international and diversified performances.
As the three drama initiators of Huichang Drama Town, Lai Shengchuan, Ding Naizhu and actor Ni Ni each drew unique light bulbs with their own hands and sent their best wishes to Huichang Drama Town: "The light bulb represents creativity, but it must have a deep meaning." Only the roots can do it." "Creativity can bring light to a person's life, and it can also bring light to a place." "I hope this light bulb will lead everyone to the Huichang Theater Season and feel the charm of theater."
Huichang Theater At the opening ceremony of the town, drama initiators Lai Shengchuan and Ding Naizhu, together with other guests, watered the 450-year-old "Zhi Banyan" to irrigate the drama seeds and inject new vitality into the land. At the same time, countless light bulbs in the town light up, sky lanterns rise, and drama lights up the old town. This is a unique and special experience for local residents, artists and audiences from all over the world. Liu Ruoyu, the founder and artistic director of the world-renowned Youren Shengu, used a series of “unbelievable” words to describe his inner excitement, and said: “The emergence of Huichang Theater Town is an epoch-making event, and I believe it will have a profound impact on the future of theater. It had a great impact."
"Treasure Island Village" returns to Lai Shengchuan's hometown
"The play "Treasure Island Village" tells the story of foreigners who came to Taiwan from all over the mainland. One of them came from Huichang, and that was me. Dad. As long as I think of the roads he has walked, I really want to do something for the people in my hometown." Lai Shengchuan's relationship with his ancestral home in Huichang, Jiangxi Province is the origin of Huichang Drama Town. After returning to his hometown in the 1990s and seeing the old house of the Lai family where his father once lived, Lai Shengchuan came up with the idea of "bringing drama home", hoping to bring some changes to his hometown through the power of drama and creativity. This time, bringing the exclusive version of "Treasure Island Village" back to his hometown is one step towards realizing Lai Shengchuan's wish. At the
performance, Lai Shengchuan said with emotion: "Although I have watched this play countless times, this time I saw so many locals in Huichang who had never seen a play before. They have become interested in drama and love because of watching this play. Life has a different feeling. I am still very moved! I am even thinking that if this play is performed here more in the future, I will make one of the characters speak Huichang dialect and make the audience feel that he went to Taiwan from Huichang. , maybe it will be more intimate."
At the end of the play, the scene on the stage was fixed on a family portrait of three generations of "Treasure Island Village".At the curtain call, Lai Shengchuan took the stage to share his special feelings with the audience that night: "Thank you very much for coming. Today is the 001 of the Huichang drama season and the 100th performance of the exclusive version of "Treasure Island Village". This is a wonderful fate! "At the end of the performance, warm local steamed buns were delivered to everyone's hands. Together with the heat of the drama, they warmed people's hearts on winter nights.
Over 300 performances and activities gathered in the old city
"The theater is around you, but the good thing is that you are far away." The Huichang Theater Season will last from January 5th to January 14th. In addition to bringing the exclusive version of "Treasure Island Village" to Huichang, director Lai Shengchuan also created a new work "Through the Mirror" specially for Huichang Drama Town, which will be performed in the outdoor and indoor spaces of the garden theater renovated from the ancestral hall; hosted by Huichang The tea-picking song and dance version of "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Spring" presented by the County Tea-Picking Song and Dance Theater combines the famous local Hakka tea-picking opera and adds a new look to this 38-year-old work.
In addition, Huichang Drama Town and Huichang Drama Season 001 will also stage the large-scale outdoor performance "King Kong Heart" by Youren Shengu, "Sisters" by Hong Kong Repertory Theater, "Herbert's Dream" by French Quidams Theater Company, Shanghai Haoxian Production Produced one-man show "Night Looking for Penguins" and other works. The famous fashion designer Huang Wei will also create a unique catwalk show on the Sanjiang Pedestrian Bridge in the town, staging a fashion feast among the mountain shadows and the gurgling river water.
Huichang Drama Town is also open to collecting "small plays" from all over the country. Three outstanding original works "White Strips of Meat", "Hidden Scenery" and "Where the Soul Returns" will be performed in the town's factory. There are plays everywhere in the streets and alleys of the town. During the ten days of Huichang Theater Season 001, more than 200 performances and nearly 100 theater activities will be staged here, covering the Lai Shengchuan Lecture Hall, the town reception hall, a series of lectures, post-performance talks, Readings of historical dramas in Chinese and English, etc. There are no tickets for Huichang Theater Town. As long as people come here, they can enter the paradise of drama anytime and anywhere, return to themselves in drama and creativity, and let drama nourish the cultural soil of the old city, allowing a good cultural and creative ecology to flourish. It takes root here and is rich in humanities.
