There is a saying in China, "Food is the first necessity of the people." Food is the material basis for human survival and also carries rich cultural connotations. In China, which has a broad and profound food culture, whether it is delicacies or home-cooked meals, they are full of people's pursuit and wisdom of life. Literary and artistic works with the theme of food and the culture behind it are also constantly emerging on the stage. From September 15th to September 20th, the large-scale realist drama "West to East" based on the "No. 1 Halal Kebab" Dong Laishun completed its first performance at the Beijing Poly Theater.
"Going to the West" is about food, Chinese culture, various aspects of life, and the changes of the times. The play is based on the rise and fall of the century-old Dong Laishun Restaurant. It unfolds the story in parallel with the two clues of Dong Laishun founder Ding Deshan's management of the restaurant and the changes of the times. The unique humorous language of Beijing flavor, between a rinse and a cup, It reflects the ups and downs of life, tells the reason why business thrives with the times, and forges the feeling of interdependence between family and country.
In the current drama market where various immersive dramas, musicals and IP dramas are popular, the drama "West to East", as a standard original realist drama, is the creative team's insistence on the path of original realism, and is also A kind of social responsibility, so it is very valuable. So, in the context of diverse entertainment methods, how can the audience sit down and watch a realistic drama in a down-to-earth manner, and gain something after watching it? There is no standard answer to this question. The applause and laughter of the audience during the performance of "West to East", as well as the audience's heated discussions and sharing after the performance, all demonstrate its success as an original drama. In this sense, the drama "Going from the West to the East" provides a reference paradigm for the creation of realist original dramas in this era: although it is the basis of traditional realist dramas, it uses a highly adapted to contemporary audiences. The comedy expression method; the whole play has three acts, with distinct characters, exquisite structure, clear timeline, and is easy for the audience to accept; the mechanical stage realizes scene changes without closing, which is smooth and novel.
"The script is the basis of a play". The famous screenwriter Liu Heng serves as the literary consultant, the famous screenwriter Shu Huan serves as the script producer, and the senior comedy screenwriter Sun Haoyu serves as the screenwriter. Creation can also inject a strong comedy style. While firmly grasping the overall dramatic story, the play intensively creates "stalks" to attract, retain, and resonate with the audience. At the same time, Lang Kun, the five-time Spring Festival Gala director, serves as the chief director and has assembled China's top drama teams to create it. It can be said that it is a gathering of talents. The play is directed by Zhang Heping, former vice chairman of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of the Beijing People's Art Theater; famous planners and producers Huang Chengjian and Meng Liren are chief planners; outstanding young director Yan Rui is directed by the famous stage designer Shang Tianbao, who composed the music. Family member Wang Bei, producer Wu Wei and others.
The famous actor Liu Peiqi takes the lead, and the outstanding young actor Yu Mingjia is steady in the typhoon. There are also well-known comedians such as Cai Ming, Liu Liu, Period, Yang Shulin and Yang Jiulang. The rich history and culture are revealed in every gesture, and humanity is shown in the gags. complex and subtle. In fact, the contemporary expression of realistic drama is an inevitable trend, especially in such dramas that span 120 years. The audience is increasingly alienated from the society at that time shown in the drama, and changes in the social context have led to the audience’s There will be deviations in understanding, and this contemporary comedy expression is highly suitable for the audience's aesthetic needs.
In addition, the drama text structure of the drama "West to East" is a typical portrait exhibition structure, focusing on the portrayal of characters and personalities. The whole play involves more than fifty characters, and most of the characters have distinctive personalities, even those who Supporting characters with no lines or two or three lines can also leave a mark on the audience's mind. This is due to the creative team's shaping of each character's image, arranging their identities with the characteristics of the times, and designing a character that is consistent with the times. The identity matches the personality of the character.For example, the opening of the curtain is a group portrait display of the times. Characters with different identities and professions all appear. You sing and I appear on the stage. Three religions and nine streams gather in Donglaishun; all scenes in the whole play take place in the Donglaishun restaurant in different eras. There are three scenes in total. The total duration of the film is 150 minutes, but it is not too long. It adopts a linear narrative method and connects 1912, 1925, 1945, 1949 to 2023. Even though the theme told is heavy and far-reaching, it is "friendly" because The clear context allows the audience to easily receive this information: "West to East Lai" is a drama related to history, not only the development history of Dong Laishun, but also the development history of the times.
In a stage play, scene change is one of the techniques that the director needs to use, which is related to the director's grasp of the style of the entire play. Different from the closing scene change most commonly used in traditional realist dramas, the drama "West to East" emphasizes the hypothetical nature of the drama and adopts a scene change without closing. The audience present can see the scene change process, refreshing the audience. viewing experience. The play cleverly uses mechanized stage design, automatically lifting floors, which can be transformed into different spaces according to the performances of the actors on the stage. It can be lifted, rotated, and climbed. It is not only hypothetical but also fluid. In addition, it is combined with multimedia projections to create The highly restored scenes integrate the theater, characters, and emotions into one smooth, compact, and novel experience. The creator’s extraordinary intentions can be felt by the audience. It is understood that after the first round of performances, the audience expressed that they were deeply impressed by the stage setting and scene changes of the play.
From the script creation to the stage presentation, as well as the opening ceremony of Donglaishun's famous dish sugar and garlic, the meat-cutting intangible cultural heritage display and the MV shooting of the theme song "Taste of the World", etc., they all highlighted the overall performance of the drama "Going from the West to the East" The "craftsman spirit" of the team is just like the shopkeeper Ding Deshan in the play who runs the restaurant and the Donglaishun people outside the play who build the brand. They value "truth" and uphold the craftsman spirit of pursuing "truth" and being pragmatic, and "truth" and sincerity. . 2023 is the 120th anniversary of the founding of the Donglaishun brand. Starting from a small porridge stall, to the vigorous development of seventy years after the founding of New China, Donglaishun has created a glorious century-old history and a unique halal catering culture, and has now become a representative of northern hot pot culture. , with more than 150 stores across the country, has become a group company integrating catering, products and supply chains. It is an important part of the catering strategic business unit of Beijing Tourism Group and the "golden capital" of the capital's culture. business card".
As a century-old brand, the cultural value and contemporary significance contained in the golden signboard of Donglaishun is worth letting more people understand, taste and feel. Using the form of a drama to allow more people to get closer to the history of Donglaishun and to China's extensive and profound food culture is a vivid practice of "creative transformation and innovative development" of excellent traditional culture. Under the framework of creating Beijing as a "Performing City" and "watching Beijing with great dramas", the drama "West to East" appeared at the right time. The original intention of all the creators was that the drama "West to East" should not only tell history, but also Speaking of the present, I hope that in the future the drama will become a classic of the times like the century-old brand Donglaishun!
