At the beginning of the play, the actors took the stage one after another, picked up books, and flipped through the novel. On the stage, more than ten people began to read the text of the novel "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" together. During the reading, the actors alternately "enter the play" and become "people in the book". The scholar in modern clothes instantly becomes a character in the novel, recreating the turbulent 1930s in the book.
Stills from "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains". The stills in this article were all taken by Lu Yushuo.
On the evening of March 23, the Shanghai Dramatic Art Center·Light of Humanity Season Play, adapted from the famous writer Sun Ganlu’s Mao Dun Literary Award-winning work and the novel of the same name, was ushered in at the Shanghai Dramatic Art Center·Art Theater. Premiere. As an original new play that has attracted much attention on the Shanghai theater stage this year, "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" has become popular before it is performed. The first round of performances has been sold out early. The opening night was packed with seats, and many professionals from the Shanghai literary and theater circles came to watch the show.
"A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is a novel by the famous writer Sun Ganlu. It has won the 11th Mao Dun Literature Award and the "Five One Project" Award. The story of the novel revolves around the unknown heroes fighting on the hidden front and the transfer of the Party Central Committee from Shanghai. With the great historical events in Ruijin as the background, it records a thrilling underground struggle and depicts a group of heroic and fearless communists.
Poster of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"
This drama version of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" was adapted from the original work by national first-level screenwriter Zhao Wei and directed by the famous drama director Wang Xiaoying. "A drama adapted from a literary work requires It is very important to be able to maintain the characteristics of literature itself." Wang Xiaoying said that for this reason, he and the screenwriter agreed on the direction of the script adaptation, using a narrative form, combining deduction and narration, to present a "three-dimensional novel" on the stage ".
Therefore, "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" presented on the stage is extremely faithful to the original work. Not only does the structure of the novel run through almost the entire play, but the literary characteristics of the original work are also tried to be presented on the stage. Poetic language and tense plot alternately become the main tone of the whole play.
During the performance, the actors’ novel readings and dramatic performances were interspersed. This places extremely high demands on the actors' performances. They are not only readers, but also interpreters of the characters in the play, and also narrators of the stories in the play. They jump in and out of these three levels of performance states, switching quickly, and the difficulty is Very high.
Zhang Ruihan plays Chen Qianli
In the play, Zhang Ruihan plays Chen Qianli, Han Xiuyi plays Yi Junnian, Ma Yili plays Ling Wen, Feng Hui plays Ye Qinian, and Du Ruoxi plays Ye Tao. A total of 15 actors are all from Shanghai Dramatic Art Center. In particular, Ma Yili, who returned to the stage for the first time in many years, attracted much attention for her role as the female lead in the play. Although she doesn't have the most scenes, Ma Yili's several appearances still have a good sense of character and stage. The image of a female writer and underground party member emerges on the stage through a few scenes.
Ma Yili as Ling Wen
In order to better realize the transformation between "narration" and "performance". There are many corresponding coordinations in the stage design and costume design of the play. The main creators of the whole drama have gathered the country's first-class creators. Liu Kedong is responsible for the stage design, and Xing Xin is responsible for the lighting design. The design of the turntable provides more flexibility in time and space when switching scenes, and the multimedia design enhances the atmosphere of the whole play. Costume designer Dong Guiying designed fifty-seven looks for the characters in the play. The change from reader to character often only takes ten minutes.
The story of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" takes place in Shanghai in the 1930s. It is both a history of revolution and a chronicle of Shanghai's scenery. Sima Road Food Market, Chinachem Hotel, Zhejiang Grand Theater, Gujiazhai Park... The original author Sun Ganlu restored the style of old Shanghai with real landmarks. The drama "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" also strives to restore this kind of urban memory. The actors in the drama also use southern and northern accents from time to time. Shanghai dialect, Yangzhou dialect, Cantonese and other local dialects appear in the drama.
In the last scene of the play, all the actors read "An Unsigned Letter" from the original novel on the stage: "Sometimes, I seem to see myself in the dark night.See me looking at you, anywhere in this world, always looking at you, looking at the happy and charming stars in the night sky. "The literary style of the original work continues on the stage. Director Wang Xiaoying said that the original novel is very distinctive and sentimental, so it must be brought to the stage in a distinctive and sentimental way. He hopes that this sentiment can be conveyed in this form To the audience.
Stills of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"
It is reported that the first round of the drama "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" will be performed at the Shanghai Dramatic Art Center until April 14. April 26 will be the opening of the 2024 Shanghai Jing'an Modern Drama Valley The drama was staged at Majestic Theater.
