It was around 10 a.m. on Saturday, nearly an hour before the start of the "Sanhua" Sichuan Opera Troupe's performance. There was already a long queue of spectators waiting at the entrance of the theater - something the actors of the troupe could not have imagined in more than a year. "Scenery". Since September last year, relying on the online planting of Douyin Tandian experts, the "Sanhua" Sichuan Opera Troupe has not only revitalized the market, but also made more young people like Sichuan Opera. Recently, CCTV's "Meet You" column reported on the "Sanhua" Sichuan Opera Troupe, and particularly praised Douyin's unique contribution in helping the old theater troupe that was on the verge of bankruptcy to regain a new lease of life.
"Sanhua" Sichuan Opera Troupe was co-founded by three female opera performers, Wang Xiaojuan, Wu Yu and Chen Ying, with an average age of over 40 years. There are only a dozen actors in the troupe, with an average age between fifty and sixty years old. They are all versatile. They can play raw, dan, jing, mo, and chou. Almost everyone can play. Since its establishment in 2015, the troupe has suffered losses for a long time and was on the verge of bankruptcy a year ago. At its worst, there were more actors than audiences at every performance.
Since about a year ago, Douyin bloggers have been visiting the "Sanhua" Sichuan Opera Troupe store. The cramped dressing room, the simple stage, the wrinkles on the actors' faces, the lively performances, and nearly ten years of persistence... "Friday", the Douyin shop expert, called the theater troupe a live house for the elderly, saying that this group of young people More than half a hundred old folk opera performers are holding on to and passing on Sichuan Opera with love on a stage in the basement. The blogger "Feitian Xiaoye Beast" said that he hopes that more young audiences will pay attention to and care about traditional culture, and maybe one day when When we get old, it will also become our spiritual support; a short video titled "Visiting the open dressing room of 'Sanhua' Theater Troupe" is also circulating on the Internet...
These store visit videos make "Sanhua" Chuan The troupe unexpectedly became a "little hit" and turned the theater from a secret garden for the elderly into a spiritual habitat for young people. Under almost every store tour video, you can find similar comments: "It's worth a visit. It costs 30 yuan and you can drink tea. The uncles and aunties in it are very cute!" "When I go to Chengdu, I must go and see it!"
In this way, many young netizens were attracted and came from all over the country to listen to the show, experience the costumes, and interact with the actors. "Sanhua" Sichuan Opera Troupe has also become a check-in point for Chengdu's new Internet celebrities. In order to make it easier for more people to buy tickets, in mid-to-late September 2023, the troupe launched group buying on Douyin. In just over three months, 25,000 tickets were sold - based on the previous 20 or 30 viewers per day. Based on box office calculations, this number is almost the total over the past two years. Nowadays, the troupe's performances are almost always full, and the youngest audience members are only two or three years old.
Say goodbye to the dull and boring performance atmosphere. Today's theater is a livehouse for old theater fans during the day. You can listen to nearly 300 traditional operas such as "The Generals of the Yang Family", "The Three Saints" and "The No. 1 Scholar Pagoda"; at night it is for young people. In the spiritual habitat, you can see Sichuan Opera performances such as face-changing, spitting fire, rolling lanterns, and water sleeve dances. "Young people will perform whatever they like." Every weekend, the theater is packed with seats. If there is no room to sit in the venue, then you have to stand. Some young people guard the open space in the last row of seats, holding their mobile phones high to record the wonderful moments.
Chen Ying, who has been singing for more than 40 years, has never seen such a hot scene. She said: "After so many years, it is rare to see those young children walking into the theater. Even if they just come to take a few photos, as long as they walk into the theater and experience traditional culture, it is a big deal for us. This kind of encouragement is also a kind of comfort. Sichuan Opera cannot be eradicated. Both actors and audiences need to be passed on. "
Relying on the power of the Internet and shop-finding experts, the "Sanhua" Sichuan Opera Troupe, which was once on the verge of bankruptcy, is ushering in a new life. . To pass on the tradition, we must first open it up. As Sichuan Opera enters the lives of more and more young people, traditional opera has found the audience of the times and also found the "source of living water" for self-watering.
Source: Morning News
