The original drama "Beijing News" held a media meeting at the former site of the Beijing News Hall (former residence of Shao Piaoping). Photo courtesy of Beijing Xicheng District Cultural Center
Beijing News (Reporter Liu Zhen) On the occasion of the May 4th Youth Day, the original drama "Beijing News" created by Beijing Xicheng District Cultural Center was held at the former site of the Beijing News Center (former residence of Shao Piaoping) Media Press Conference. The original drama "Beijing News" mainly shows that Shao Piaoping, a pioneer in the Chinese press, used "Beijing News" as a public opinion position to criticize reactionary warlords, promote progressive ideas, and effectively promote the in-depth development of the May Fourth Movement. Especially in the play, it is shown that on the eve of the May 4th Movement, at the "May 3rd Party" at Peking University, when the motherland was in danger, Shao Piaoping, a mentor of the Journalism Research Association and a consultant to the "National" magazine, stepped forward and delivered an impassioned speech, loudly calling out " Peking University is the highest institution of higher education and should stand up and mobilize students from all schools to save the nation and rise up to fight." There are many little-known patriotic stories.
As the opening drama of the 2024 Beijing Xicheng "People's Drama Show", the original drama "Beijing News" is also the first play in the country to use Shao Piaoping as the prototype of the story and reproduce the founding history of "Beijing News". Sun Lili, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Xicheng District Culture and Tourism Bureau of Beijing, introduced that the “People’s Drama Performance” in Xicheng District started in 2014 and this year is its eleventh year. Xicheng District People's Drama Performance has always adhered to the activity model of "government setting up the stage, social participation, theater and troupe assistance, and resource sharing", adhering to the activity characteristics of "mass performance, free viewing, expert help, and star guidance", and is committed to integrating drama art into Common people's lives allow more people to have close contact and feel the charm of drama.
's original drama "Beijing News" is the third "red-themed play trilogy" that the Beijing Xicheng District Cultural Center has created based on character prototypes after "Father Li Dazhao" and "New Beiping Mayor". Zheng Xin, director of the Beijing Xicheng District Cultural Center, said at the media meeting that in recent years, the Beijing Xicheng District Cultural Center has relied on the rich red cultural resources of Xicheng District to explore the red stories of Xicheng and highlight the characteristics of Xicheng. The rehearsal of the play adheres to the creative characteristics of the cultural center's "combination of specialties and groups". It is performed by the cultural center's business cadres and mass drama enthusiasts, using the form of drama to inherit the red gene and promote mass drama. "Judging from the vision of so many young people actively participating in the mass cultural activities of the Xicheng District Cultural Center, their enthusiasm for participating in performances is very high, which also makes our cultural center confident in promoting the concept of 'mass drama'." Beijing News The script of this work took three years of careful polishing before we had the confidence to further process and create it with the teachers and put it on the stage. "It is worth mentioning that according to curator Zheng Xin. It was revealed that several of the main character actors in the play were selected by the creative team from more than 200 actors and based on heroes from a century ago, and almost restored the image of each character 1:1.
Shao Cheng, the grandson of Mr. Shao Piaoping and consultant of the original drama "Beijing News", and actors in front of the statue of Shao Piaoping. Photo provided by Beijing Xicheng District Cultural Center
"On the day to commemorate the 105th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, actors performed beside the bronze statue of Mr. Shao Piaoping about how he used his pen as a gun and the Beijing News as a public opinion base to join the May Fourth wave. "The screenwriter and director of the original drama "Beijing News" shared the innovations of the play at the scene. He mentioned that the original drama "Beijing News" created this time is the first time in the country that the life of Mr. Shao Piaoping and the founding and development of "Beijing News" are discussed. The history of the film will be presented on the stage in a panoramic and dramatic manner, focusing on using dramatic means to excavate and externalize the ideological and spiritual world of Mr. Shao Piaoping as a proletarian news warrior. The difficulty of
's original historical drama is to find a sense of reality without a template. "We will ask the actors to not only interpret the script during rehearsals, but also interpret life." Project leader and chief director of the original drama "Beijing News" Yang Di said, “There is a certain distance between us and the era in the play. This is one of the difficulties in the creation and performance process, and it needs to be made up for outside of rehearsals."To this end, the crew arranged face-to-face discussions with Shao Cheng, the grandson of Mr. Shao Piaoping and the consultant of the original drama "Beijing News", visited the old site of the Beijing News Office (former residence of Shao Piaoping) many times, and consulted relevant historical materials, etc., so that the actors could go through a large number of Accumulate background information to experience the era in the play and explore the spiritual outlook of the characters in the context of the era. I hope that through this rehearsal and performance, the actors can create vivid characters on the stage and perform moving stage works.
" By performing on stage, we can convey various emotions and thoughts, causing the audience to resonate and think. "Yang Naiqing, the star of the original drama "Beijing News", is a business cadre of the Drama and Music Arts Department of Xicheng District, Beijing. He has participated in many original plays before, but for this performance, he believes that it is still full of new challenges and he can have new roles in the role. A breakthrough. From acting teachers to drama actors, Zhang Weikun, director of the Xicheng District Dramatists Association of Beijing, said that completing rehearsals with students from behind the scenes to in front of the stage is not only a practice of teaching theory, but also a test of teaching results. I hope that I can successfully complete the performance of the original drama "Beijing News" at the National Theater of China and hand in a satisfactory answer.
Photo provided by the creators, actors and consultants of the original drama "Beijing News". Beijing Xicheng District Cultural Center
“This is the first time I have shared my grandfather’s story with the mass drama team. During the communication with the actors, I once again uncovered bits and pieces of my grandfather’s story. "Shao Cheng, the grandson of Mr. Shao Piaoping and consultant for the original drama "Beijing News", specifically mentioned that he was sincerely happy that these young directors and actors from the Xicheng District Cultural Center in Beijing would create and interpret the story of his grandfather Shao Piaoping. But because of this, the challenges and requirements for the creative team and actors have become higher. He believes that this work is about something that happened more than a hundred years ago, which also allows young actors to play some characters. There are still some difficulties in understanding relationships. “I believe these young people are enthusiastic and passionate and will break this deadlock through their own efforts. As far as I know, there are no works about Shao Piaoping or based on reporters or reporters from the Republic of China period in domestic film and television works or stage works. However, I saw many fresh faces of young people in this crew, which is very interesting to me. We are full of confidence in the successful performance of the original drama "Beijing News". "
It is reported that the Beijing Xicheng District Cultural Center has appeared on the stage of the National Theater of China for the fifth time and has been invited to participate in this China Original Drama Invitational Exhibition. As the only mass drama team in the 9th China Original Drama Invitational Exhibition, the original The drama "Beijing News" will be performed at the National Theater of China from June 18th to 19th.
Editor Huang Jialing
Proofreading by Lu Qian
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