"I am a fan of Teacher Mo Yan. I have watched the movie "Red Sorghum" no less than 5 times. Because of my understanding of Mo Yan's works, I must participate in this drama." May 8, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang , national first-class actor Zhang Kaili said in an interview that she was lucky to be able to act in Mo Yan's works.
Following its premiere in Suzhou, Jiangsu on May 3, the play "Crocodile" will be performed at the Hangzhou Theater from May 10 to 11. On May 8, the 2024 Yanghua Drama & Mo Yan play "Crocodile" press conference was held in Hangzhou. The leading actors Zhao Wenxuan, Zhang Kaili, and Deng Cuiwen talked with the audience and shared their feelings about participating in the performance.
"Crocodile" is the first original drama script written by the famous writer Mo Yan after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. The play is directed by Wang Keran, artistic director of Yanghua Drama, and tells the story of Shan Wuxian, a corrupt official who fled to the United States, and his life overseas.
The play also brings together performing artists from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong. Among them, the famous Taiwanese actor Zhao Wenxuan plays the male protagonist Shan Wuzang, the national first-class actor Zhang Kaili plays Shan Wuzang's wife Qiao Ling, and the famous Hong Kong actress Deng Cuiwen plays Shan Wuzang's lover Shou Ma.
The entire drama is more than three hours long. As the male protagonist, Zhao Wenxuan has a very large number of lines, but during rehearsals, he could blurt out the lines of both actresses. "I particularly like their lines, which are sharp, spicy and exciting."
He described Mo Yan's writing like this: like a traditional Chinese medicine, it is bitter at first, but the more you chew it, the more flavorful it becomes, and it will taste sweet afterward.
In the play, corrupt official Shan Wufang experienced the betrayal of his lover and secretary, his son committing suicide by taking drugs, and his wife returning to China during his ten years of fleeing to the United States. In the eyes of many people, this is a villain. Zhao Wenxuan initially thought, "This is a person who made a mistake," but when he really got into the role, he discovered the multi-faceted nature of this corrupt official: cold, fearless in the face of desire and temptation, and more terrifying than the villain.
takes a villain as the protagonist and analyzes human nature, which is an uncommon theme in Chinese original stage plays. Zhang Kaili said that the great thing about Mo Yan's works is that the characters are not stereotyped. There are more than a dozen characters in the play, and even if the supporting characters only have 32 lines, everyone is three-dimensional and full. For actors, it is lucky to be able to portray a full-bodied character.
She once said frankly that it was very difficult to interpret the role of Qiao Ling. Zhang Kaili once starred in the TV series "In the Name of the People" as the wife of a high-ranking official. Although Qiaoling is also an official's wife, the two roles are completely different. Qiaoling has all kinds of misfortune, helplessness and pain, and all she can do is restore it to the truth.
Deng Cuiwen rarely acted in dramas. In order to appear in the role of Shou Ma, she went to the acrobatic troupe to study, and also learned how to quarrel in Mandarin. Although the character of Shou Ma is very different from the characters she played before and she needs to get out of her "comfort zone", she said, "I have to act in Teacher Mo Yan's script", especially for such a profound work, it is a pity to miss it .
Deng Cuiwen said that the characters in the play show the common points of human nature, including human strengths and weaknesses. She hopes that her performance will allow the audience to see themselves in the role and be inspired.
Source: China News Network
