At the performance site, the national intangible cultural heritage grass dragon dance was combined with the classic excerpt "Three Watching Lanterns".
I’ve watched a lot of dramas, but this is the first time I’ve seen such a big show.
Not long ago, two large buses and three container trucks drove into Yexie Town, Songjiang District. At the head of the village, the people watching whispered to each other: The city's courtyard group is coming! Watching theatrical performances, the people of Yexie can be considered to have seen the world. At last year's national summer "Village Evening" demonstration event, the village set up an open-air stage with rockers and beam lights...a big live broadcast, which was very lively.
This time, here comes the Shanghai Theater that the villagers have longed for. In the words of Wu Wei, secretary of the Party branch of the Shanghai Theater Company, the group came out to "reproduce" the performances in the city center theater and moved them to the rural theater.
Ye Xie people have a special liking for Shanghai plot. They have been listening to Shanghai Opera on the radio since they were children. They can't get enough of it and want to watch the show. On Songjiang District’s public cultural content delivery platform, Shanghai operas were the most requested: "Thunderstorm", "Ludang Fire", "Abi Da Returns to Her Mother's Home"... However, it still didn't quench my thirst. There are many theater fans in the village who imitate the performances of the Shanghai Opera Troupe on TV and imitate the performances. As time passed, I began to look forward to it: Can I watch an excerpt from the Shanghai Theater Company live?
On the other side, Shanghai Hu Theater is also looking for audiences to expand the theater's reputation.
For example, how to expand the Shanghai Opera market, gather Shanghai Opera resources, capture the basic audience and meet different needs through performances? People in the suburbs of Shanghai are one of the main audiences of Shanghai opera. Yexie Town is rich in intangible cultural heritage, venues and cultural resources, and the people's needs are eager, which is in line with the Shanghai Theater's exploration direction.
As the key research topic of the CPPCC "Vigorously promote the development of cultural undertakings and cultural industries and enhance the city's cultural soft power" is further advanced, the CPPCC Culture, Health and Sports Committee and the party committee of the government are also actively building bridges to promote the delivery of dramas to the countryside. In the fields, the show begins.
Quench your thirst
Xu Lin, the backbone of Shanghai Opera in Yexie Town, has been singing Shanghai Opera as an amateur for forty years and has never worn such professional makeup.
brings operas to the countryside. In order to entertain theater fans, the Shanghai Theater specially invites the backbone of Shanghai opera salons in villages and towns to perform on the same stage.
On the day of the performance, Xu Lin played the role of Chen Zaiting in "Meeting in the Nunnery: Ask Uncle". While waiting for the show, when he heard fellow villagers praising his appearance, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up. Xu Lin saw "national-level" Fu, Hua and Tao. For example, in order to fit the role of Hu Chuankui in "Ludang Fire: Battle of Wisdoms", the actor's nose and ears were installed with specially made models in order to fit the role of "Commander." "Usually when we perform in towns and villages, we just put on big eyes and big eyebrows and go on stage. Where can we get specialized styling and make-up photos?"
Xu Lin is the "pillar" of the Shanghai Opera Salon in Yexie Town. There are three "registered" village Hu opera salons and a Jiangnan Sizhu Qingyin class performance group in the town, all of which are voluntary organizations organized by the villagers. There are also many "nameless salons" scattered in the fields. On weekdays, the villagers watch the performance video, imitate the performance, and perform when they have a good look. Before taking the stage this time, the Shanghai Theater specially selected young actors to provide business guidance to the backbone of the village salon.
Shanghai Opera "Thunderstorm" is the most familiar play to the villagers, and one of the excerpts will be performed that day. Early in the morning, Wang Yiwen, a national second-level actor who plays the role of Ma Huimin in "Thunderstorm", and Zhu Junyao, a national second-level actor, arrived at the Yexie Town Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience Center to help the backbones of Shanghai Opera rehearse the first scene of "Thunderstorm".
Wang Yiwen and Zhu Junyao are both "post-95" actors at the Shanghai Theater Company. Many of the videos that salon backbones watch on weekdays are starring actors of their generation. Feng Wenmei, the backbone of the
salon, is 62 years old and often plays the role of Ma Huimin. "Only after learning it will you realize that there are so many ways." Feng Wenmei found that it is easy to only learn "form" by just following the video. For example, when it comes to walking, we only know how to walk, but we don’t know why we are walking. “The purpose of walking is to set up the next action. Originally, we didn’t know the connection.”
Shanghai Opera, pays attention to pronunciation. "We use standard Shanghainese dialect on stage, with sharp accents and round accents. Amateurs don't know which words need to be pronounced, so they don't sound pure." Zhu Junyao said that after playing tricks, the salon backbones Very progressive.
In Yexie, Shanghai Opera has a solid mass base. The performance started at 1:30 p.m., and villagers went to the theater to reserve seats at around 11 a.m. The front row seats are the most sought-after, as older theatergoers want to see and hear the show clearly. The theater has more than 600 seats, and they were all packed after 12 noon. The performance lasted nearly two hours, and there were fans holding up their mobile phones to record the performance. "You enjoyed it. You can watch it again when you get back." She said.
Shanghai Hu Opera Young Actor Director Ye Xie is the backbone of Shanghai Opera Salon.
is linked to
Shanghai Suburbs, which has always been the "home base" for Shanghai opera audiences.
Relevant historical data records that the "Flower Drum Opera", the predecessor of Shanghai Opera, was once popular in the Songjiang area. Many professional or semi-professional folk performance groups have been formed in the local area, and they often set up performances in rural areas. Entering the central city, it changed its name several times and was renamed "Shanghai Opera". However, among Songjiang folk, it is still called Huagu Opera, or mixed with Tanhuang and Shenqu, and it is very popular among rural people. According to the newly compiled "Songjiang Cultural Chronicles", the first female artist in Shanghai known for "Shanghai Opera" was named Lu Xiaomei, who was born and raised in Yexie.
Yexie Town is 50 kilometers away from the city center. The pace of life is completely different from that of the busy city. At around 10 a.m., the villagers prepared lunch. In the long afternoon, the villagers did not have the habit of taking a lunch break, so they looked forward to listening to the opera. Xia Huizi, a member of the Party Committee of Yexie Town, said, "With so many types of operas, villagers love to listen to Shanghai Opera. Whenever there is a performance, the venue quickly fills up with people."
People in Yexie are enthusiastic about Shanghai Opera. In other words, Ye Xie Zhen can handle this big drama. At the
performance site, the first scene was "Three Lanterns + Grass Dragon Dance". The Yexie Town's national intangible cultural heritage grass dragon dance combined with the classic excerpt "Three Lanterns" opened, igniting the atmosphere.
Of course, after a scene, it burns much more than just the atmosphere.
Xu Rong, director of the business development department of Shanghai Theater Company, fell in love with the local district-level intangible cultural heritage reed cloth textile at a glance. According to the inheritors of Yexie's intangible cultural heritage, the "Yexie cloth" during the Ming Dynasty was once famous, winning the ancient town of Yexie the reputation of "clothing and quilts all over the world". Xu Rong believes that the cheongsam made of reed cloth is very suitable for the Republic of China drama of Shanghai Opera. The double-breasted and diagonal lapels can reflect the Shanghai-style charm of Jiangnan culture and are worthy of exploring space for cooperation.
Wu Wei proposed cooperation scenarios, such as the intangible cultural heritage grass dragon dance, rolling lanterns, etc. can cooperate with the traditional repertoire of Shanghai Opera. Reed cloth textiles can participate in the new Chinese style clothing haute couture display and seminar activities hosted by the Shanghai Theater. Jiangnan Sizhu Qingyin Society can cooperate with The Shanghai Theater Ensemble cooperates to promote repertoire arrangement and performance inheritance. On the surface, it is just a show, but what really quenches the thirst is deeper linkage and mutual empowerment. Zhu Jian, a member of the cultural and artistic sector of the CPPCC, believes that the Shanghai Theater performed 237 times last year and was unable to meet the needs of various performance levels. Yexie Town has a folk salon with a certain performance foundation, and it is an exploration to provide guidance to them to improve the performance level of the salon's backbone.
This is also in line with the current goal of the Shanghai Theater Company: to attract district and private Shanghai Opera Troupes and even Shanghai Opera Salons to participate in a series of Shanghai Opera activities, handing out scripts, songs, supporting pillars, and rounding off the venue, so as to achieve the ladder matching of supply and demand for Shanghai Opera performances. Let’s work together to expand the Shanghai Opera market and stabilize the Shanghai Opera audience.
Xia Huizi told reporters that the cooperation between Shanghai Theater Company and Yexie Town aims to create a high-quality town-level Shanghai Opera performance team. On the basis of the transmission of Shanghai Opera and Shanghai dialect, discover and cultivate community Shanghai Opera performance talents, cultivate and strengthen town-level characteristic cultural teams, etc.
Young actors from the Shanghai Theater instruct children in Yexie Town, Songjiang District to learn Shanghainese.
角儿
Wu Wei commented that the audience in Yexie Town was "somewhat knowledgeable". While the actors were performing, many in the audience followed the rhythm and hummed. If you ask them why they are eager to have people from the Shanghai Theater. Answer: "The most important thing is Jiao'er."
People in Yexie say that Jiao'er is a well-known Shanghai opera master. For a Shanghai opera salon in a township, it is more practical to cultivate more "pillars" with superb skills. Xia Huizi said that he hopes that the Shanghai Theater Company can support the original creation of scripts, create more new plays based on Ye Xie's local history and cultural resources, and also help the salon's backbone to have a better understanding of the content and improve their performance skills.
At present, Shanghai Hu Theater plans to include Yexie Town in the "Hundred Towns Linkage" project. This is how Shanghai Opera builds a new ecology: within three years, the city will work with 100 towns and streets to establish a "Shanghai Opera Art Street and Town Cultural Resource Community" and roll out 20 "Shanghai Opera Art Promotion and Inheritance Bases" and "Shanghai Opera Dialect Culture" Teaching Points” etc. One of the purposes of building such an ecosystem is to free up more time for the academy itself to support others.
A bigger show is about to begin.
CPPCC members who participated in the survey analyzed that art academies need to find a balance between the cultivation of artistic elites represented by "Jiaoer" and the needs of public cultural services. A real character needs to be tailor-made, with carefully polished scripts and recognition; more importantly, the character must be promoted - this requires recognition from a large number of audiences, sinking into the fields, streets and alleys, and absorbing nutrients and enlightenment. Performance and creation can only come out if you have to sink deeply.
Author: Su Zhan
Text: Su Zhan Pictures: Provided by Shanghai Hu Theater Editor: Zhan Yue Editor: Wang Jiayi
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