At 19:30, the opening bell of the Capital Theater rang along with the thunderstorm outside the window, and the invisible swaying wind and rain lingered on the stage. Eight red pillars rotated and changed, and three dragon chairs stood apart. In a desolate atmosphere, the news of Zhang Juzheng's death suddenly came, stirring up huge waves in the hearts of everyone. On June 11, after half a year, Beijing People's Art Theater's original historical drama "Zhang Juzheng" officially started another round of performances.
Stills of "Zhang Juzheng". Photo by our reporter Fang Fei
"Zhang Juzheng" was written by the famous writer Xiong Zhaozheng, directed by Feng Yuanzheng and Yan Rui, and starred by Feng Yuanzheng, Zhang Pei, Liu Zhiyang, Li Jinfeng, He Jing and others. It had its first round of performances at the end of last year during the New Year's Eve. In this work, Beijing People's Art Institute focuses on the theme of reformers for the first time, showing the ambition and responsibility of a generation of reformers. Different from Renyi's previous realist-style historical dramas, "Zhang Juzheng" uses two clues of reality and non-reality to alternately narrate on a freehand-style fluid stage. One narrates the important nodes of Zhang Juzheng's first assistant career, and uses peppercorns to save his salary. Events connected his road to reform, and the other road was unfolded using imagination, starting from his behind-the-scenes. On the road to Huangquan, Zhang Juzheng met the souls of his old friends, looking back and reflecting on his life in the dialogue, focusing on Highlighting modern reflections on historical works.
Stills of "Zhang Juzheng". Photographed by our reporter Fang Fei
In the six months since the premiere, the crew of "Zhang Juzheng" combined the suggestions of the audience and experts and devoted a lot of time to a new round of rehearsals. This time, the crew focused on characterization, placing more emphasis on the details of the performance and the handling of lines. "The performances of the middle-aged actors are collectively 'online', and the young actors also brought us surprises. Judging from their age, they can indeed be said to be outstanding." As director and starring, Feng Yuanzheng gave affirmation. In recent years, the replacement of old and new people in Beijing’s arts and crafts has been a topic that has attracted much attention from the outside world. It is also a practical challenge faced by the theater. “If we want young people to take over as soon as possible, we must show them on the stage and attract more audiences.” Get to know them as early as possible and let them mature as soon as possible."
This "painstaking effort" echoes the theme of this year's Beijing People's Art Festival "Youth People's Art". On June 12, the anniversary of the Academy, the important purpose of two offline activities and a 12-hour online live broadcast is to push the younger generation to a broader platform. "After the 70th anniversary of the Academy, we have been thinking about how the arts should go in the future." Feng Yuanzheng said. Obviously, "rejuvenation" is a major focus. In addition to vigorously promoting young actors to move to the center of the stage and renovating the expression of their works, next, "we hope to build the actor team of Renyi in a step-by-step manner, and from the long-term development of the theater It seems that it can facilitate the recruitment of subsequent talents.”
