How can one person decorate 15 cents? The important thing is that these 15 characters are all written by Shakespeare. "Romeo and Juliet" is Shakespeare's most classic love tragedy and comedy. It is a poetic drama in plain verse, with a maze-like sonnet hidden deep inside. Its dialogue is poetry, and it is closer to spoken language than ordinary poetry. . How to "speak" a long paragraph of poetry that is rich in philosophical charm or affectionate into an ordinary but unconventional speech? It is a great test of the performer's line skills.
"Uncle" Wang Yaoqing did it, using the art of sound to conquer both the drama and symphony stages. On June 15, the symphony drama "Romeo and Juliet" premiered at the Guangzhou Grand Theater. In the play, Wang Yaoqing plays 15 roles including the Narrator, Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, Marcusio, and Mrs. Capulet. He has performed all the roles, regardless of stage performance ability, line skills, or precise grasp of music. , Wang Yaoqing are just right.
When the "yuppie uncle" in the film and television drama transforms into the "man with a thousand faces" on the stage of the drama, it brings a new tension to the sweet and sad "Romeo and Juliet". "Yuppie Uncle" has a sense of elegance between solemnity and humor. When such a person appears in the plot of "Romeo and Juliet", how will he interpret simple, pure, passionate and sincere love?
Before the performance, Nandu reporters conducted a special interview with Wang Yaoqing. He said: "I have always liked the stage of dramas and stage plays, because the floor of this stage has a kind of magic. In the theater, you accumulate all your thoughts, thoughts and learning through this floor, not through it. Not through your performance, but through the floor of this stage, allowing all the audience to breathe in the same field with you. "
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How to be the "starring actor" on the stage and the "supporting actor" in the symphony
through the symphony drama. The stage allows the audience to breathe together with the performers on the stage. Wang Yaoqing did a lot of homework, reading scripts, reciting lines, and rehearsing diligently... In order to perform this stage play well, he invested a lot of time in variety shows and film and television dramas. All the energy was gathered back and used to concentrate on polishing this symphony drama.
"Romeo and Juliet" was his second attempt to perform a symphony on stage. The first time was in 2018. The most original motivation came from the infectious energy of friends.
At that time, music critic Jiao Yuanpu produced the first domestic symphony drama "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for Ms. Chang Sylvia, which was at its peak. Jiao Yuanpu re-edited "A Midsummer Night's Dream", condensing the lines and plots of the drama, using a single narrative mode, with 14 characters played by dramatist Zhang Sijia alone. Following this method, he adapted the composer Grieg's work "Peer Gynt" and found conductor Zhang Jiemin and actor Wang Yaoqing to join him. Zhang Jiemin serves as the conductor, while Wang Yaoqing is responsible for storytelling on the stage. One person plays 22 roles. He needs to skillfully use the characters' lines to attach the "picture" of the dramatic performance to the music.
Based on the original intention of doing something interesting with interesting friends, Wang Yaoqing took over the cooperation of "Peer Gynt". But in fact, he had never watched "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and did not understand symphony dramas. He was only moved by the enthusiasm of two professional teachers, Jiao Yuanpu and Zhang Jiemin, for classical music.
"Looking back now, in fact, when I rehearsed Peer Gynt for the first time, I had no idea about symphony drama. It was not until the rehearsal and performance that I truly realized its charm." Wang Yaoqing shared, "The music of "Peer Gynt" is relatively well-known, but many people may not know where it comes from. Making symphony plays is to promote music. As a narrator and part of the orchestra, I need to complete the performance under the guidance of the conductor. "
Not only the musical instruments need to obey the orchestra conductor's arrangements, but Wang Yaoqing who reads the lines also needs to obey, which makes him very interesting. He joked that the symphony drama was not his personal performance. He is the important and only leading actor on the stage, but he is also a supporting role in the entire symphony.
Why does a symphony play need such a storyteller? He said that classical music has experienced the precipitation of time and must have an indescribable beauty that can move people. As a dramatic soundtrack, it is always incomplete without drama, so someone needs to connect the stories together, and the presence of narration will make the music more visual. Despite this, music still needs to come first, and all other efforts and arrangements are to allow everyone to better understand the composer's music.
As for the symphony and the storyteller, it doesn’t matter who is the protagonist or the supporting role. What is important is that there is drama in the music, and there is music in the drama. After listening to the performance, many people may love symphony more because they like drama. I will also fall in love with the story in the drama again because of the symphony.
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Good lines are also good "movement"
If there is no immersive performance, but you want more people to "read" the charm of the drama through the symphony, the lines of the script are particularly important. Good lines are also good "movement", which can play the role of threading the needle.
This version of "Romeo and Juliet" with Wang Yaoqing as the storyteller chose the symphony version of the ballet "Romeo and Juliet" composed by Russian composer Prokofiev as the main axis, and invited the Macao Orchestra to join in the performance, replacing the silent music with music The dance depicts the scene, the original ballet plot sequence is re-edited based on the lines, and the music scenes are re-arranged with new logic.
music critic Jiao Yuanpu made a lot of adaptations to the script. He first had to adapt the whispers between lovers into lines suitable for Wang Yaoqing to perform alone, and then he also had to change many of the narrations to be more concise and concise, because of time It is limited, and the music and the story are about 50/50 apart. The story needs to be told, but it cannot steal the spotlight from the music. The scale is not easy to grasp.
"The situation in "Romeo and Juliet" and "Peer Gynt" this time is not the same. When I starred in "Peer Gynt", I was part of the orchestra. But in "Romeo and Juliet" I required Integrating all the lines into the movement like lyrics, my voice became an instrument," Wang Yaoqing said, "The story of Romeo and Juliet itself is well known, but the music may not be so familiar, so we chose Prokofiev's. Ballet version, this version of music may only be known to classical music fans. "
also aims to popularize classical music, and this time the narration is designed to be closely integrated with the movement. This greatly increases the difficulty for the speaker. This requires Wang Yaoqing to not only understand drama performances, but also music. Fortunately, he learned piano when he was a child and acted in plays for many years. The difficulty and intensity did not affect his ability to perform freely on the stage at all.
That night, Wang Yaoqing calmly played 15 roles on the stage. Through long lines, he presented Prokofiev's ballet symphony in a dramatic context, while also recreating Shakespeare's classic love story. Whenever there is an emotional moment, there are always people who can’t help but want to applaud. To quote a lyric from Wang Yaoqing's "Encore King": "Applause starts in the music." Here, the applause comes from both the music and the "lines". Under his interpretation, the lines are embedded in the movements like lyrics.
Dialogue
Use "Dawn of Love" to awaken long-lost music
Nandu Entertainment: One person plays 15 roles in the play, presenting Prokofiev's ballet symphony in a dramatic context, recreating Shakespeare's classic love story, why Will you be willing to accept such a challenge?
Wang Yaoqing: What moves me is never the story itself, but the person who proposed the project. What attracted me was not the story, but the opportunity to work with these interesting souls and interesting people. Whether it's "Peer Gynt" or "Romeo and Juliet," the reason I'm involved is the people.Teacher Jiao Yuanpu is a senior promoter of classical music, and Zhang Jiemin is a very capable conductor. They both want to popularize and promote classical music. I am also a lover of classical music, but I choose to participate in these projects because I want to have something to do with them. Talented, passionate people to work with.
Nandu Entertainment: What was the biggest problem you encountered while accepting this challenge?
Wang Yaoqing: There are 22 characters in "Peer Gynt" and 15 characters in "Romeo and Juliet", but the difficulty does not lie in the number. Most of the 15 characters this time are teenagers of similar age, which makes it more difficult for the audience to distinguish them. There are indeed difficulties in performance. For example, there is a scene where a group of young boys are fighting in the street. Because the characters are similar in age and gender, they need to be distinguished in performance. This is a challenge in live performance. But the bigger challenge is how to make the audience understand that this is not just a simple love, but there is a deeper content in it. In order to make the story richer, in order to make the story richer, Shakespeare used a lot of contrasts and metaphors in his works, describing the balance between time and drama, the contrast between comedy and tragedy, and the contrast between short-lived and eternal love, etc., need Find those balances in your performance.
There is also a character created especially for me in the play - the wet nurse. Although this character already exists, we hope to present more joy in this character to dilute the entire love tragedy element. But to be honest, I still haven’t fully figured out what the nanny should look like.
Nandu Entertainment: French writer Hugo said that "Romeo and Juliet" is about "love at dawn". But Jiao Yuanpu has always said that the love part is something he is not very good at, and he needs you to be responsible. How do you think the symphony version of "Romeo and Juliet" will move the audience?
Wang Yaoqing: Love exists no matter in which era. Modern people may not believe in love, but the feeling of love at first sight exists, and we cannot resist the physical reaction. It’s just that our current environment and times may make people less willing to believe or follow their inner feelings.
We hope that through this performance, first of all, the audience can better experience the music and make the music more visual in the context of the story. Secondly, let everyone re-examine the story and understand the details. We try our best to let the audience experience this kind of romance, but what each audience can get depends on the individual. But our goal is not to bring back the romance of 400 years ago, but to promote music. After a work is presented to the public, all it can do is present it as well as possible. As for what the audience can gain, it is not up to the creator to decide.
Written by: Nandu reporter Wu Fengsi, intern Zhou Linlin
Pictures: provided by the interviewee
