Intern Zhang Xuan, China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Hu Ning's "The Proud One" is a play that premiered at the Beijing People's Art Theater in 1995. In September this year, a group of even younger student actors will recreate this classic on the stage of Beijing People

Intern Zhang Xuan China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Hu Ning

"The Proud One" is a play that premiered at the Beijing People's Art Theater in 1995. In September this year, a group of even younger student actors will recreate this classic on the stage of Beijing People's Art Theatre.

After bidding farewell to the final exams, this year’s summer vacation, the student actors of the Capital Normal University Repertory Theater spent their time in intense rehearsals. But for rehearsing a large-scale drama, these hours are definitely not generous.

Since the drama is set in the Three Kingdoms period, it is very important to restore the heaviness of the historical drama. Renyi's guidance team started from the outside. For example, the actors from the Normal University chose the original costumes from the second version of "The Proud One" that was performed in 2014. Professional costume designers selected and matched them, and also contacted Peking Opera actors. Training gait and stance.

As a member of the guidance team, the director of "Heaven's Proud" and Beijing People's Art Actor Han Qing started with the details and reached a consensus with the student actors from the beginning: "The actor's body, posture, how to stand, how to Walking on stage requires training and cannot be relaxed or casual." In order to allow the actors to adapt as quickly as possible, the coaching team also specially prepared substitute costumes for normal training. The students also attach great importance to this performance opportunity and often take the initiative to practice more.

How can university drama troupes and professional art theaters cooperate in depth and build together? This is due to the "Beijing Color Culture Youth Blooming" action plan, in which the "Large Groups and Small Groups Hand in Hand" project aims to extend Beijing's cultural resources to universities, promote exchanges between universities and art troupes, and also provide opportunities for Students build a platform to express themselves.

This year is already the second year that Beijing People’s Art has in-depth cooperation with university drama troupes. The cooperation partners include the Capital Normal University Repertory Theater and the Renmin University of China Repertory Theater. This time, the Renmin University Repertory Theater selected their original drama "North Shaanxi Public School" as a collaborative rehearsal play. The play tells the story of the founding of Shaanbei Public School, the predecessor of Renmin University by the Communist Party of China and the first new formal university of the Party. It created a historical picture of countless students being inspired to go to Yan'an.

Since it first appeared on the stage in 2021, "Northern Shaanxi Public School" has been performed by several Renmin University students. This time, they will usher in a new breakthrough.

Beijing Renyi actor Fu Yao is responsible for directing the performance of the Renmin University student actors. In order to explain professional drama performance concepts to students, Fu Yao often polishes a link over and over again, even as small as an action. For example, Cheng Fangwu, the principal of Shaanbei Public School, is affectionately called “Mama Cheng” because of her meticulous care for her students. During the performance, Fu Yao provided on-site guidance and demonstration on the tone, expression, posture, and even the position on the stage that the principal should have when talking to the students. "You have to pay attention to details. Those who can grasp the details are good actors," she said.

This play, which is about two hours long, took 6 hours to complete for the first time in rehearsal. Because the steps are repeated, the actors need to constantly switch between the state of "exiting the play" and "entering the play". What makes Fu Yao gratified is that they can always quickly understand the concepts she conveys and adjust their emotions into the right state. Fu Yao feels that "this is a very valuable quality for drama actors." After 6 hours of rehearsal, using the title of "Mama Cheng" in the play, one classmate playfully shouted "Thank you, Mommy Fu", which then turned into a chorus of "Thank you, Sister Fu" on the scene, and the rehearsal started. Ended with laughter.

For many students, cooperating with Beijing People’s Art Institute is an extremely valuable opportunity. For the first time, they saw the professional performance concepts and rehearsal standards of top domestic troupes. Peng You, who plays the middle-aged Cheng Fangwu in the play, is also a fan of Beijing People's Art Theater. He thought he already had a good understanding of Renyi's style, but the first rehearsal still surprised him."They rarely use abstract concepts in rehearsals. Instead, they will provide us with some specific directions to inspire us, such as where we should take a deep breath and where we should look. They try to show life-like content through details." Peng You said.

For Peng You, this is a conceptual upgrade: "Teacher Fu Yao tried to reproduce how the Shaanxi people lived at that time, rather than using symbolic and symbolic performances. This makes the history of red more vivid."

Jia Juntong, a student from the First Normal University, and her classmates were also very excited to be able to rehearse the classic drama of Beijing People's Art Theatre. Jia Juntong plays Queen Bian of Cao Wei in the play. In order to better understand the character's personality, she wrote a biography of the character and discussed the details of the performance with the actor who played Cao Cao many times. This is because the instructor Han Qing emphasized many times at the rehearsal that there must be "tacit understanding" between actors.

Han Qing mentioned many times that whether an actor can "catch the scene", take on the role and experience the details of the performance depends not only on the actor's condition, but also on the actor's own efforts. For an actor, playing a role means experiencing a life. Jia Juntong and his companions also engraved these gains in action.

In the "Big Group and Small Group Hand in Hand" project, it is not just the students who received guidance who gained a lot. Chen Li from Beijing People's Art Theater Education and Research Office serves as the producer of two dramas this year. This is also her second year participating in the project. The vigor and vitality of her classmates infected her. She felt that by showing her most professional level, she was protecting the sincerity of her classmates, and their sincerity also made her feel more open about herself.

In Fu Yao’s view, disseminating professional drama performance concepts to college drama troupes is an important part of aesthetic education. The growth of students makes her feel that it is of great significance.

In fact, the impact of co-rehearsing a drama on the participants has long gone beyond the drama itself. Peng You can't count how many times he has appeared in "Northern Shaanxi Public School". The performance team for this round of rehearsals is very different from the premiere in 2021. Some students even participated in the rehearsal for the first time a week before Fu Yao came to guide, but "Northern Shaanxi Public School" can always bring everyone together Connected. For him and many in the repertory theater, the rehearsal room has become a place that brings a sense of belonging. And Teacher Fu Yao brought different memories to this place.

Every time a play is performed, it means a new possibility. Han Qing himself is an actor in the 2014 version of "The Proud One". The protagonists Cao Zhi, Cao Pi, Cao Zhang and others in the play are similar in age to their classmates. She wanted to highlight the theme of "youth finding themselves" in the play through the characters' love and hatred, and also let these equally young classmates When feeling these roles, I have new thoughts on self-worth, just like the line in the play says: "Those who can be beams can be beams, those who can be pillars can be pillars, and those who cannot be beams and pillars can also be used as firewood.""Peach blossoms are red and plum blossoms are white. Who said that all flowers bloom in the same color?" ”

Source: China Youth Daily