"Grandpa's Coffee Time" interprets the trek of family love with dementia

, as the first stage play adapted from a picture book by [Biaofang], the family drama "Grandpa's Coffee Time" opened in Shanghai Theater on January 25. This is the first stage play directed by "The Heartwarming Queen of Theater" Lu Manyin. Ding Naizheng is the artistic director, and Fan Guangyao, Fan Ruijun, Wang Jingguan, Li Chenxiang, Lu Mingyao, and Li Shaojie are co-starred. The play uses a cup of coffee to connect three generations of emotions and interpret them. Heart-warming stories of dementia elderly families.

"Grandpa's Coffee Time" is inspired by Ma Weixin's picture book "Eternal Coffee Time", written by Wang Jingdun, Ding Naizheng and Lu Manyin, and it tells about a large and few-concerned group in today's society-Alzheimer's disease The story of the patient and his family. Due to his grandmother's illness and hospitalization, Han Han, who had just entered university, took the responsibility of caring for his grandpa with dementia during the holidays. Grandpa was once the "hero" in Han Han's mind and the object of the family's dependence, but now he has become as fragile as a child and needs constant care. The role of grandfather and grandson seemed to be turned over, and Han Han was often teased by his grandpa to the point of being dumbfounded. The two became "good friends" drinking coffee together, and recalled the days when grandma was at home in the fragrance of coffee.

Ma Weixin stated that the original creation came from family life. His father has been demented for 18 years, and it is now in the final stage. During this period, his mother had to go to jail for three and a half years. Before leaving, she kept teaching her father how to remember the luggage, how to take medicine, how to remember where the laundry was changed, and she kept taking care, but her father still couldn't figure it out. After my mother was in jail, my father clamored to see her every day, and cried every day. "In the end we compromised and took him to visit my mother. I want to record this story and write down the bits and pieces so that when my mother comes out, I can know that my father misses him so much."

"Coffee Time" is both realistic and romantic, focusing on the common family structure in life. In the play, the single mother Nianqing shoulders the financial burden of the family, and her busy work makes her neglect communication with her relatives. Although her son Han Han has just entered university and seems to have more time to take care of his grandfather than a working person, he still has holiday arrangements. The uncle who has lived under the aura of her sister for a long time read the words, in order to prove himself, he used his father's medical treatment money to start a business... "Who will take care of the elderly?" "Who should make concessions?" This is a portrayal of ordinary families in modern society Everyone is facing such a problem. The people in the play gradually learn to make choices during the long journey of dementia. The audience sees themselves from their choices, sees the test everyone is facing or will face, sees what their past and future will be like, and thinks about the existing family relationship.

"Originally I got this script too warm, not my favorite drama, I like abnormal, dark and conflict." Fan Guangyao said, "After the performance, we shared and found that the audience like it is really the only answer." In 2016, in the 30th anniversary edition of "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Spring", Jiang Bin Liu, played by Fan Guangyao, was set on the stage of the theater. Then we saw the straight male professor of "New Dragon Inn", the King Yama in "Taipei Men and Women" who stepped on high heels, and the innocent and grandiose Dragon Master in "Love Is Obscure, People Are Obscure"... Fan Guangyao said that he is the most I hope that others will not recognize him. When he knows that Jiang Bin Liu, Long Gongzi, and Professor are all played by him and exclaimed, it is the biggest praise for him.

This time, Fan Guangyao will play "Overage" as his grandpa. He laughed at himself best in playing two roles, one is the old man, the other is the bad guy, and the "old bad guy" plays the best. "Like the teachers of Jin Shijie, Li Guoxiu, and Li Liqun, Fan Guangyao has never been a niche since he was young, and has always played an old role. "I like to be with the elderly. The older the teacher, the more I am willing to talk to him. "In life, Fan Guangyao often observes the behavior and physical state of the elderly, so that they are too old-fashioned and his classmates don’t get along with him. For the role of Grandpa, in Fan Guangyao’s words: Back of thug. "Most people think that an old man with dementia should be pitiful when you see it, and you may cry when you hear it, but the grandfather played by Fan Guangyao is very cute. "As an old man with dementia, people think he is very pitiful. , This is so unconventional! "He said, under his interpretation, the grandpa in the play will remind people of his parents. They are a bit stubborn and unreasonable, but very cute.

​​Another powerful actor Fan Ruijun plays the role of caring for his father and A strong career woman in the workplace-Zhang Nianqing. The tremendous pressure that this role bears made Fan Ruijun have to spend his efforts to "suppress sadness" during rehearsal. From the beginning of reading, Fan RuijunShe burst into tears, she said: "The emotional depletion of acting in this play is very serious, and I often feel heartache. Until the beginning of the rehearsal, I still asked the director to let my acting emotions come gently. Because of the disguise of life as usual Touch and break." Nianqing is the center of the various contradictions in the play. It deals with conflicts such as the mother's illness and hospitalization, the father suffering from dementia, the brother's paranoia, and the son's growth transition period. , Fan Ruijun's sonorous and powerful performance presented a helpless situation that shocked the audience.

In this family, grandpa’s dementia caused everything to be like an explosion in chaos. Everyone in the family lived out of order and argued with each other, all because of their own position and taking care of grandpa. Director Lu Manyin said: "During the rehearsal process, I constantly missed my father, and he will leave forever in March this year... Maybe he is looking at his daughter kindly in the sky, working hard as she can. , Carefully express the nostalgia and gratitude since childhood, and then can let go and continue to move forward bravely!" said Ding Naizheng, artistic director of

, "After grandpa demented, his family began to learn how to pass Act to love, how to let go of yourself, and love more selflessly. Taking care of your demented relatives makes you unavoidable. You must truly interact with him in the present, because he who lives in the present will not accept your false feelings and disguise. "This drama is like a portrayal of the real life of each of our families. As the saying goes, "Every family has a scripture that is hard to recite", but because of "love", families can choose to support each other and be considerate, and jointly explore the way out of life. . "Family" is a connection that everyone can't cut, because this is "home".

(Knews reporter: Wang Linlin, intern editor: Cao Linfeng)