Hong Kong director Mao Junhui is a leading figure in the Hong Kong drama industry, and is even called the "Godfather of Hong Kong Drama." Prior to this, he directed the drama "Seeking Proof", "Love in the Allure" and the stage drama "The Purple Hairpin in Love", etc., which have been performed in Shanghai and aroused great response. During the Hong Kong Week of the Shanghai International Arts Festival this year, Mao Junhui’s latest Cantonese opera "Swords from the Baihuating Pavilion" will be performed twice at the Majestic Theater on November 8th and 9th. This drama was performed in three consecutive shows at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2018, which was difficult to find and a sensation, so it was performed again at this year's Hong Kong Arts Festival. This is also the first "return" work in the 47-year history of the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
Mao Junhui previously served as the Dean of the Performance Department of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Artistic Director of the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre. His stage plays are mostly drama-based. Because he liked opera since he was a child, his works often incorporate many elements of Cantonese opera and opera. "Hundred Flowers Pavilion Presents Sword" is his second time to direct Cantonese opera after Cantonese opera "Li Houzhu". "As for the possibility of Cantonese opera's artistic development, I actually thought about it for many years, but this is the first time I started to do it." Mao Junhui said: ""Hundred Flower Pavilion Gifting Sword" is to find the combination of opera and modern theater. I want to do it. This is a Cantonese opera that everyone can appreciate."
"Hundred Flower Pavilion Gifting Sword" stills. The picture in this article is provided by the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
Traditional Cantonese opera performances are stuck in a certain kind of "rigidity". A generation of actors should have a generation’s mission. One of only four world-class intangible cultural heritages in opera. In Hong Kong, Cantonese opera has a large audience, but most of them are middle-aged and elderly. There are also many Cantonese opera actors and troupes, but most of them rely on pleasing existing audiences as their main way of survival.
In Mao Junhui's opinion, the performance and style of Cantonese opera have fallen into a stylized, even rigid mode. Most Cantonese opera actors don't have the idea of "creating", they are more in repetitive performances.
Mao Junhui is a well-known figure in Hong Kong's drama industry, but he lived in Shanghai since he was a child, and then went to the United States to study for many years to receive an education in Western drama. In 1985, Mao Junhui returned to Hong Kong to serve as the Dean of the Acting Department of the School of Drama, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Its students include many of Hong Kong's leading performers such as Zhan Ruiwen, Zhen Yongbei, Xie Junhao, Liu Yali, Su Yuhua, Liu Yucui, Chen Jinhong and Zhang Daming. In 2001, he came to the "Hong Kong Repertory Theatre" as artistic director.
Mao Junhui
Since his mother is Cantonese and his father is Shanghainese, both of them love opera. Mao Junhui has watched many plays with his parents since he was a child. Among them, Beijing opera is especially watched, and Guangdong drama is also watched a lot. Mao Junhui, who liked opera since he was a child, has a deep understanding of the traditions of opera.
But he also understands the plight of traditional opera, especially Cantonese opera in Hong Kong. "Most young people around me can't appreciate traditional Cantonese opera. It feels too long and too noisy."
A few years ago, Mao Junhui was invited to return to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts where he had taught for many years to serve as the dean of the newly established Academy of Chinese Opera. Every day, he looks at a group of young people studying Chinese opera and thinks that if you just imitate traditional performances, it is too difficult for the young people of this era to surpass older artists in singing. "This is due to the times, but each generation of actors should have their mission. The younger generation of opera actors, they should have a new way out, what can they do?"
Mao Junhui felt that he could make a play with young people. Explore the new direction of Cantonese opera to attract more audiences.
didn't expect it to happen soon. The Jockey Club local elite creation series launched by the Hong Kong Arts Festival found him, hoping to create new works for local dramas, Mao Junhui immediately proposed that he could be a Cantonese opera. Thus, a brand-new Cantonese opera classic "Baihuating Sword" began. This drama is also commissioned and produced by the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and is the first opera work commissioned by the art festival in its history.
makes Cantonese opera more possibilities, but not deliberately pursuing innovation in form.
Cantonese opera "Baihuating Sword" is a work written by the famous Hong Kong screenwriter Tang Disheng (1917-1959) for the "License Theatre", based on Kunqu Opera " "Hundred Flowers Gifts Sword" Excerpt Opera. The most widely circulated core passage in the play is "Gift of Swords". It tells that young talent Jiang Liuyun spied for news in the Anxi Palace and accidentally broke into the "Haihua Pavilion", the bedroom of Princess Baihua that men are not allowed to enter. Unexpectedly, Princess Baihua is right. Liuyun fell in love at first sight and gave a sword to make a marriage.
"Hundred Flower Pavilion Gift Sword" stills
"Hundred Flower Pavilion Gift Sword""In the early years, it was sung by Cantonese opera red actor He Feifan and Wu Junli. It has been popular for decades. Since its premiere in October 1958, it has been nearly 60 years since it is still loved by opera fans. The reason why Mao Junhui chose this drama is that there is something interesting in its story.
"This is a very classic Cantonese opera, but after so many years of singing, including the script and some aspects, it has been out of touch with the times." Mao Junhui said that he hopes that when creating this drama, he will study and think, "What are the Cantonese operas Aspects can be moved, but which aspects cannot be moved." The preliminary preparations for
took a year. Mao Junhui recruited a young, new-generation screenwriter Jiang Junjie to reprocess the script and inject a new sense of the times. "First of all, we have to shorten the duration from three or four hours to about two hours now. Secondly, the story is no longer the original reunion, it has become more dramatic, and the characters have to be more reasonable."
At the end, many new audiences feel very "Shakespearean".
and the actors are bolder to use new talents. The two leading actors are young people who have just graduated. In Mao Junhui's view, they have a good foundation, but they are also easy to absorb new ideas.
"Guangdong Cantonese opera has many gongs and drums, and the actors' lines often follow the gongs and drums. They are rhythmic and musical. This is a feature I think is very good. But over time, the actors become rigid. Almost all the lines are said in one way. This is actually a limitation on theatrical performance."
Therefore, during the rehearsal process, he always inspires young actors to think more about their own acting methods in addition to stylized performances. . "Why do you want to say that? Is there a more appropriate way of expression?" Compared with the traditional drama, this new version of "Baihuating Sword" does not have so many gongs and drums.
However, Mao Junhui feels that since it is a Cantonese opera, the characteristics of the opera must be preserved. Among them, the aria is the most immovable. Especially in this play, the transcript of "Gift Sword" is especially impressive. The specially invited music director Li Zhangming is well versed in the music tradition of Cantonese opera. After the soundtrack is arranged, the singing of the whole play not only retains the characteristics of the opera, but also has a symphonic richness.
"Hundred Flower Pavilion Gifting Sword" stills
In addition, the costumes, scenery, and lighting of the whole play are all new and original designs based on modern theater. But whether it is the choice of color or style, hair is grown on a traditional basis. "The innovation I want to do is not a formal innovation, not the kind of bells and whistles, innovation with many methods. It is to provide new interpretation elements in performance and music, so that more people will be interested in Cantonese opera."
Opera is to explore a path for traditional Cantonese opera and classics. This path is not the only way, but it can be a direction and a possibility, allowing us to re-examine the creation and rehearsal mechanism of Cantonese opera."
"The two leading actors have gained a lot of fans at the Hong Kong Arts Festival for two consecutive years. This made Mao Junhui happy. He said that if given the opportunity, he still hopes to do more research and exploration of Cantonese opera and Chinese opera in different directions, so that the younger generation of actors can create together and take over this career.
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