Russia's Novosibirsk Red Torch Art Theater version of "Three Sisters"
◎黑泽明
"High-definition drama imaging" is a new art form in which images intervene in drama since the new century. This form sounds like it combines the advantages of drama and video, but in fact it is still a kind of video, because it is "pretending to be present" after all.
Video makes drama a "new work"
There is no doubt that the advantages of drama video are also obvious: first, people do not always have the opportunity to see high-level classic performances and stars starring; second, it is not simply recorded with a camera Even if the stage performance is a problem, it is impossible - because the camera position always has limitations, and it is impossible to claim that "this is the scene". However, the camera can achieve various arrangements through cinematic means, allowing the audience in front of the screen to see perspectives and details of the performance that the live audience cannot see; close-ups also allow drama actors to have nothing to hide. The good ones are better, and the bad ones are worse. (But this is completely different from film acting). This is also the difference between dramatic images and movies: they are "uncorrected". From this point of view, it gives the audience a "sense of presence".
There are some advantages of the play that can be enhanced or amplified through dramatic images, or it can be said that a new art form makes it a "new work". Russia's Novosibirsk Red Torch Art Theater's version of "Three Sisters" directed by Timofey Kuriabin is a successful example. The play is performed in sign language, and not only that, subtitles (Chekhov's text) are also part of the performance. It all brings to mind Soviet cinema from the silent era, when montage works.
The special features of this version of "Three Sisters" are: first, the sign language drama is not a traditional European "mime"; second, the actors themselves are not hearing-impaired, and although in theory this kind of performance is beneficial to the hearing-impaired People appreciate it, but "public welfare" is not the artistic driving force of the work. I believe that the live performance must be exciting, but I also think that most live audiences have difficulty seeing the actors' faces and body language clearly. And the close-up, somewhat exaggerated body language plus subtitles (for us foreign viewers, what needs to be understood is that we actually need to ignore the matter of "looking at the translation" and pay attention to Chekhov's text. This work uses subtitles. (primary meaning), it was the weapon that early films used to capture audiences. The combination of these elements makes this "drama image" very harmonious, and also gives this play a brand-new performance beyond the stage drama.
When "speaking" is forbidden
As a Russian director, Kuriabin admitted that "Three Sisters" is a work he has read well since childhood and is also one of his favorite works. But the first thing he has to face is that today, Chekhov's plays have become "classics" around the world, and the performances by European and American theater troupes are also brilliant and have many "innovations." However, one thing seems to have become a consensus, that is, Chekhov's drama is like the "iceberg theory", its intensity is hidden under the surface of daily routine and calmness.
Because of the excellent interpretation of Chekhov by the Stani system, the "Method" school has some "discourse power" in Chekhov's drama. This requires the actor's performance to be "restrained" rather than "crazy". In this way, there is something dangerous about Kuriabin's version - the actors are using a language that is completely foreign to them. But as we've seen, sign language doesn't "speak." Expression with gestures is always a more obvious and even intense body language. The actor's range of movements and micro-expressions, especially facial movements, are very different from ordinary "drama" - the translation of "drama" has its own rationality. For senior drama fans, when they think of a certain unforgettable performance, the voice of a famous character in it always rings in their ears, just like Laurence Olivier's "To Live or Not to Live".
And when "speaking" is prohibited, our other senses will become sensitive. The stage of "Three Sisters" is by no means a quiet world. Of course, a lot of sounds are deliberately designed, such as electronic music, simulated natural sounds, noise, etc., which makes it even more disturbing.The uneasiness and oppression brought about by the body movements and facial expressions (sometimes simply appearing ferocious and twisted) are even stronger. Of course, it’s not that no one is “talking”: Feraponte, the doorman of the Zemstvost who comes to deliver a message to Andre in the second act, “speaks” normally—that’s because his ears don’t work, that is to say, He is the one who is hearing-impaired. In the play he had to shout because he was deaf and thought others couldn't hear him. So we find that the director has performed an "inversion" here.
As we know, "talk" is good for lying, while the body is more honest and more likely to directly expose people's hidden nature. It can be said that a gaze or a twitch of facial muscles can express something that cannot be conveyed by any words. Not only the face, but also our body parts. The rich content can only be perceived by close observation. This is where close-ups and montages come in handy. If we feel that this play gives people an unbearable sense of depression (rather than a sense of dullness), it means that the image is effective - the image and text (Chekhov's text) play a role at the same time, carrying out a double " oppression".
Compared with "The Seagull", "The Cherry Orchard" and "Uncle Vanya", there are not many versions of "Three Sisters" staged in China. However, among Chekhov's most famous plays, "Three Sisters" is labeled a "drama", while the depressing "The Seagull" and "The Cherry Orchard" are instead classified as "comedies" by the author. Well, if we accept that Shestov calls Chekhov "the singer of despair," then "Three Sisters" can be described as the most desperate of despairs. Despair is an existential understanding, and it is also one of the reasons why Chekhov was so popular in Europe and America in the 20th century. But where does the oppression we feel in the theater come from?
"The Sixth Finger"
In the movie "The Beginning of Spring", the screenwriter Li Qiang wrote that the heroine Wang Cailing (played by Jiang Wenli) calls her talent for singing Western operas the "Sixth Finger". Because in a small town with no cultural life, this is a luxury, even an unnecessary burden, which will bring trouble-the main plot of the film revolves around this. This metaphor comes from the first scene of "Three Sisters", a conversation between Masha, Andrei, and Vershining. Andre recalled that when his father was still alive, he asked them to learn French, German, English, and Italian. They learned it hard, but it was all useless. Martha said: "Learning three languages in this city is an unnecessary luxury. Not even a luxury, but an unnecessary burden. Like a sixth finger. We learn a lot of unnecessary things. . "
However, the same sentence contains completely different issues. Wang Cailing's problem mainly comes from a "misplacement", that is, according to the actual local situation at that time, learning Bel Canto was the main life path for music candidates, but there are obvious differences between Western vocal music, local folk music culture and even local pop music. "Acclimatized". Of course, we can also say that Wang Cailing has a higher artistic pursuit, but this pursuit is still vague.
In "Three Sisters", Chekhov did not write this hilarious point as a "comedy", including the fact that the three sisters "go to Moscow" is not a "laughing point" at all. Learning these European languages is Russia’s determination to integrate into the world since Peter the Great (we must discuss the “world” in a specific historical context, and their “world” was Europe at that time). It is the “nostalgia (or longing) of world culture.” This includes the "universal responsiveness" characteristics of this nation, which combines their religious beliefs and Byzantine traditions with a "universal humanity" characteristic. The Renaissance did not happen in Russia itself, but during the Alexander I period, the victory over Napoleon in 1812 and the "waiting and looking" in Europe gave Russia a real "Renaissance", that is, a kind of humanistic, all-human ideal. Russian intellectuals will not laugh at "love for all mankind" (even if they sometimes seem to be cynical about it). Of course, this kind of love always has some messianic color, the concepts of equality, freedom and friendship. At the same time combined with the Gospels.
Russia's Novosibirsk Red Torch Art Theater version of "Three Sisters"
◎黑泽明
"High-definition drama imaging" is a new art form in which images intervene in drama since the new century. This form sounds like it combines the advantages of drama and video, but in fact it is still a kind of video, because it is "pretending to be present" after all.
Video makes drama a "new work"
There is no doubt that the advantages of drama video are also obvious: first, people do not always have the opportunity to see high-level classic performances and stars starring; second, it is not simply recorded with a camera Even if the stage performance is a problem, it is impossible - because the camera position always has limitations, and it is impossible to claim that "this is the scene". However, the camera can achieve various arrangements through cinematic means, allowing the audience in front of the screen to see perspectives and details of the performance that the live audience cannot see; close-ups also allow drama actors to have nothing to hide. The good ones are better, and the bad ones are worse. (But this is completely different from film acting). This is also the difference between dramatic images and movies: they are "uncorrected". From this point of view, it gives the audience a "sense of presence".
There are some advantages of the play that can be enhanced or amplified through dramatic images, or it can be said that a new art form makes it a "new work". Russia's Novosibirsk Red Torch Art Theater's version of "Three Sisters" directed by Timofey Kuriabin is a successful example. The play is performed in sign language, and not only that, subtitles (Chekhov's text) are also part of the performance. It all brings to mind Soviet cinema from the silent era, when montage works.
The special features of this version of "Three Sisters" are: first, the sign language drama is not a traditional European "mime"; second, the actors themselves are not hearing-impaired, and although in theory this kind of performance is beneficial to the hearing-impaired People appreciate it, but "public welfare" is not the artistic driving force of the work. I believe that the live performance must be exciting, but I also think that most live audiences have difficulty seeing the actors' faces and body language clearly. And the close-up, somewhat exaggerated body language plus subtitles (for us foreign viewers, what needs to be understood is that we actually need to ignore the matter of "looking at the translation" and pay attention to Chekhov's text. This work uses subtitles. (primary meaning), it was the weapon that early films used to capture audiences. The combination of these elements makes this "drama image" very harmonious, and also gives this play a brand-new performance beyond the stage drama.
When "speaking" is forbidden
As a Russian director, Kuriabin admitted that "Three Sisters" is a work he has read well since childhood and is also one of his favorite works. But the first thing he has to face is that today, Chekhov's plays have become "classics" around the world, and the performances by European and American theater troupes are also brilliant and have many "innovations." However, one thing seems to have become a consensus, that is, Chekhov's drama is like the "iceberg theory", its intensity is hidden under the surface of daily routine and calmness.
Because of the excellent interpretation of Chekhov by the Stani system, the "Method" school has some "discourse power" in Chekhov's drama. This requires the actor's performance to be "restrained" rather than "crazy". In this way, there is something dangerous about Kuriabin's version - the actors are using a language that is completely foreign to them. But as we've seen, sign language doesn't "speak." Expression with gestures is always a more obvious and even intense body language. The actor's range of movements and micro-expressions, especially facial movements, are very different from ordinary "drama" - the translation of "drama" has its own rationality. For senior drama fans, when they think of a certain unforgettable performance, the voice of a famous character in it always rings in their ears, just like Laurence Olivier's "To Live or Not to Live".
And when "speaking" is prohibited, our other senses will become sensitive. The stage of "Three Sisters" is by no means a quiet world. Of course, a lot of sounds are deliberately designed, such as electronic music, simulated natural sounds, noise, etc., which makes it even more disturbing.The uneasiness and oppression brought about by the body movements and facial expressions (sometimes simply appearing ferocious and twisted) are even stronger. Of course, it’s not that no one is “talking”: Feraponte, the doorman of the Zemstvost who comes to deliver a message to Andre in the second act, “speaks” normally—that’s because his ears don’t work, that is to say, He is the one who is hearing-impaired. In the play he had to shout because he was deaf and thought others couldn't hear him. So we find that the director has performed an "inversion" here.
As we know, "talk" is good for lying, while the body is more honest and more likely to directly expose people's hidden nature. It can be said that a gaze or a twitch of facial muscles can express something that cannot be conveyed by any words. Not only the face, but also our body parts. The rich content can only be perceived by close observation. This is where close-ups and montages come in handy. If we feel that this play gives people an unbearable sense of depression (rather than a sense of dullness), it means that the image is effective - the image and text (Chekhov's text) play a role at the same time, carrying out a double " oppression".
Compared with "The Seagull", "The Cherry Orchard" and "Uncle Vanya", there are not many versions of "Three Sisters" staged in China. However, among Chekhov's most famous plays, "Three Sisters" is labeled a "drama", while the depressing "The Seagull" and "The Cherry Orchard" are instead classified as "comedies" by the author. Well, if we accept that Shestov calls Chekhov "the singer of despair," then "Three Sisters" can be described as the most desperate of despairs. Despair is an existential understanding, and it is also one of the reasons why Chekhov was so popular in Europe and America in the 20th century. But where does the oppression we feel in the theater come from?
"The Sixth Finger"
In the movie "The Beginning of Spring", the screenwriter Li Qiang wrote that the heroine Wang Cailing (played by Jiang Wenli) calls her talent for singing Western operas the "Sixth Finger". Because in a small town with no cultural life, this is a luxury, even an unnecessary burden, which will bring trouble-the main plot of the film revolves around this. This metaphor comes from the first scene of "Three Sisters", a conversation between Masha, Andrei, and Vershining. Andre recalled that when his father was still alive, he asked them to learn French, German, English, and Italian. They learned it hard, but it was all useless. Martha said: "Learning three languages in this city is an unnecessary luxury. Not even a luxury, but an unnecessary burden. Like a sixth finger. We learn a lot of unnecessary things. . "
However, the same sentence contains completely different issues. Wang Cailing's problem mainly comes from a "misplacement", that is, according to the actual local situation at that time, learning Bel Canto was the main life path for music candidates, but there are obvious differences between Western vocal music, local folk music culture and even local pop music. "Acclimatized". Of course, we can also say that Wang Cailing has a higher artistic pursuit, but this pursuit is still vague.
In "Three Sisters", Chekhov did not write this hilarious point as a "comedy", including the fact that the three sisters "go to Moscow" is not a "laughing point" at all. Learning these European languages is Russia’s determination to integrate into the world since Peter the Great (we must discuss the “world” in a specific historical context, and their “world” was Europe at that time). It is the “nostalgia (or longing) of world culture.” This includes the "universal responsiveness" characteristics of this nation, which combines their religious beliefs and Byzantine traditions with a "universal humanity" characteristic. The Renaissance did not happen in Russia itself, but during the Alexander I period, the victory over Napoleon in 1812 and the "waiting and looking" in Europe gave Russia a real "Renaissance", that is, a kind of humanistic, all-human ideal. Russian intellectuals will not laugh at "love for all mankind" (even if they sometimes seem to be cynical about it). Of course, this kind of love always has some messianic color, the concepts of equality, freedom and friendship. At the same time combined with the Gospels.
The father of the three sisters is an army officer. He wants his children to learn various European languages and cultures. This is not unrealistic and unreasonable, just because he has the characteristics of an intellectual. There is no contradiction between soldiers and intellectuals. You must know that almost all "Decembrists" are soldiers. As Masha said, these soldiers were "the most cultured people in the city", and this was mainly reflected in Vershinin. The most representative figure of "universal spirit" in Russian history is Pushkin (Pushkin also had a military identity) - it is not difficult to understand. We always "hear" Masha repeatedly singing Pushkin's "Ruslan and Lyudmila" "The first sentence of "There is a green oak tree on the other side of the bay..." This is the education the three sisters received. The three sisters were all educated by this humanistic spirit, such as kindness and love in a noble sense, treating the old nanny Anfisa as a relative, etc. (The relationship between Pushkin and the nanny can be seen as the prototype of the Russian writer's "People's Bond" ); Yes, Moscow is their ideal, but what is this ideal? If the so-called conflict between ideals and reality in which the play is usually interpreted is only understood as a conflict between life in a big city and a small provincial town, it is obviously insufficient. Perhaps it can be said that going to Moscow means that Olga and Irina have the possibility to develop their spiritual lives in accordance with the education they have received since childhood.
Chekhov's sadness is called "Longing"
However, the individual lives of the three sisters encountered historical fate - they lost their father; various social trends of thought were surging in the land of Russia, and in the time period when the story took place, that is, 19 At the end of the century and the beginning of the 20th century, things became more agitated. "Three Sisters" was written in a special year: 1900 (performed in 1901). In five more years, the 1905 Revolution would occur. Chekhov, who had a strong sensitivity to social and historical shocks, described the sound of Russian forests being cut down in the last moments of his life, as if he had recorded the roar of the rolling wheels of history with a tape recorder; or, just like the officer massacre in the play Sembach said: A huge monster is coming towards us all, a powerful storm is ready, it is coming, it is approaching...
Therefore, it is not surprising if the audience feels a huge sense of depression. The "silent" facial and body language together with Chekhov's words enhance this feeling - even more necessary today when fragmented information dulls the audience's senses. Simply put, this version seems to turn the volume of Chekhov's work to the lowest point, so that the audience must prick up their ears and hold their breath. Of course, "Method" interpretations can also be very exciting. However, many similar performances have led to more audiences framing Chekhov as "a touch of melancholy".
It's just that the melancholy-like atmosphere in Chekhov's works is actually a kind of "тоска". This word is very Russian and cannot be translated into any foreign language. It is not sentimentalism, nor is it sentimentality, nor is it self-pity. It's closer to a kind of loneliness with no one to complain to. This kind of loneliness is close to despair, but at the same time there is a kind of longing or longing in this loneliness. This longing is oriented towards a kind of perfection, an ideal. It usually belongs to "people who have been there" with life experience, because they know that ideals are the glimmer of light that shines through suffering and waiting. It is easy to get burned if you touch an ideal object too close. "Go to Moscow" is a тоска. Because it's impossible (Andre lost his sisters' real estate in gambling), they can only be trapped here, letting their youth and energy flow out bit by bit.
The embrace of the "better new life" in Chekhov's plays belongs only to young people, but this does not mean that this is Chekhov's own idea. On the contrary, these youthful and exciting words show the speaker's lack of careful consideration and ignorance of the complexity of life. In "Three Sisters", the dialogue between Irina and Tusenbach, a pair of young people, is extremely thought-provoking: the meaning and goal of human life, and human happiness, all lie in labor... In another 25 years to 30 In today's world, everyone has to work. Everyone! ——This is a moral ideal belonging to youth, that is, to live with conscience and without shame in a certain sense. But think about the ending Chekhov arranged for them.
Chekhov's "тоска" seems to be saying that ideals can only be desired, at least before that, human perfection must be realized first ("Everything about people should be beautiful" actually mainly means this), and the most important thing The task is to fight against the "slavishness" and "vulgarity" in oneself. Because the process leading to perfect ideals is destined to be long, people are too easily alienated by "vulgarity", become philistine, lazy, drift with the crowd, and deceive themselves and others. Andrei actually understood. He knew that his wife Natasha "had something in her that made her become a vulgar, blind and rude beast. In any case, she was not a human being." Sometimes "she felt that she was so vulgar." surprisingly". Of course, he hated himself just as much. But the main problem is not Natasha or Andrei. The place where the audience feels "critical" is actually the struggle between "vulgarity" and "ideal", and ideals are always frustrated by vulgarity. This seems "desperate", but Chekhov tells us at the end that we must have a тоска for the ideal, as Masha said, "we must live and live." Only by maintaining longing can we "survive" with patience and waiting. Photo courtesy of
/new scene
Chekhov's "тоска" seems to be saying that ideals can only be desired, at least before that, human perfection must be realized first ("Everything about people should be beautiful" actually mainly means this), and the most important thing The task is to fight against the "slavishness" and "vulgarity" in oneself. Because the process leading to perfect ideals is destined to be long, people are too easily alienated by "vulgarity", become philistine, lazy, drift with the crowd, and deceive themselves and others. Andrei actually understood. He knew that his wife Natasha "had something in her that made her become a vulgar, blind and rude beast. In any case, she was not a human being." Sometimes "she felt that she was so vulgar." surprisingly". Of course, he hated himself just as much. But the main problem is not Natasha or Andrei. The place where the audience feels "critical" is actually the struggle between "vulgarity" and "ideal", and ideals are always frustrated by vulgarity. This seems "desperate", but Chekhov tells us at the end that we must have a тоска for the ideal, as Masha said, "we must live and live." Only by maintaining longing can we "survive" with patience and waiting. Photo courtesy of
/new scene
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