Stills from the symphonic Guizhou opera "Wordless Monument" (courtesy of the author).
Written by Cao Jinpeng.
The symphonic drama "Wordless Monument", no matter how wonderful the story, the infectious strength of the emotions, or the shocking depth of the soul, make people linger for a long time. A good work is like this, it is enjoyable to watch, and it is unforgettable after watching;There is literary aesthetic enjoyment at the artistic level, and philosophical human reflection at the soul level. The reason why classics can become classics is because they can withstand the tempering of time from multiple dimensions of ideology, artistry, and appreciation. "Wordless Monument" has a grand scene, superb content, temperament, bloody plot, delicate plot, compact and rigorous, and vivid characters;The applause and applause of the scene came one after another, the actors were emotional, and the audience was boiling;This is what opera in the new era should look like, and it is also the immutable law that the work of conscience will stand tall!
Stills from the symphonic Guizhou opera "Wordless Monument" (courtesy of the author).
The story of this play is based on the martyr Lin Qing, the first secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Working Committee of the Communist Party of China, and describes the group portrait of heroes who are not afraid of sacrifice and fearlessness on the hidden front in Guizhou. In 1935, the Red Army entered northern Qianbei, and the National Army set a trap in Guizhou to beat drums in Xinchang, intending to destroy the Red Army. Lin Qing was ordered to get the enemy's top-secret information. Due to the urgency of time, it is necessary to clear the enemy checkpoint as soon as possible to send intelligence. The enemy, under the leadership of the spy leader Chen Tilu, attempted to eliminate the CCP's Guizhou underground intelligence organization. A fierce battle on two parallel lines unfolded in Guiyang.
Screenwriter Cao Hailing made bold innovations in the structure and telling of the story, and adopted a multi-clue and multi-dimensional narrative to make the plot more tense. Interlocking, unexpected and engaging. To sum up, there are three highlights of this play:
1. There is love in the play. The curtain begins with the narration of the Wenqin artist Cangyazi. He seemed to be telling the audience in the theater on stage, as if he was telling the audienceThe identity is not only a storyteller in the theater, but also a live host, or a freehand soul character who can represent the inner monologue of the superior, the bystander, and even the character, and have a subtext dialogue with the actor. He brought the audience into the Wenqin Theater in the play, allowing the audience to understand the inner thoughts of the characters and clarify the extension of the characters and the story line. This character is the finishing touch, so that the underground liaison station of Wenqin Theater, up and down the stage, inside and outside the play, is all a play with multiple meanings and multiple words, and the drama is superimposed. There is the suspenseful atmosphere of spy war dramas, and there are also the profound connotations of multi-level and multi-metaphorical literary works. It not only allows ordinary audiences to understand Guizhou opera, but also gives the expression of traditional opera a sense of fashion and freshness.
Good works can tell stories while analyzing deeper levels of human nature and complex emotions, so that the story and character motivations can stand up to scrutiny, stand up, and make the audience believe. At the beginning of the story, the teenager Lin Qing's resistance to the bully caused a murderous disaster, and he was able to escape after his mother exchanged his life for his life. This not only paves the way for the deep mother-son relationship, but also hints at Lin Qing's fearless character, the opposition between the bullies and reactionary forces and the toiling masses, and also provides the inevitability for Lin Qing to join the revolution later. The setting of the role of the mother is the source of Lin Qing's emotions, the driving force behind the liberation of the toiling masses, and the symbol of Lin Qing's love for the party and his deep love for the land of GuizhouAs Lin Qing said before his sacrifice: After I die, the towering mountains and dense forests in my hometown are all my monuments!This is the inner portrayal of the desire to bury the bones of the faithful in the green mountains and return to the arms of the mother. Therefore, Lin Qing and his mother could not recognize each other before his death, and when the curtain call ended after the play, the picture of hugging and crying with his mother was tearful again. Because the audience's suppressed emotional demands have been satisfied. Lin Qing's love includes mother-son love, child-child love, and homeland love. Three emotions.
Stills from the symphonic Guizhou opera "Wordless Monument" (courtesy of the author).
In the expression of emotions, there are many genius strokes: for example, the adult Lin Qing is under the surveillance of the spies, and his mother looks at each other but cannot recognize each other, and the sentence that his mother said, "Which doll are you, your mother is still waiting for you to come home......It expresses the mother's thoughts about her son, and also conveys the double meaning of the danger here, leaving quickly, and returning to the arms of the mother. People can't help but break the defense!and Lin Qing didn't recognize her mother on the surface, but the haunting pregnancy song "March 3rd Pregnancy, Mother Tea and Rice Don't Want to Be Sticky" sounded in her heart, which vividly embodied the complex emotions of loyalty and filial pietyThe underground party Yijihua and the theater owner Dawan Tea, when they said goodbye, they actually said the lines that the two of them often said in jokes: "Big Bowl of Tea, Big Bowl of Tea, you open the lid and make four seasons!.""One flower and one flower, you smile like an azalea!."But the context and mood environment are different, and the emotions expressed are diametrically opposite, once again poking the audience's tears;The author abandons the conventional sensationalism, and achieves truth and non-pretentiousness, popular and reasonable, and makes the audience cry with the power behind the exquisite words.
And the villain Chen Tilu's three questions to Lin Qing before Lin Qing's righteousness are the biggest highlight of this play. Chen Tilu also participated in the revolution, but became a traitor due to his lack of faith and pursuit of profit!Because he could not be trusted, his wife and children were also placed under house arrest in Nanjing and became hostages. He thinks that there are some similarities with Lin Qing in terms of experience: he used to have the same beliefs, but now his relatives are being coerced, and he is more than lucky. He couldn't figure out how he could end up in such a situation when he had exhausted the organs and turned to powerFrom emotion, faith, life and death, he sent three questions to Lin Qing. And Lin Qing's answer made him and the audience understand that without firm beliefs, questioning their beliefs or even betrayal, the final outcome must be that human nature is distorted, relatives are alienated, and they are on the road of no return!This is an astonishing answer, even today, which is of great relevance.
Stills from the symphonic Guizhou opera "Wordless Monument" (courtesy of the author).
Second, the realism and freehand switch freely. With a solid script, it's up to the director to present it. Words become concrete expressions on stage, and the methods and techniques, audio-visual and rhythm, are all related to the audience's sense of viewing experience, and are related to the aesthetic standards and artistic taste of the work. Director Chen Tao, who is proficient in opera and poetic expression, has become a second guarantee of quality.
Lin Qing used Wenqin's identity as a cover, singing on stage and acting offstage. Classical Wenqin and modern Guizhou opera, with different appearances and slightly different singing styles, jumping in and out are smart and changeable, switching naturally without traces, and the director's skills are clever;Use "Mu Guiying in Command" to promote fighting spirit, use "Harmony" to meet the source, and use "The Death of Han Xin" to strive for good generals;It can be said that the charm of Guizhou opera has been shown to the peak, showing the beauty of traditional opera;The water sleeves performed by Tsing Yi Mingyue in the theater were also poetically treated by the director: it is not only a classical Tsing Yi performed for the audience on stage, but also a representative of Lin Qing's heart, rushing to embrace his white-haired mother's burning passion;is still in prison on behalf of the audience, to caress Lin Qing's bruised body, to express the audience's irrepressible deep emotions. She is the embodiment of kindness, compassion, and healing in the poetic world, and in reality, she is the little sister who admires and loves Lin Qing, and thus joins the new force of the revolution, and the spark continues to be a metaphor.
The director uses poetic beauty to express metaphors and symbols that the audience can understand. The technique is very advanced. There are many similar wonderful strokes, such as Lin Qing and Chen Tilu, who appeared on the stage, one passionate and frank, showing the true colors of revolutionaries;A weird and gloomy, full of dog spies and lewdness. A skill flower has the eight-sided exquisiteness of the proprietress without losing the firmness and courage of the underground party, as well as the true feelings of being a woman when sacrificed;The big bowl of tea has the timidity and fear of the small boss, and also participates in the natural joy of Wenqin fans, as well as the justice and final transformation of the kind people. Battalion Commander Fan, who guards the city gate, is an uninhibited fan when he plays tickets, but in his heart he is a soldier who has no way to serve the country, his conscience is not clear, he is entangled and painful but he is at a loss. When Lin Qing was inaugurated as a righteous person, the director was not busy using a symphony to set off the atmosphere and express the awe-inspiring and heroic righteousness, but once again sounded the "Pregnancy Song" in the depths of Lin Qing's heart, expressing Lin Qing's fearlessness of death, his longing to return to his mother's arms, and his love for the green waters and green mountains of his hometown!When the red silk covered the stage and the blood of the martyrs was sprinkled all over the mountains and rivers, the solemn and passionate symphony suddenly sounded, pushing the tragic emotions to a climax. At this time, the spontaneous applause of the audience once again brought everyone to tears!Each character has an inner mind, an external body, and a multi-dimensional performance that jumps in and out;Each character is full of personality and smooth and believable;In and out of the play, it is realistic and freehand, and it switches freely, which is natural. The stage lighting costumes are blended with the ancient and modern, and the virtual is realizedThe symphonic soundtrack and the opera orchestra each lead the way, both real and fantastic. Chen Tao's unique and profound techniques contributed to a good show.
Stills from the symphonic Guizhou opera "Wordless Monument" (courtesy of the author).
3. Ancient and modern intangible cultural heritage go hand in hand. As a national intangible cultural heritage, Guizhou Guizhou Opera speaks Guizhou dialect, sings Guizhou dialect, connects with Guizhou's local atmosphere, and is rooted in the folk. It is the drama with the deepest mass foundation in Guizhou and the most popular among the people.
Dean Zhu Hong, the inheritor of Guizhou Opera, has the unshirkable responsibility to shoulder the transmission of Guizhou Opera. He is the producer of this play and the second male lead in the play. The main actors in the play are also his brothers and sisters and **.
In recent years, Zhu Hong has continuously launched a number of high-quality Guizhou opera repertoire, and has won many provincial and national awards. The core values are eulogized with traditional art, and the intangible cultural heritage culture is also popularized in an entertaining way. In order to cultivate newcomers, Zhu Hong, who is in the year of fighting, is willing to be a green leaf and is willing to play a supporting role: in "The Long Song of Meishui", let ** Zhou Gang play the male number one Zhu Kezhen, the president of Zhejiang University;In "Lamei Yingxiang", let ** Zheng Hanyue play the protagonist Deng Yingxiang, and go to Beijing to perform in the glory of the first big drama of the National Center for the Performing Arts in 23 years;In this "Wordless Monument", he was downgraded to play the villain Chen Tilu, and let Zhou Gang play the leading role in Lin Qing. Including ** Liu Fanchen, Liu Sa, and He Junlin's performances in the play are very eye-catching and remarkable, which makes people see the future and hope of Guizhou Opera. He joined hands with his senior brothers Zhang Yaxi and Chen Lin to hold up the inheritance and responsibility with a broad mind and a lofty sense of mission.
The curtain opened, and the predecessor of Guizhou Opera was presented on the stage of Guizhou Opera, and the long-established Wenqin sat and sang, which made people's eyes shine, and the meaning of tribute was clear at a glance. Acting in the play, ancient and modern on the same stage, and literature and Guizhou at the same time!This scene in the same vein, with clear layers, exquisite composition, clear lines, is amazing, without a deep love for intangible cultural heritage dramas, I can't think of this kind of excellent creativity that combines visual impact and artistic infection.
In the progress of the whole play, the Wenqin is staged on the stage, and the back and forth conversion of the Guizhou opera is sung under the stage, so that the audience can enjoy the past and present life of the intangible cultural heritage Guizhou opera while following the story cluesSee the juxtaposition of classical and modern, traditional and innovative Guizhou opera. At this time, the stage is not only a big classroom for spreading red history and culture, but also a museum for popularizing intangible cultural heritage. In the play, Mingyue participated in the revolution, and the new generation outside the play supported the performance. Passed down from generation to generation, they reflect each other, outlining a moving picture of continuous cultural context.
When the ancient and modern intangible cultural heritage stood side by side on the dazzling stage, we saw the brilliance of local art. Three highlights complement each other. Realistic and freehand writing spirit, singing, sitting, playing and performing Guizhou opera. Every applause is not a wordless monument awarded by the audience to the intangible cultural heritage of Guizhou drama!(ENDS).
The author is the ambassador of Guizhou Province Tourism and Culture Communication, the national second-class actor of Guizhou Guizhou Theater, and the host of Guizhou Province's large-scale national song and dance "Colorful Guizhou Style". ）