"The drama that is greater than the sea is the sky; The drama that is wider than the sky is the depths of the soul. But how can the vast human soul of Hugo's pen be presented on the stage of contemporary theater in a rich and full way? The main creative team led by French director Jean Belolini, together with Liu Ye and other Chinese actors, put this "encyclopedia of human suffering, the spiritual epic of human nature and goodness" on the Chinese stage for the first time, showing the vastness of art and the vastness of the soul in an otherworldly way in 210 minutes.
It is estimated that even Liu Ye himself did not expect that director Jean Belolini would let him interpret Valjean, a character who has had a great influence on him since he was a child, in this way. A large number of high-density literary lines gushed out with strong emotions; Actors seamlessly transition between performers and expressors; It is not simply to play a role, but to become a "storyteller" between literature and drama, self and character, leading the audience not only into the complex minds of the characters, but also into the world of love and hate, ugliness and beauty, hope and despair, suffering and struggle.
The same goes for the other actors in the play. The sheer amount of text and the extraordinary way of creating characters poses a great challenge for everyone. Zhang Keying's mother and daughter, Fantine and Cosette, played successively, are like stamens in the wind and rain, and they are heart-wrenching; The Garo stone depicted in Luo Yongjuan's singing and dancing is like a piece of jade, exuding a fearless light; The Sheriff Shawei portrayed by Lin Lin coldly adheres to his beliefs, and the final collapse and destruction also means another kind of sublimation; Li Jing and Zhu Meng played the Denadi couple, who are treacherous, insidious, mercenary, like a pair of clowns; Xiao Shi Ke and Liu Chongzuo played Eboni and Marius respectively, who were also ignited by love, but had completely different fates ......The inner world of each life has created every performer and every listener in the theater, making people feel that the humanity of the whole world is the same, and the suffering of human beings is so similar, but fortunately there is goodness, light, and hope.
Jean Bellolini was not only the director, but also the script adaptation and lighting design for the play. He has always been good at using words and lighting to build his own unique theatrical aesthetics, just like composing poems and painting with lights on the stage, creating romance in cruelty and warmth in despair, and opening people's imagination in this way, so that the audience is no longer just passively falling into a certain trap, but can fully mobilize their own sensibility and understanding, to discover the multiple levels of interpretation and aesthetic space of stories and characters. And every beating note, every shining light, also carries Belolini's observation of the pain of the individual life and his call for collective salvation.
This kind of drama creation is not only deeply rooted in the original work, but also blooms colorful and new ideas in the blossoming and fruition, which is different from many "copying" interpretations, with its more unique way of thinking and expression, extending the spirit of the original work, extracting the essence and retaining its true colors, and the reflection on love, death, justice and kindness has not decreased but increased, and at the same time deepened the admiration for the great character of human beings and the introspection of the dark **, reflecting the amazing artistic talent and good aesthetic concept of the screenwriter and director, and also showing the collision of the two cultures with new sparks.
However, not all audiences can immediately understand and accept such an expression full of artistic personality, and some even choose to completely ignore the elaborate and aesthetically advanced comprehensive aesthetics on the stage, and label the work as an "audiobook". The magnificence of the performance also tested the patience of the audience. But the world may be miserable, and creation should not be mediocre, only with a heart that is more vast and vast than the sea and the sky, can we reach the depths of the soul.
Photo: Dali.