[Discussion on Stage Art]

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the premiere of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, the first large-scale color film in New China. The Shaoxing Opera "Butterfly Lovers" has repeatedly revised the folklore, removed the turnips and saved the pitfalls. It was praised as the "model of opera reform". Its extensive influence in that year has led to the creation of other classic dramas, which has enlightenment significance for the inheritance of contemporary opera.

At the beginning of this year, Shanghai Yueju Opera House assembled for the first time the "four classics" of "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", "The West Chamber", "A Dream of Red Mansions", and "Sister Xianglin" to perform in the National Grand Theater. As a successor of the new generation of Fan (Ruijuan) School, I played Liang Shanbo in "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", and together with my colleagues, I dedicated this classic play to the capital audience.

As one of the five major operas in China, Yue Opera is known as "the most popular local opera". The purpose of the "Four Classics" of Yueju Opera has a long history of performance and still has a wide influence among the audience. Take the Yueju Opera Butterfly Lovers as an example. Its performance history runs through the development history of Yueju Opera for more than 100 years, and it is also the most influential traditional Chinese opera performing this theme. In 1953, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, starring Fan Ruijuan and Yuan Xuefen, was filmed as the first color film of New China and released the following year. This film has repeatedly appeared in important diplomatic occasions, becoming a cultural card to tell the world Chinese stories. The wide influence of the Yueju Opera Butterfly Lovers in that year has led to the creation of other classic dramas. Among them, the pursuit of pure love can not be followed by the sublimation of the soul. The intense, gentle or sobbing melody and large duets in the "Loutaihui" still resonate with today's audience. At the beginning of this year, Shangyue's "Four Classics" dramas were launched in Beijing for the first time, and were welcomed and loved by the audience, showing classic charm.

The Shaoxing Opera "Butterfly Lovers" has repeatedly revised folk legends, removed the turnips and saved the pitfalls, which was praised as "the model of opera reform". It is through continuous reform and innovation that Yueju Opera can achieve today's achievements, which has enlightenment significance for the inheritance of current operas. Yueju Opera originated in Zhejiang and formed in Shanghai. At the beginning of the 20th century, Shanghai's modern urban culture had an important impact on the formation of the characteristics of Shaoxing Opera. After entering Shanghai, the self innovative and progressive drama leaders felt that the foundation of Yue Opera was not deep and there were not many traditional plays. As a result, they have absorbed nutrients from Kunqu Opera, Beijing Opera, Shaoxing Opera and other previous operas, while absorbing new cultural power from foreign literature and art, such as drama and film. Compared with many ancient operas rooted in traditional agricultural civilization, it can be said that Yueju Opera is a representative modern opera that was born under the modern urban culture and widely absorbed the advantages of various artistic categories.

In the 1940s, after the reform of Shaoxing Opera was launched, Yuan Xuefen and his collaborators tried to use the dance of Kun Opera in Shaoxing Opera, which was a process of repeated practice and exploration. Because Kun Opera belongs to Qupai style, its rhythm is relatively slow, and its body movements are various and complex; Shaoxing Opera is a kind of clapboard style, whose rhythm is faster than that of Kun Opera, and its movements need to be simplified. Shaoxing Opera learns from Kun Opera in performance, but it cannot be applied completely according to the norms of Kun Opera. Instead, it needs to refine life actions into art, making simple actions richer, more beautiful and more detailed.

Yuan Xuefen hired Zheng Chuanjian, a Kunqu opera actor, to Xuesheng Theater. On the one hand, he gave the actors body training and performance skills guidance, and at the same time, he guided everyone to sing, read, and pronounce words, and learn Zhongzhou rhyme. Starting from Zheng Chuanjian, Yue Opera and even opera also had a new position, namely "technical guidance". More Kunqu Opera artists are involved in Yueju Opera, integrating the artistic achievements of Kunju Opera into Yueju Opera. Instead of copying mechanically, they have created new programs based on the artistic experience of Kunju Opera, making contributions to the improvement and development of Yueju Opera.

The reform of Shaoxing Opera has also been constantly integrated into the modern acting concept, that is, learning from drama and other forms, and combining its own characteristics, establishing a musical art mechanism for editing and directing. The rehearsal of Yueju Opera in its early stage was roughly the same as that of other operas, but the choreography system was established earlier than many operas. The directors who participated in the reform of Yueju Opera were all young writers and artists. They inherited the fine tradition of drama and learned new ideas. Then, the makeup, clothing, lighting, stage art, etc. of Yueju Opera were reformed drastically, forming a unique style of comprehensive art of Yueju Opera.

In addition to learning from Kunqu Opera and modern drama, there are many other types of opera that Yue Opera has learned from. But these dramas eventually turned into Yue Opera.

The older generation of Yueju Opera people did not copy Kunqu Opera and other operas mechanically, nor did they copy the progressive dramas and films of that time. The final formation of drama, the birth of genres and even the inheritance and development of drama are actually the internal strengths and weaknesses of drama art. On the basis of inheriting the traditional paradigm and combining their own strengths, the founders of the school created a new pattern, triggered a tide of imitation, and finally formed a school of their own. The reason why Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, The Romance of the Western Chamber, A Dream of Red Mansions and Xianglin sister-in-law can be called the representative works of the "four classics" of Yueju Opera is inseparable from the highly unified integration and ultimate expression of various factors, such as the theme orientation, the plot idea, the directing technique, the performance characteristics, the singing genre, and the audience influence, which are suitable for the drama, The most important thing is that they all reflect the unique style and typicality that other plays do not have.

However, there are some deviations in the understanding of the meaning of "bringing doctrine" in many literary and artistic creation processes. "Reference" is often ignored or distorted, and the "replacement" of concepts has quietly become the main way of thinking. For many years, the performance aesthetics of traditional Chinese operas has been influenced by Western drama thinking, especially Stanislavsky's system, which directly borrows the "other", regardless of whether the concept itself deviates from the tradition, bringing about the deviation of the aesthetic taste of operas.

A good inheritance is not a matter of taking off the mold as it is. The correct way and method to inherit a school is not only to learn the art of a school carefully and solidly, but also to produce new styles and expressions on this basis. To develop the genre itself, the first thing is to learn the essence of the genre in a down-to-earth manner, and combine the characteristics of the times, expression methods, audience aesthetics and other factors to organically integrate and reproduce. In the same way, innovation does not mean denying the tradition at all, thinking that "what is traditional is old and outdated", and using modern and new elements to directly install them on the tradition, which is the greatest harm to the tradition.

With the progress of the times and the development of science and technology, the audience's appreciation methods and perspectives are constantly changing. In today's new media communication environment, the audience receives more fragmented or one-sided information. Professional troupes should guide the audience through correct and advanced aesthetic character and tell stories with both personality and universal human values. Only by constantly broadening our vision, grasping the creative law and adhering to the people centered creative orientation can we win more audiences, especially young opera fans, with new ideas and new content, meet the diverse, multi-level and multifaceted spiritual and cultural needs of the people with high-quality cultural supply, and provide more abundant More nutritious spiritual food. (Author: Wang Rousang, National First Class Actor of Shanghai Yueju Opera Theater)

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