Cover news reporter Zhang Wanling photographed Lei Yuandong
Meng Jinghui still had long hair and looked like a rocker. Such an image makes people who meet for the first time inevitably have a sense of distance. But when he really walks in, he will find that this is an extremely talkative and grounded artist. When chatting, I quote famous quotes and like to hang on to my mouth.
For new things, with a strong curiosity. For example, this performance in the eastern suburbs of Chengdu, the open venue without a traditional spatial structure, broke the previous things. Visual music has different effects. Being able to reconnect with the audience in this new performance space is exciting for him.
Some people say that the avant-garde drama without a thought soul, with how powerful the director, actor, and stage beauty are just a beautiful and moving skin bag. In the nearly 20 years of capital snowball, Meng Jinghui has seized the opportunity of the times well, laid the foundation for the "pessimistic trilogy" of "Rhinoceros in Love", "Amber", "Soft", and accumulated the first batch of spiritual consumption audiences, which are particularly evident in Chengdu.
On the evening of April 29, one of Meng Jinghui's masterpieces, "Amber", was staged in Chengdu. The Performing Arts Centre was packed. The Chengdu audience expressed their tribute to the classic with actions.
About art
Not simply the contents of thin flakes
I want to convey something timeless in my work
Cover News: We noticed a phenomenon. Many of your works, from Amber to Opinions on the Life of Two Dogs, were created a decade ago or more. But until this year, it is still active in the theater stage, how to maintain its vitality?
Meng Jinghui: Gorky said that roughly means an artist, who should distinguish between sensational news and typical, connotative content that reflects social life. This is a simple and fleeting thing, or something that can be precipitated. Artists should have the ability to discriminate. I hope that the audience can find the mystery of aesthetics, the mystery of life growth, the mystery of emotion, and find something with energy, rather than simple, flake-like.
Cover News: Is that also your principle for creating plays?
Meng Jinghui: Yes, we hope to be able to perform often. When faced with a new play, I often have a problem with the creative team. What can this bring to our future, what can it bring to our hearts? Not simply telling a story, not simply the flow of life.
Cover News: In addition to giving the future, what do you want to give your audience?
Meng Jinghui: In the interaction and dialogue relationship with the audience, the drama hopes to say something eternal in the work. For example, love, friendship, hunger, saving energy, continuing to grow, etc., are all things to do in a lifetime, some wonderful things to face and things to experience.
Change and change
With young people
Throw yourself into the torrent of social life
Cover News: From the age of 25, you've been dubbed a avant-garde theatre director. Decades later, when Meng Jinghui is mentioned, people still like to call him "avant-garde theater director". What does pioneer mean?
Meng Jinghui: It turned out to be a gesture, a forward-leaning posture. I want to run and fly. This is a relatively simple imitation mentality that distinguishes it from the step-by-step, well-bottom frog. It's a forward, forward leaning. Looking at the word now, there will be new connotations. Authentic society, exciting theater design, brand and self-requirements, and attitudes with the audience. What do you use to communicate with your audience? Where are the soul thoughts? When it comes to pioneers, it's not just a concept. Follow this and find something that belongs to you.
Cover News: Does being a pioneer mean constant change?
Meng Jinghui: The state of Chinese drama and the history of the development of Western aesthetic drama are related and contextual. No matter how it bounces, it is in the entire world cultural map and Chinese culture, there is aesthetic energy and various precipitations. It is a reaction to the course of struggle. Avant-garde means change, but the most important social life, the times, and the progress of the self are linked. This is the key.
Cover News: Do you always ask yourself to improve?
Meng Jinghui: I didn't deliberately think about it, but I usually think about this matter, I always think about it, and I slowly think about it thoroughly, and the biggest possibility is close to the essence of the drama.
Cover News: What is the form of pondering?
Meng Jinghui: Reading, being with young people. Let yourself be young. Strive to throw yourself into the torrent of social life.
Cover News: Is youth related to age?
Meng Jinghui: Young, or age-related. To be young is not to brag too much and maintain the attitude of a primary school student. Changing social life, everyone is changing, there are more and better things in front of you, you may not know, do not understand. Be humble at all times.
About Chengdu
The body temperature varies from city to city
Cultural things, but also to take it slowly
Cover News: If you use the current popular words, Chengdu is a super IP. The films that come here to take materials, as well as the music that sets them, are very popular. As a theater director, in your opinion, is it possible to use Chengdu as a background to produce a kind of dramatic performance?
Meng Jinghui: Not yet. I know many friends, and I have a beautiful human feeling for the small town of my hometown, or a strange distant place abroad when I travel. It is possible to record this sentiment and put it into artistic creation, and it is necessary to take it slowly.
Cover News: I remember you commenting on Hangzhou, saying that Hangzhou is more foreign than Beijing and looser than Shanghai. What do you think about Chengdu?
Meng Jinghui: Chengdu is more relaxed than Beijing, very leisurely, is a gentle city, a city to enjoy time. But these are all bits and pieces of understanding of Chengdu, and they are not complete. Of course, this performance is just the beginning, and next, we have to do a lot of things in this city. For example, meet more friends, act more dramas, and do more fun things.
Cover News: How receptive is the audience in Chengdu to the drama?
Meng Jinghui: In the era of developed networks, all of China is the same. Beijing has more resources for works and is more demanding. Shanghai, more carefully selected. Every place develops differently.
Cover News: Chengdu has put forward a goal to build a western cultural and creative center. What do you suggest?
Meng Jinghui: Whose backyard doesn't have something good to do. Every city has its own good things, and the good things of others and their own are combined. The development of a city, especially culture, is a natural development, and the twisted melon is not sweet. The cultivation, development and promotion of local forces are very important. Each city has its own characteristics, with different vein structures and body temperatures. Culture is something like that can't be rushed. Take your time, you can't change in two directions in three days.
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