Yue opera actor Chen Yu is performing live.
Peking Opera actor Ren Siyuan put on a flower face and prepared to broadcast live.
Peking Opera, Yu Opera, Yue Opera, Huangmei Opera, Commentary, Chao Opera, Yang Opera... Nowadays, a wave of opera is emerging on new media platforms, and more and more netizens are reuniting with traditional opera art through live broadcasts, short videos, and online interactions. With the help of new media, Xiqu has opened up a new way of dissemination.
Professional actors are stationed in the live broadcast
At 8:30 p.m., Ren Siyuan, a young opera actor with headphones on her head, came to her douyin live broadcast room on time. She has a good face, but she plays not the common Qingyi and Hua Dan, but the rather rare jingxing among female opera actors. A loud and rounded singing voice like Hong Zhong Da Lu attracted the audience in the live broadcast room to applaud in the barrage.
Ren Siyuan specializes in copper hammer flower faces, and learns from Mr. Li Changchun, a descendant of qiu Pai, and is a well-known young actor. Graduated from the School of Drama Arts of Shenyang Normal University, she stayed on to teach for 5 years to pursue a postgraduate degree in the China Academy of Performing Arts, and then entered the Dalian Peking Theater, where she worked as an editor of the public account of the Dalian Peking Opera House, responsible for online promotion, performance preview, performance review and other content promotion. This experience also cultivated her sensitivity and interest in new media.
At the beginning, Ren Siyuan first edited and uploaded her own performance video. In May 2020, she officially launched a live broadcast at the suggestion of fans. At that time, the idea was very simple, just "sing to the people you like", so I only sang my own part of the work. But as interaction with viewers between live streams increased, she found that many people would order plays from other professions. In order to meet the needs of the audience and to better promote Peking Opera, she decided to divide her live broadcast into two parts: one hour to sing the flower face singing segment, and one hour to reverse other trades according to the audience's wishes. Through "one catch two" and "one catch three", she plays multiple trades and multiple roles, singing while explaining, so that the audience can not only hear, but also understand.
Ren Siyuan always tried to spread Peking Opera and its related knowledge. She often "Lianmai" and "PK" with other anchors, attracting more people to become interested in Peking Opera and fall in love with Peking Opera. Every time she opened her voice, she would sing enough to sing the drama and never make any excuse to cut corners. Today, her account has 190,000 followers, and the total number of viewers of live broadcasts every day exceeds 30,000, reaching more than 100,000 at most.
"I'm first and foremost a Peking Opera actor." Ren Siyuan said, "The stage is my foundation, and live broadcasting is a means of publicity, and both jobs revolve around the art of Peking Opera that I love." In her view, it is the unshirkable duty of a professional actor to carry forward the essence of the country and revitalize Peking Opera. Through online live broadcasting, she can not only promote the art of Peking Opera, but also serve the majority of opera fans and audiences, and at the same time publicize the Dalian Peking Theater and let more people enter the offline theater, which she is very proud of.
Alleviate the difficulty of offline performance
With the development of society and the diversification of cultural life, the development of traditional opera is facing many difficulties. The emergence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has also affected the offline performances of some troupes.
Chen Yu, from Ningbo, is a Yue opera actor who has worked for a private theater troupe in Zhejiang Province. The income of private theater troupes mainly comes from performance fees, and during the epidemic period, performances have been greatly reduced, and many private theater troupe actors have no choice but to change careers and leave the opera stage. Chen Yu began to broadcast live at the suggestion of a friend. At first, she only had a few tens of dollars in income, but after 1 month, the income from live broadcasting became considerable. Now, her Douyin fans have exceeded 200,000. The income brought to her by live broadcasting has far exceeded her income from acting in the troupe.
Chen Yu is not alone. Yu Yuchan, who is also a Yue opera actor, has gained income and self-confidence in online live broadcasting; the Henan folk theater troupe "Maitian Xiangyin" has supported the entire drama class by relying on the income of the live broadcast room, and now with the support of netizens, it has transformed from a "family workshop" into a opera troupe that includes more local folk artists; Huangmei opera actor Cheng Cheng relies on live broadcast income to pay social security for himself, learn new plays, buy more lines, and not only maintain his livelihood but also improve his business...
Relevant data show that in the past year, on the Douyin platform, the income of traditional culture anchors increased by 101% year-on-year, of which the income of quyi anchors increased by 232% year-on-year, with an average of 3719 broadcasts per day. Webcasting provides a larger platform for opera and local theater troupes that are relatively niche and have limited offline performances. Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University, pointed out: "Nowadays, the use of emerging media such as short videos and live broadcasts to popularize knowledge and disseminate traditional culture has become a scale and has great potential. Just as offline performances require the purchase of tickets, the audience enjoys the wonderful performances on the Internet and pays for them, which is a respect for the art. More importantly, let the opera actors increase their income, in order to retain more talents and mobilize their enthusiasm, so that the traditional opera can be better passed on. ”
Expand the audience of fans
Nowadays, the popularity of "national tide" and "national style" reflects the young generation's strong interest in traditional culture. Compared with traditional offline theaters, the audience of new media platforms is younger and the user stickiness is higher.
In the comment area of Ren Siyuan's live broadcast room, many young netizens left messages: "This gesture is really beautiful", "It's too charming, it must be passed on" "I have to say it's great!" Let me, who doesn't like Peking Opera very much, love to listen to it" ... In Ren Siyuan's view, as an excellent traditional culture handed down from the ancestors, the audience of Peking Opera has a fault line, and the new media platform just makes up for this shortcoming. Through live broadcasts and short videos, the audience can brush to Peking Opera with a flick of their fingers, and then enter the theater from staying to appreciating, from appreciating to liking, and from liking. "With the help of short videos and live broadcasts, everyone can enjoy Peking Opera more conveniently, and Peking Opera can enter the lives of more people, which is a very meaningful thing." Ren Siyuan firmly believes.
Not long ago, the "Su Yun LiuChang" - 2022 Jiangsu Lantern Peking Opera Concert was staged online, and a number of famous rookies came to the scene, bringing a joyful and festive and wonderful Peking Opera feast. It is worth noting that this performance attracted many young audiences, many of whom are fans of the newly recruited "post-00s" Peking Opera actors Bian Jingting and Yang Huai, who have just joined the Peking Opera House in Jiangsu Province.
Bian Jingting and Yang Huai graduated from the Shanghai Theater Academy majoring in Peking Opera performance, and the "416 Women's Group" formed by them and several classmates used the Peking Opera vocal cavity to cover ancient songs, which became popular on the Douyin platform, infecting and driving a large number of peers, making listening to plays and watching plays become a part of the cultural life of young people. Ke Jun, general manager of Jiangsu Performing Arts Group, said: "Young people have brought a wave of traditional opera, and traditional opera has also been loved by more and more young people. Ke Jun believes that the signs of the revival of these traditional operas represent a trend, prompting everyone to explore and practice more in promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture.
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition