Cantonese opera actors are dressing up. Photo by Yang Weijun
The second of the pomp and circumstance of "The Hall of The Two Heroes". Photo by Yang Weijun
Stills from "Empress Hanwen". Photo by Yang Weijun
Stills from "Bitter Phoenix Warbler Pity". Photo by Yang Weijun
One of the pomp and circumstance of "The Hall of Two Heroes". Photo by Yang Weijun
The background picture shows the score of the original Cantonese opera repertoire.
Photo by Chen Wen
"Villages and villages do big dramas, and gongs and drums sound everywhere." All along, the Wuchuan Cantonese opera performance market is very prosperous, the vast number of villages have the habit of doing annual routines, every annual routine must perform a big drama, a performance is a few days. Some villages also perform "double-beat stage" plays, "sky light" plays, and even invite several troupes to perform, one after another, for several months. Wuchuan City was once rated as "the hometown of Chinese folk culture and art" and enjoyed the reputation of "the hometown of Guangdong Cantonese opera southern school art".
As a relatively complete "Southern School" artistic treasure preserved in western Guangdong, Cantonese opera was well received by audiences and connoisseurs, and in its heyday, the Wuchuan Cantonese Opera Troupe performed 328 times a year, and was awarded the title of "Baodi Steel Troupe" by the provincial theater troupe. Recently, wuchuan Cantonese Opera Troupe was selected into the list of the ninth national "advanced collectives of grass-roots literary and art academies", and is the only unit in western Guangdong to be listed in the ninth national list of serving farmers, serving grass-roots culture and building advanced collectives.
It has a long history
"Baodi Steel Regiment" shows its majesty
Chinese drama art originates from the worship of gods and religious beliefs, and has formed a wide variety of opera dramas and performing arts genres with different styles over the millennia. Cantonese opera began in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and is a local traditional drama interpreted in the Cantonese dialect of Guangdong, which has been circulated in Liangguang, Hong Kong and Macao and even Southeast Asia, commonly known as Canton opera and xiasifu. Shangliufu is good at singing and doing literary field, Xiasifu is good at literary and martial arts, and Cantonese opera "Nanpai" art is a unique genre of drama martial arts in Xiasifu. In December 2014, the Cantonese opera "Nanpai" art was selected into the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
Different from other dramas, cantonese opera "Southern School" art pays special attention to the performance program of martial arts and rich traditional pomp and circumstance, in order to highlight the rough and bold, heroic and courageous characters. For example, in the pomp and circumstance of "Over the Mountain", Liang Shi'an climbed up the "mountain" made of 5 tables and chairs on his back, and on the back of the chair that allowed only one foot to stand, he made an eagle spread its wings and other shapes. Almost every play of Wuchuan Cantonese opera has such a moving program and pomp, and it is precisely because of these powerful and powerful programs that the "southern school" art of Cantonese opera is more and more popular with the masses.
It is worth mentioning that the Cantonese opera "Nanpai" art also integrates the martial arts of the Southern School and the physical performance of opera, forming the highly personalized performance characteristics of the Southern Cantonese Opera. Dragons, snakes, tigers, leopards, cranes, lions, elephants, horses, monkeys, Biao and other martial arts routines are integrated into the stage fighting action, hard mallets and hard horses, each action is strong and powerful, its static and dynamic ratio is appropriate, both shape and spirit, more infectious.
"Cantonese opera itself is very distinctive, such as the martial arts of the 'Southern School' art, when a man has to jump a little, and a woman has to bend his waist, which is a vivid embodiment of the Cantonese opera tradition." When the famous drama critic Mao Xiaoyu went to Wuchuan to investigate, he said that the "southern school" art of Wuchuan Cantonese opera played an important position in Cantonese opera. For example, the peasant-style sadness of the husband and wife in "Killing the Faithful Wife" is the traditional pomp and circumstance of Cantonese opera.
Passing on the torch
Create boutiques to attract young people
"Wuchuan Cantonese opera is deeply loved by the masses, and the 'Southern School' artistic performance characteristics have always made the troupe invincible in the fierce market competition, and the troupe often performs in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao and other places, and also goes abroad to Singapore and other countries." According to Zheng Yongjian, head of the Wuchuan Cantonese Opera Troupe, compared with other troupes, the development of Wuchuan Cantonese opera is relatively good. However, with the rise of multimedia platforms such as television, movies, and short videos, coupled with the impact of the epidemic in recent years, the development space of Wuchuan Cantonese opera has been greatly reduced.
In addition, the lack of artistic talents of the "Southern School" of Cantonese opera and the lack of successors are an important problem that plagues the development of the troupe at present. "In the 1980s, there were many people who loved Cantonese opera, and tens of thousands of people signed up for art schools. Today, the phenomenon of brain drain is widespread in troupes. Zheng Yongjian frankly said that since the reform of the troupe in 2012, it can only rely on performances to support itself, the income situation is unstable, and the Cantonese opera "Southern School" art is mostly based on martial arts, the practice is very hard, the danger is great, and there are fewer parents who are willing to let their children learn this art.
In order to sweep away the decline of development, Wuchuan Cantonese Opera Troupe followed the trend, innovated from the aspects of scripts, performance programs, and service morality, paid close attention to artistic quality, sorted out and excavated traditional pomp and circumstance, organized forces to write scripts, and created drama masterpieces at any cost, in line with the tastes of young people. In recent years, the troupe has produced a number of large-scale original dramas, and with the help of television, newspaper media, live broadcast and other forms of promotion and publicity, such as in the 9th Wuchuan Cantonese Opera Culture and Art Festival live broadcast activities in 2021, the large-scale traditional masterpiece "Double Xiong Haunted Hall" online viewers exceeded 300,000; the original costume drama "Southern Song Dynasty Lonely Hong", "Bao Jin and Madame", "General Soldier Pan Tao" and so on have been well received by the masses, and the original modern drama "Feedback" has been performed more than 80 times since its launch.
In order to build a Cantonese opera brand and excavate and cultivate more "good seedlings" who are interested in Cantonese opera, Wuchuan Cantonese Opera Troupe insists on sending operas to the countryside and performing in distant mountains, islands, fishing villages and villages for many years, enriching the spiritual and cultural life of the masses and enhancing the influence of Cantonese opera. In addition, the Cantonese opera troupe has always insisted on bringing opera into the campus, cultivating students' interest in the traditional Cantonese opera "southern school" art through the form of a second classroom, and encouraging young people to join the troupe to learn and pass on the torch.
Author: Chen Hailan Chen Wen