As the 2021 Shanghai Jing'an Modern Drama Valley Exhibition, the original drama "Home guest", produced by Shanghai Dialect Art Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, and co-starring Zhou Yemang, Song Yining and Qian Cheng, has recently returned to the stage of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center after a year. The play will continue to be staged in Shanghai until May 9, followed by a nationwide tour in Tianjin, Beijing, Xi'an in Shaanxi, and Hangzhou in Zhejiang.
The drama "Home Guest" is written by Yu Rongjun and directed by Zhou Xiaoqian. The whole drama tells the quiet life of retired teacher Mo Sangwan and his wife Xia Mantian, who was suddenly broken by an uninvited guest one day - the ex-husband Ma Zhitu, who had disappeared for more than 40 years, suddenly appeared, and Xia Mantian actually invited him to live with them... Only these three characters appear in the whole play, and the three acts of the play interpret three different life possibilities.
Speaking of the original intention of the play, screenwriter Yu Rongjun said: "The concept of the play "The Family" has been conceived for a long time, and I have always wanted to write a play about contemporary Chinese scholars, especially the fate of my father's generation and their current living conditions. Their fate has always been closely linked to the fate of the country. ”
"The Guest" takes Ma Shitu as the key character, and through his three different possibilities of "returning to Shanghai from Tangshan", "not returning to Shanghai from Tangshan" and "returning to Shanghai from Tangshan", respectively shows three different living conditions. From the "returner" in the first act, to the "intruder" in the second act, to the mysterious character in the third act, all of this is because of his choice when the Tangshan earthquake occurred in 1976, because of different decisions and different life endings. Along with the ups and downs of the entire plot, the emotions of the audience also fluctuated: sometimes laughing, sometimes moving...
In the more than five years since the original drama "House guest" took shape in 2016, after round after round of creative performances, revision and polishing, improvement and re-performance, it has received resonance and repercussions from experts, media and audiences from all walks of life, and at the same time, after industry expert review, unanimously voted to approve the play as the National Arts Fund's 2019 large-scale stage drama and works rolling funding project.
From 2019 to 2020, "Homemaker" held "one reform" and "two reform" expert revision meetings in Beijing and Shanghai respectively. More than 20 experts from all over the country conducted comprehensive exchanges and in-depth discussions on the script structure, theme intention, character relationship, stage presentation and stage design around the play, and on the basis of fully affirming the artistic achievements of this work, they talked about true knowledge and bright insights in the contention, focused on the weak links of the play, grasped the key issues of revision, and put forward effective suggestions.
Literary critic Mao Shi'an sighed after watching the drama "The Guest" for the second time, "This is a lyrical work that can make people quiet, especially in the background of the hustle and bustle, it is the middle bass in the drama, healing people's hearts with a calm and long texture." ”
Song Baozhen, director of the Drama Research Institute, a Chinese art researcher, believes that the drama "The Guest" has a very Chinese flavor in it, and the three people get along with a very Chinese humanistic relationship, with regret and understanding in their hearts, which is the implementation of a national cultural psychology in the narrative.
After a round of revision, overthrow, polishing and upgrading, the "Homer" was revised and returned, greeting every audience in the theater with 100% creative enthusiasm, and the crew made every effort to craft the repertoire and strive to make the work "stand, spread and stay".
In the play, the role of "Ma Shitu", who has experienced strange and emotional ups and downs, representing the transformation from grassroots workers to enterprise management, is played by the powerful actor Zhou Yemang, while Song Yining, who can be called the "changeable girl" on the stage, will continue to play the "Mo Sang Evening" who has rich experience, is reserved and introverted, and represents college teachers; Qian Cheng, the leading figure of Chinese burlesque, returns to the "mother's home" stage and plays "Xia Mantian", who represents the backbone of the literary and art circles.
In addition to the three leading actors, the performance of singer Xu Junpeng and guitarist Gu Yi in the play has also been adjusted compared with before, and the mood of the story has been better pushed to the climax step by step. In addition, the play was designed by Huang Kaifu, the stage designer of "Shang Martingale", and Zhao Guang, a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, as the composer; this round of performances also invited Fang Qiong, director of the Vocal Department of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, as a vocal director.
The stage set created by Huang Kaifu is also simple and very expressive, in the center of the stage, a bungalow with a courtyard is located in it, it is located in the center of the Shanghai city surrounded by high-rise buildings, but it is independent of the courtyard, like a paradise, it stands out of place, symbolizing the protagonist's memories, attitude, but also a kind of persistence.
The whole performance process is accompanied by a multimedia projection screen composed of various brushstrokes that are constantly flowing slowly, sometimes bitter, sometimes ambiguous, sometimes bright, sometimes making people feel bitter and desperate... An hourglass on the roof is always rotating, moving, and running, sometimes clear and clear, sometimes shadowy, sometimes positive, sometimes retrograde, leading the audience through different time and space.
Stills were provided by Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center
Author: Tong Weijing
Editor: Wang Xiaoli