"In the history of contemporary literature, Liang Xiaosheng's 'The World of Man' is another simple, sincere and full of compassion after Lu Yao's "Ordinary World.""
"The World of Man" (three volumes) is a novel by the famous writer Liang Xiaosheng. The book is 1.15 million words, which took several years to complete. Taking the life trajectory of a commoner surnamed Zhou in the northern provincial capital city as a clue, the work writes from the 1970s to today after the reform and opening up, depicts the great changes in Chinese society and the ups and downs of the people's lives from multiple angles, in multiple directions and at multiple levels, and artistically and eloquently shows the life efforts of the common people yearning for a better life and the historical progress of social development, which can be called a "fifty years of Chinese people's life history".
The drama "The World of Man", adapted from Liang Xiaosheng's work of the same name, will be staged at the Guangzhou Opera House from September 11 to 12. The drama "The World of Man" brings together the top design teams and casts of the beijing People's Art Theater, the National Drama Theatre of China, the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, the China Opera and Dance Theatre and other industries, paying tribute to the low-level people and the Chinese spirit full of social forms.
Restore the life history of the Chinese people in the past 50 years
The drama "The World of Man" vividly and intuitively shows the life and development of the Chinese people in the past 50 years, from the city to the countryside, from the ice and snow town of the northeast to the vast land in the southwest, from the ordinary people to the officials, migrant workers, employees and other social divisions of labor, which preciously restores the development process of Chinese society and the mental journey of ordinary people, and runs the fireworks atmosphere that truly belongs to the world through the stage, just like laying out a long historical scroll that spans nearly half a century.
Stills from the drama "The World of Man"
The difficulty of the interpretation of "The World of Man" is that in just 180 minutes, every actor must experience the change of characters from youth to old age, from immaturity to maturity, and the story must not only restore the characteristics of the times in terms of clothing, props, environment and details, but also require the actors to perform in line with the symbols of the times, echo the changes of the times, restore the psychology of the characters, and truly interpret every ordinary role in the era in a three-dimensional and true way.
In order to cover the artistic conception and complex and changeable spatial scenes of the drama "Human World", Zhang Kangmei adopts symbolism and integrity in the stage design, combines the landing point with the director's rhythm and performance action lines, and strives to use the unique time and space expression of stage art to present the spiritual world of contemporary characters and rich and vivid visual experience, integrating various artistic factors such as lighting, video, music, and sound, and integrating fragments of real life and virtual visual art.
Stage design restores the real appearance of Chinese people's lives, especially in the details of more ingenious, as small as a kettle, a table, a wall, to dress, character growth, social issues, from beginning to end in line with environmental changes, branded with the times, and strive to shape the spatial atmosphere through time, take you to feel the original china in the past.
The story continues from the 70s of last century to the reform and opening up to the present, embedded in the Chinese society in the past 50 years to go to the mountains and go to the countryside, the construction of the third line, the recommendation to go to university, the resumption of the college entrance examination, the return of young people to the city, opening up to the outside world, invigorating the economy, the reform of state-owned enterprises, self-employment, shantytown transformation, anti-corruption and clean government and other major social changes and development events, through the northern provincial capital city of Zhou family civilian children as a clue, the protagonist Zhou Bingkun in that mountain to the countryside years, fell in love with Zheng Juan, who has a more humble identity, for love, Zhou Bingkun stayed in the light character piece that was born in Si and grew up in Si. Brother Zhou Bingyi and sister Zhou Rong, as young people, also for love to make a choice from the original heart, in the 50 years of time, the fate of the Zhou family ups and downs, not only the glory and dream of China's social development, but also face the difficulty and complexity of the reform and opening up process. They both love and hate the light character film, just like their bitter and happy love, no matter how the social context and human heart trajectory change, the Zhou family has always struggled with full enthusiasm and kindness as the most ordinary people in China.
"Through 'The World of Man', we should pay tribute to the reality of China over the past 40 years, to the various figures who have contributed to China's reform and opening up in the past 40 years, especially to those who are tough, ordinary, and insist on being good people at the bottom." Liang Xiaosheng, the original author and famous writer, said.
Screenwriter Yuan Bin said: "Civilian life is full of joys and sorrows, and sorrows and joys are between the world. "The World of Man" gives voice to ordinary people, takes love and fate as the melody, and composes music for ideals and struggles. ”
Director Yang Jiayin said: "The difficulty of adapting a work lies in both being faithful to the spirit of the original work and having a new interpretation on the stage. The attitude of the creator determines the temperature of the work. Man, standing in the world, how to be a person, how to do things? In the face of the hardships of life, there is still a soul of upward, good, and beautiful, so that life is meaningful. ”
Guangzhou Art Season 2021
Liang Xiaosheng Mao Dun Literature Award Adaptation of the Work of the Same Name Drama "The World of Man"
——Three hours to condense the life history of the Chinese people in fifty years
Venue: Opera Hall of Guangzhou Opera House
Duration: 3 hours (with 15 minutes intermission)