Original title: After studying opera under Zhang Huoding for ten years, “Tears on the Barren Mountain” and “Liu Yingchun” successively appeared on the stage (introduction)
Li Linxiao thanked Shien for two major plays (theme)
Beijing Daily reporter Gao Qian
“I feel like I have endless energy during this period,” said Li Linxiao, an outstanding young actor from the Cheng School of the Peking Opera Theater in Beijing. On the evening of November 19th, she will star in Cheng Pai’s famous play “Tears on Barren Mountains” which will be staged at the Jixiang Grand Theater. On the evening of November 22nd, she will also perform a revival of the traditional play “Liu Yingchun” at the Chang’an Grand Theater to pay tribute to the Chinese people. The audience showed their gains and changes in the past ten years of studying opera under Zhang Huoding.
It took seven years to sharpen a sword for “Tears on Barren Mountains”
Li Linxiao’s performance of “Tears on Barren Mountains” can be described as seven years of hard work. In 2016, when Li Linxiao was studying in the “Zhang Huoding Peking Opera Cheng School Artistic Talents Workshop”, the first lesson Zhang Huoding gave to the students was “Tears of the Barren Mountains”. Her cherishment of this work was condensed in every word and deed. Zhang Huoding taught Zhang Huoding for half a month with the sentence “Listen to the sound of drums at the second watch in Qiao Tower.”
“Tears on Barren Mountains” is a representative play of Peking Opera master Cheng Yanqiu. It tells the story of Zhang Huizhu, a farmer in the late Ming Dynasty, and his family of five who were forced to die by the government’s exorbitant taxes. It was of great significance to the formation of Cheng School art. The protagonist Zhang Huizhu has long singing, reciting, and heavy dance movements. She pays equal attention to singing and acting, and the requirements for actors are very high.
“I wanted to act in “Tears on Barren Mountains” a few years ago, but the teacher asked me to wait. She thought that I was still young and had simple life experience, so I might not be able to grasp the role well. Zhang Huizhu had a tragic life experience, and the teacher told me that you must have Only strong enough acting skills can make the audience believe in this character.” Li Linxiao said. Over the years, she has repeatedly tempered herself in many solo performances and plays such as “The Suo Lin Bag” and “The Legend of White Snake”, and more and more recognition and praise are coming to her. In February this year, before the performance of “The Legend of White Snake” and “The Suo Lin Bag”, Zhang Huoding came to watch her rehearsal. “The teacher was in tears that time. She said that she was moved by my understanding and interpretation of Bai Suzhen and Xue Xiangling.” , this touched me very deeply.”
After several preparations, Li Linxiao was fully prepared for “Tears on Barren Mountains”. “Every time a student comes to class with Teacher Zhang to learn this play, whether it’s an undergraduate or a graduate student, I follow him and learn it. It’s like this.” A few days ago, Zhang Huoding told her that she has been studying this play for so many years. , “I believe your performance will not be bad, but as to how good it is, it depends on you.” Zhang Huoding has always had strict standards for art, and the words “it will not be bad” gave Li Linxiao confidence.
Interpretation of “Liu Yingchun” from the perspective of contemporary women
Compared with “Tears on Barren Mountains”, Cheng Pai’s full-length “Liu Yingchun” has not had many opportunities to perform in recent years, but “Fenhe Bay” in the second half of the play has become a household name. The entire play performed by Li Linxiao this time was written by the famous playwright Jin Zhongsun for Cheng Yanqiu in 1930. Classic arias such as “The red plum blossoms bloom and the fragrance coincides with the spring” are a great test of the actor’s expressiveness.
It is reported that this version of “Liu Yingchun” is one of the “traditional play processing and re-arrangement projects” of the Beijing Peking Opera Company. The theater is equipped with an excellent creative lineup, and the revival director Liu Shujun has added martial arts presentation to stretch the sense of time and space. The role of Xue Rengui will be co-starred by martial arts actor Wei Boyang and Ma Pai successor Liu Meng Qianyi. In terms of music, the performance will be performed by Yan Xiaoyu on drums and Zhang Yiping on piano. The famous luthier Zhao Yu will serve as music director. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the Beijing Peking Opera Company specially invited the famous director Chi Jinsheng, who was still in his early years, as an artistic consultant to sort out and streamline the original script according to the specific requirements of the rehearsal, and invited Zhang Huoding to serve as the artistic director.
In the process of excavating and sorting out “Liu Yingchun”, Li Linxiao hopes to re-view “Liu Yingchun” from the perspective of contemporary women. “This play is like an epic about a woman. Liu Yingchun was once a lady, but after experiencing the wasted years and tribulations of eighteen years, she developed survival skills.” How to show the bitter experience behind eighteen years depends on What’s more, there are a lot of carefully crafted body performances, movements and expressions. Zhang Huoding specially told Li Linxiao to perform Liu Yingchun’s “cuteness”. This character is both insightful and powerful, and very vivid. It is very difficult to play her in a rich and three-dimensional way.
“After returning to the China Academy of Opera for graduate school in 2012, I was fortunate enough to study opera with teacher Zhang Huoding. The teacher was very dedicated to his students but took nothing from him. I want to repay the teacher through my hard work off stage and my performance on stage,” said Li Linxiao. After “Tears on the Barren Mountain” and “Liu Yingchun”, she will continue to perform on stage at the end of the year and the beginning of the year. On December 7, she will perform “Lin Suo” at the Chang’an Grand Theater. 2024 is the 120th anniversary of Cheng Yanqiu’s birth. On January 20, Li Linxiao will start the new year’s performance at the Langfang Silk Road International Art Exchange Center.
