Guangming Daily reporter Gao Jianjin
At the 31st Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Awards Ceremony held this year, two of the 15 new “plum blossoms” came from Fujian, namely Zheng Quan, a first-class actor of Fujian Fanghua Yue Theater, and Sun Yi, a first-class actor of Fujian Song and Dance Theater. gravel. Fujian is also the only province that has won two “plum blossoms” this year. In the 25th Cao Yu Drama Literature Award, which was awarded simultaneously, one of the five winners across the country was from Fujian: Chen Xinxin, a first-level screenwriter of the Fujian Peking Opera Theater, was on the list for her Fujian opera “Life”.
Founded in 1983, the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award is the highest award in Chinese drama performance art. Over the past 40 years, a total of 19 people from Fujian have won the “Plum Blossom” 20 times. Especially since 2004, there have been winners every year. Fujian’s theater stage can be said to be full of talents.
“Drama is a comprehensive art centered on performance. On the surface, the Plum Blossom Award is an individual actor’s award, but from a certain perspective, it is often a concentrated expression of the performance art level and comprehensive performance strength of a troupe, a genre, or even a place. “Wang Qiumei, party secretary and vice chairman of the Fujian Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said that over the years, the struggle on the road to picking “plum blossoms” has greatly sharpened Fujian’s art stage and brought vitality to Fujian drama.
The Plum Blossom Award promotes the improvement of artistic standards
Talking about the “plum blossom” in Fujian, Wang Qiumei is very familiar: In 1989, Zeng Jingping from the Liyuan Opera Experimental Troupe of Fujian Province won the first “plum blossom” for Fujian in the 6th Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award with “Jie Fu Yin”.
Fujian first ushered in the “plum blossom” fever in 1993.
“This is the first time since the establishment of the Plum Blossom Award that the award was presented outside the capital city. At that time, 15 excellent theater troupes from all over the country were attracted to perform in Fuzhou, allowing many Fujian dramatists and the general public to appreciate the fragrance of ‘plum blossom’ at close range.” Wang Qiumei told Reporter, at the Plum Blossom Awards Ceremony, Chen Naichun from Fuzhou Fujian Theater took home the second “Plum Blossom” for Fujian.
The road to winning the “Plum Blossom Award” is not easy for every Plum Blossom Award actor. Time turned to the final evaluation scene of this Plum Blossom Award for Drama. On the evening of May 11, the Shaoxing opera “Tang Wan” appeared in Guangzhou Beilei Theater. Tang Wan’s complex and delicate psychological changes are the main line, telling the poignant and moving love tragedy between Lu and Tang. It has been 15 years since Zheng Quan premiered “Tang Wan”. When playing Tang Wan, she combined the “bel canto” in the sense of opera vocal music with genre singing, demonstrating the euphemistic and mellow artistic charm.
On the evening of May 17, the opera “Book with Wife” starring Sun Li was staged at the Guangdong Art Theater. The work takes Lin Juemin’s “Letter with Wife” written by Lin Juemin to his wife after the failure of the Guangzhou Uprising as a clue, showing the lofty belief of a young revolutionary who “seeks eternal happiness for the people of the world”. In the play, Sun Li used baritone singing skills to express the rich emotions of the characters through the artistic contrast between rigidity and softness.
Dramatic art is a comprehensive art. Sun Li said that without the joint efforts of the whole cast and crew, it would be impossible for him to achieve success.
For Zheng Quanshen’s “Plum Blossom” this time, Fujian Fanghua Yue Theater sent a performance team of nearly 100 people, and her supporting role was Chen Liyu, the winner of the previous Plum Blossom Award. Sun Lishen “Mei”, the Fujian Provincial Song and Dance Theater has sent a performance team of over 300 people. In addition to the leading role, everyone participating in the performance, voice control, subtitles, band, lighting, stage beauty, etc. are doing their best and fighting for honor .
A good script “builds the foundation” and “adds color” to a good actor
Fujian opera has a long history, a wide variety of operas, rich repertoires and distinctive features. Among them, Fujian Opera, Puxian Opera, Liyuan Opera, Gaojia Opera and Gezai Opera (Xiang Opera) are the most famous. Wu Xinbin, deputy director of the Fujian Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, vice chairman of the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and chairman of the Provincial Drama Association, told reporters: “At present, there are 23 live operas in Fujian, including 18 local operas and 5 inter-provincial operas. In addition, there are 5 types of shadow play and puppet show.”
The prosperity of Fujian drama is inseparable from the joint efforts of a large number of outstanding playwrights, theoretical critics, performing artists, stage artists and bands. “Excellent actors need excellent scripts to ‘build the foundation’ and ‘add color’. Over the years, Fujian’s script creation has always been its strength. The rich characters created make the plot development smooth, reasonable, and unexpected. “Wu Xinbin believes that a good script can leave space for actors to perform freely, and achieve a brilliant artistic image on the stage.
Yu Shouying, vice chairman and secretary general of Fujian Dramatists Association, introduced that after the founding of New China, the first batch of playwrights represented by Chen Renjian stood on the “mountain” of national drama creation. Since then, Zheng Huaixing, Wang Renjie and Zhou Changfu have been called the “troika” of Fujian drama. Yu Shouying told the reporter: “The screenwriters of Zheng Quan and Sun Li’s dramas “Tang Wan” and “Book with Wife” are respectively Wang Renjie and Zhou Changfu.”
In recent years, Fujian has effectively produced a batch of excellent scripts through activities such as script solicitation, creative collection, playwright summer camp, and script revision meeting. According to Wu Xinbin, since the establishment of the Cao Yu Drama Literature Award, a total of 26 plays in Fujian have won the award. In 2021, the “Hundreds of Excellent Plays Collection” selected and edited by the China Drama Association will include the plays of seven playwrights from Fujian, and the number of selected plays ranks among the top in the country.
In terms of opera theory criticism, a group of well-known theoretical critics appeared in Fujian. They participated in the discussion at the early stage of the creation of key plays and put forward many sharp and pertinent opinions, which saved playwrights from many detours.
Chen Xinxin, the author of “Life”, said in his award acceptance speech: “Fujian theater circles have always adhered to the ethos of telling the truth to every script and every play. This kind of honesty in art has made Fujian Province produce many good plays and scripts.” .My own creation also benefits from this soil.”
A “gas station” that treats awards as an artistic path
“You don’t compete for spring when you are beautiful, you only report the coming of spring.” This is the character of Meihua, the character of the Plum Blossom Award, and the character of contemporary dramatists. Wang Mian, a poet of the Yuan Dynasty, wrote in the poem “White Plum Blossoms” that “suddenly, the fragrance of the plum blossoms overnight, and the universe is scattered for thousands of miles of spring.” Think of awards as commas rather than full stops on the road of art, and continue to pursue unremittingly in artistic creation.
With the blessing of the Plum Blossom Award, “Jiaoer” has more aura and confidence in artistic creation. “Because of the Plum Blossom Award actors, the troupe’s performance market and social influence have been improved.” Wu Xinbin believes that the audience’s pursuit of “corners” is even more chasing their charm of virtue and art.
In mid-May this year, Plum Blossom Award actors Zhou Hong, Chen Qiong and others went to Fuqing, Ningde and other villages to hold “Happy and Happy Encounters” benefiting the people. “Butterfly Fan” and other plays have attracted people from all over the world, and many fans followed the crew. This is a gratifying presentation of the “plum blossom” effect.
Zhou Hong is the first female “Plum Blossom” in the Fujian opera world. Thirteen years after she won the award, she won the Wenhua Performance Award for her role as Lin Mengqing in the Fujian opera “Double Butterfly Fan”. Last year, she was awarded the honorary title of “National Young and Middle-aged Literary and Artistic Workers with Virtue and Art”. “Traditional Hokkien operas often show people the atmosphere of the market, but “Double Butterfly Fan” excavates the elegant and delicate features of Confucian operas in Fujian operas, allowing the audience to see the multi-faceted art of Fujian operas.” Wu Xinbin commented.
Fujian opera “Life” is a big drama. In 2019, Zhou Hong brought all the members of the Fujian Experimental Fujian Theater to the battle. There were more than 50 actors on the stage alone, and more than 100 actors and staff participated in the performance. What they showed was the beauty of women in war and the greatness of motherhood. Few viewers felt “burning with passion” after watching it.
In April this year, Zeng Jingping, winner of the “Second Plum” in Fujian, held the “Haisi Silk Road” talent training project in Quanzhou – the first phase of “Zeng Jingping Training Ground”, imparting her years of artistic creation experience to drama actors inside and outside the province and theater researchers.
At the same time, the first Haisi Quanzhou Drama Week and the 2023 National Southern Opera Exhibition will be held in Quanzhou. The 7-day performance series included 18 drama genres and intangible cultural heritage items from many places across the country. 14 Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award and Chinese Quyi Peony Award actors, more than 30 experts and scholars participated, attracting nearly 20,000 theater fans and audiences. Chinese and foreign tourists came to watch, and the traffic of various media networks exceeded 3 million.
In Putian, Huang Yanyan, who won the Plum Blossom Award, collaborated with theater actors for “Umbrella Walking”, which won the 17th Wenhua Award. In order to inherit and develop Puxian Opera, Huang Yanyan’s troupe performs about 350 performances at the grassroots level every year, with an audience of nearly 600,000 people. In order to pass on the torch of Puxian Opera, she and her colleagues often go to primary and secondary schools to teach children how to perform. Two primary school students participated in the 26th “Chinese Children’s Opera Little Plum Blossoms” selection and won the title of “Little Plum Blossom” in the children’s opera project.
Mechanisms allow drama talents to continue to emerge
“Fujian’s participation in the Plum Blossom Award and the Caoyu Script Award can continue to achieve good results and achieve new breakthroughs, which is inseparable from the support and cooperation of relevant departments in the province.” Wang Qiumei said that in recent years, through the “Special Fund for the Development of Literature and Art in Fujian Province” “Fujian Provincial Stage Fujian has continued to increase its support for dramas through channels such as the Fine Arts Project, launching 20 excellent drama scripts and a certain number of excellent plays every year. At the same time, we will further improve the work system for the protection and inheritance of operas, promote the work of reorganization and restoration of excellent traditional operas, research on opera types, data mining and rescue, etc., and establish a virtuous circle of opera inheritance and development ecology.
The regularly held Fujian Provincial Hundred Flowers Literary and Art Awards, Fujian Art Festival and Provincial Drama Show, Fujian Provincial Young and Middle-aged Actors Competition, etc. have become important platforms for the growth and success of troupe actors, performers, and art school teachers and students. National stage for theater events.
In terms of script and repertoire creation, Fujian theater circles frequently hold “spark tea parties”, organize annual meetings and seminars of Wuyi Drama Writers Society, and promote the orderly implementation of many projects such as the promotion project of famous contemporary Fujian drama masters.
“Corresponding to the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award, Fujian has its own Narcissus Award.” Wu Xinbin told reporters that the Fujian Provincial Drama Narcissus Award, founded in 1986, is now co-sponsored by the Fujian Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and the Provincial Dramatists Association. It is held once a year and has been held for 16 times. There is no age limit for the competition. Actors and performers from professional troupes in various cities, including practitioners of private professional theater troupes, and teachers and students from art colleges can sign up. Each final There will be more than 300 people.
“Narcissus” connects with “Plum Blossom”, and “Narcissus” helps “Plum Blossom”. Many young actors have gained experience in successive drama competitions and have gradually become the backbone of various art troupes. “This is a road of inheritance in Fujian drama, and it is also a road of innovation. Because Fujian drama people know that spring is not spring when all flowers bloom together,” Wang Qiumei said.
“Guangming Daily” (version 04, August 13, 2023)
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责编：王宏泽 ]