What drama is Wuhan singing?

The history of Wuhan’s theater performance dates back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, gradually flourished during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, and reached its peak in the 1930s. At that time, when it came to watching theater, there were three top cities in China, and they were: Beijing , Shanghai, Hankou. After 1949, Wuhan's cultural consumption also had a period of prosperity. However, in recent decades, with the changes of the times, everything has changed.

Because of my interest in the above topics, this Sunday, I made an appointment with photographer Hu Xilei (my younger brother) to conduct a tour of several theaters in Wuhan (Hankou and Wuchang) that I have been familiar with since childhood. A quick walk-through interview.

At 10 a.m., we hurried past the entrance of the Peace Theater from Wusheng Road to Zhongshan Avenue. The interview was later conducted by phone.

The Peace Theater is located on the Zhongshan Avenue side of the Carrefour Supermarket on Wusheng Road. Enter the theater gate from the small street. Some media call it the only remaining place among the "Eight Theaters on Zhongshan Avenue in Hankou". Although this statement is not yet implemented , but it is indeed one of the few remaining old theaters.

Heping Theater was once the exclusive performance venue of Wuhan Henan Opera Troupe. Decades ago, I came here to watch the modern Henan Opera "The Great Wall of the South China Sea". After the Cultural Revolution, the Henan Opera Troupe was dismantled but the theater survived. For decades, it managed to maintain its operation despite the difficult times.

Currently, the theater mainly accepts Chu opera performances from folk drama societies, in order to satisfy the traditional preferences of some elderly citizens in this city (especially in this area adjacent to Hanzheng Street). Once upon a time, the 80-year-old famous Chu opera actor Xiong Jianxiao also came here to give a "demonstration performance" of the highlight play "Gelma", which was warmly welcomed by the audience and Chu opera disciples.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, the motorcycle separated from the crowd and drove into the small commodity market street of Qingfen Road, Liudu Bridge, Hankou. After some effort, we found the Qing Dynasty opera performance venue that was famous in the three towns of Wuhan. Fen Theater, now renamed as "Qing Fen Entertainment Hall" (pictured).

Qingfen Theater is one of the oldest theaters in Hankou. It was first built in 1913. It was first named "Dangui Grand Stage" and later changed to "Meicheng Grand Theater". The performances are mainly Han operas. He also performs Peking Opera and Chu Opera. At that time, famous Han opera actors Yu Hongyuan and Zhou Tiandong, and Chu opera actors Tao Gupeng and Yu Hongkui once performed here. "In 1947, the Donglian Han Opera Troupe followed the example of Shanghai, setting up a set room and staged plays with mechanical sets and sets, such as "Yue Fei", "Zhang Wenxiang Stabbing a Horse", "Blood Drops" and "The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple". The audience The venue was packed with people."

After 1949, "Qingfen" became the exclusive performance venue of Wuhan Han Opera Troupe (later "Wuhan Han Theater"). In the early 1960s, , with the support of the government and the support of the older generation of artists, the performing arts of Han opera have flourished. The performances performed by famous Han opera performing artists Wu Tianbao, Chen Bohua and Li Luoke here can be said to be "unparalleled and prosperous".

The scene of those years disappeared like clouds and smoke, and Qingfen Theater disappeared with only the name of "Entertainment Hall" remaining. The first floor of the theater was converted into a commercial area for hardware, and part of the second floor was used as a warehouse for stockpiling goods. Another locked room was listed as an "Entertainment Song and Dance Hall," and it was expected that there would be performances only in the evening.

When the photographer went upstairs to take pictures, the staff of the "Qingfen Entertainment Hall" became suspicious. They not only snatched the digital camera and checked it repeatedly, but later returned the camera because no film was found. At the same time, he asked sternly who was coming and who was sent? There seems to be a lot of caution. Perhaps, even they themselves feel guilty about the decline of Qingfen Theater today.

At 12 noon, walk out from Qingfen Road to Minsheng Road, turn right onto Zhongshan Avenue, and face the nationally famous Old Hankou Entertainment World - People's Paradise, which the older generation of Hankou calls "New Market" actually has many names - it was built in 1918, first named "Hankou New Market", then renamed "Central People's Club" in 1926, "World of Blood Flowers" in 1927, and "Hankou People's Club" in 1928 "Paradise"... repeated over and over again, it was named "People's Paradise" in 1945, and it remains today (pictured).

Hankou People's Paradise is a comprehensive entertainment venue with various dramas, folk arts, juggling and entertainment. It covers an area of ??1.22 square meters and can accommodate up to 3,000 people. Its scale is second only to Shanghai's "Big World" - "Performance Period" , the audience was extremely enthusiastic. Not only were the seats packed, but the people standing were touching each other with almost no gaps." - The "Jiangxia Theater" built in the park, formerly known as the "New Market Stage", mainly performs Peking Opera. It once had performances all over the country. Famous actors from Beijing, Kunming and local operas come here to perform. After 1949, it became a special performance venue for the Wuhan Peking Opera Troupe. Famous Chinese Peking Opera actors trained only in the People's Paradise include Guo Yukun, Guan Quanlu, Guan Zhengming, Wang Wanhua, Li Qianghua, etc. In the late 1960s, the Beijing Peking Opera Troupe came here to perform "A Hundred Years Old in Command". At that time, Hankou set off a wave of people rushing to watch the "Yang Clan Female Generals".

Nowadays, the People's Paradise has been renovated (as can be seen from the picture). The cream-yellow exterior walls and cream-white window frames, door frames, columns and carvings complement each other eye-catchingly - a gorgeous and heavy landscape screen that will last forever. Standing on the street of Zhongshan Avenue - but now there are far more people here to shop than to watch movies and dramas - the prosperity of the old Hankou drama industry has long been relics of history.

Go out of the arched side door facing the street of People's Park, go forward and turn left at the Hankou Qianqian 4th intersection, and walk in. Not far away, on the street is the Chufeng Theater, which was as famous as the Qingfen Theater in the past. It was once a dedicated performance venue for Wuhan Chu Opera Troupe. During the Cultural Revolution, it was renamed "Long March Theater" and later changed back. In the past ten years or so, the theater industry was in recession, and the theater was converted into a cinema. After a few years of operation, it was hit by the box office impact of the surrounding high-end modern theaters and closed down. As a result, we see this desolate and dilapidated scene today (pictured): The first floor of the theater It is now an old electrical appliances mall, with a disco on the second floor; an Internet cafe is located on the far side of the store, and the name "Chu Feng" still hangs on it.

"Chu Feng" was built in 1916 for eighty-eight years, three years later than "Qingfen". Originally named "Changle Theater", it performed Han opera and Chu opera. In 1936, 18-year-old Chen Bohua made his debut in the Chinese opera "Farewell My Concubine" here. After 1949, "Changle" was renamed "Chu Feng", and new and old operas were staged in turn. Famous actors performed on the stage every day, such as Chu opera artists Shen Yunyi, Guan Xiaobin (male Dan), Xiong Jianxiao, Yang Shaohua (Harlequin), etc.

In the past few decades, the theater set up a ticket office on the side of Zhongshan Avenue and a performance venue on Qianjin 4th Road - it is located in the downtown area of ??Liuduqiao and is also a gathering area for civilians in Wuhan. People who love Chu There are so many performers that the streets are often congested when the show starts, and vehicles can't move. What was a grand event back then has now become a memory. My father was once assigned to work as a screenwriter at the Chu Opera Troupe in Wuhan when he was still living. It was the late period of the Cultural Revolution, so I had the opportunity to come here often to watch new Chu operas or traditional Chu operas that had just been approved to perform. At that time, several famous artists still Still alive, I once stood under that stage and looked up at the singing and dancing with Jingchu local characteristics that evolved from folk tea opera. I still feel an indescribable sigh when I think about it.

Go down Zhongshan Avenue, pass the "Wufangzhai" restaurant, turn right, and enter the Lanling intersection, looking for the missing Zhongnan Theater in your memory. After asking the surrounding residents, it turned out that it was an abandoned construction site within a wall on the street (as shown in the picture). I remember that when I was young, I often came here to watch dramas and songs and dances. The one that impressed me most was when the Soviet Red Flag Song and Dance Troupe came to Han for a song and dance performance in the late 1960s; the other time was when China premiered the American movie "Roman Holiday" in the late 1980s.

Zhongnan Theater: Located at the intersection of Lanling Road and Zhongshan Avenue in Hankou, it was part of the old Russian Concession. It was once a Baroque building with carvings and floral decorations on the exterior walls. There are several stone steps to go up. Entering the foyer with Roman columns, the internal structure follows the model of a Western opera house, but the layout is much smaller. After 1949, it was one of the important performance venues for dramas and musicals in Wuhan, especially before the Wuhan Theater was built. Even after that, it still attracted some urban intellectual consumer groups who advocate elegant entertainment with its gorgeous theater space and elegant humanistic style.

In 1996, the theater was demolished and construction was to be carried out according to its original appearance. Due to a pending lawsuit with a neighboring middle school, the construction was forced to stop for nearly ten years.

I walked inside the wall and stood at the former site of the Zhongnan Theater, which was abandoned just after the underground construction was completed. I saw stinky water overflowing from the basement and piles of rocks at the construction site on the ground - a place where singing and dancing strings once flourished. The land is now a place where rats, mosquitoes and flies thrive - "A Dream of Red Mansions" contains the sentence "Withered grass and withered poplars, it was once a singing and dancing venue". This is still classical romanticism. The desolate and abandoned scene in industrial society is naturally agriculture. It was unimaginable to the literati of the time.

Zhongshan Avenue, heading towards Dazhimen Railway Station, get on Zhanzhan Road, turn right, and enter Tiansheng Street, which is the "Tiansheng Market". Passing through the vegetable stalls and meat tables on both sides, and walking a few steps, you will reach the famous Yue Opera performance center "Tiansheng Theater", which has now been converted into a dining and entertainment room (pictured).

The "Tiansheng Theater" was built in 1918 and was first known as the "Tiansheng Grand Theatre". At that time, famous Peking opera actors Huang Guiqiu, Pingju opera actors Furong Hua, Xi Caixia and Bai Yushuang, and Shaoxing opera actors Xiao Lingfeng performed here. , Huang Xiaoxiao, Yu Mudan, Dai Zhongyao, etc. After 1949, a Yue Opera troupe was established in Wuhan City and invited well-known artists from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to settle in Han. Since then, Yue opera performances at Tiansheng Theater have gathered a group of citizens from Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the old concession area of ??Hankou, forming a fixed audience group. In the early 1960s, It was the heyday of Yue Opera performances at Tiansheng Theater.

Standing in a small street with noisy people and dirty environment, looking in from the door of the former theater, you can vaguely see the small stage, and imagine the vulgar songs and dances on the stage in the middle of the gluttonous feast—— This is the place where the classic Yue opera plays "A Dream of Red Mansions", "Love Detective" and "Little Hu Lei" were once performed. Thinking of the passionate performances by the sisters of the Wuhan Yue Opera Troupe, I don't know how many theater fans went crazy. Jinya Tower, Jinyue Tower, Jinmei Tower, Jade Peony, Huazi... a string of fragrant and soft names - the beautiful family like flowers cannot withstand the passing years like water. Looking back on the present and recalling the past makes people sigh.

The People's Theater on Youyi Street in Hankou is only a few hundred meters away from the Tiansheng Theater. The fate of the two theaters is very different - in 1999, relevant parties in Wuhan invested nearly 10 million yuan The theater was completely renovated and opened for opera singing in the winter of 2003, regaining the romantic charm of the old Hankou "operating nest".

The theater was built in 1914 and was originally named "Big Stage". In 1917 it was renamed "*** He Shengping Building" and in 1933 it was renamed "Mingji Grand Stage". It is still commonly known as "Hankou" among the people. "Big stage" - an architectural feature of traditional Chinese theaters. Until the middle and late 20th century, the semicircular upper and lower auditoriums were still long wooden back chairs. Its style was simple and elegant, unique to Wuhan.

In the first half of the 20th century, numerous famous domestic actors came to perform here, among which the most famous performing artists were Mei Lanfang, Zhou Xinfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Xun Huisheng, Shang Xiaoyun, Ma Lianliang, and Tan Fuying , Li Wanchun, Gai Jietian, Jiang Miaoxiang, etc. In 1951, Mei Lanfang arrived in Han by train again. That night, he performed the famous Peking Opera excerpt "The Drunken Concubine" at the People's Theater.

I remember that in the late 1960s, I accompanied my mother and took a tricycle over the railway from Xunlimen to watch the superb performances of Yang Qiuling and her entourage from the Third Peking Opera Troupe of Beijing.

Turn right on Youyi Street to the wide Jinghan Avenue, and the motorcycle speeds to the Wuhan Theater on Jiefang Avenue (pictured).

The Wuhan Theater has nearly 1,000 seats. It was built in 1959 and was the largest modern theater in Wuhan at that time. It was designed by Soviet experts and was based on the Soviet-Russian model of "European neoclassical" architecture. It incorporates details of traditional Chinese architecture: six Huabiao-shaped columns (improved Roman columns) support a high and wide porch, and there are six Chinese palace lantern-shaped columns on the terrace-like roof above the porch. From a distance, the square gray columns The house stands majestically on a large green space - back then, my home was only across the street from the Wuhan Theater, and this was where I played every day as a child.

Since its establishment, the theater has been used for dramas, operas and various forms of artistic performances. It is also an important place for major conferences and activities in Wuhan.

(Because my home is too close to here) In the past few decades, the only performances I have watched here are: the opera "Liu Sanjie" starring Wu Xinghua (Wuhan Song and Dance Theater), the drama "Second Spring" starring Li Moran (Liaoning) Provincial People's Art Theater), the drama "The Bells of the Kremlin" starring Ma Yi (Wuhan Theater), the drama "The Enemy" (Shenyang Repertory Theater), the Yue Opera "The Story of Shen Qing" (Hangzhou Yue Opera Troupe), large-scale singing and dancing "The East is Red" (Wuhan area literary and art group), etc.

In 1992, the main building of the theater was renovated, a gate was opened on the back, and the surrounding green square was expanded and connected to Jinghan Avenue - a similar "palace garden-style" theater building, in a world where land is expensive It is no longer common in modern cities.

At dusk, we rushed to the Wuchang Horse Racing Field. The newly built Hubei Theater exuded a faint silvery luster in the slanting sunlight. It is known as "the most advanced facility in Central and South China." "The grand theater, a transparent glass building, its completion marked the end of an era and the rebirth of an era, the decline of traditional Chinese drama and the rise of modern entertainment and performing arts - although its prosperity seems to be separated from my life. Very far away (I have reached the age where I no longer bother to walk into the theater) - I vaguely remember that when it was still a very old theater, one night I took a bus across the river from Hankou, I came here to watch the famous opera "Red Guards of Honghu Lake" performed by the Hubei Opera Troupe - that was a long time ago.

Enter Pengliuyang Road from the wing of Hubei Theater, then pass Jiefang Road, turn right into Dacheng Road and walk at a right angle into Shouyi Park Road (this is a dead end with no way forward), and look up at the slope of Snake Mountain. This mixed Chinese and Western building standing opposite the Yellow Crane Tower across the Yangtze River Bridge was the once famous Yellow Crane Tower Theatre, now called "Chu You Palace" - a name that is too vulgar.

As we walked closer, we saw three wild dogs fighting and playing on the stone steps built along the mountain. At the end of the stone steps, the gate was locked tightly with iron locks, and there was no sound in the huge building. , deserted, Snake Mountain after winter, the hillside is covered with grass, and at the foot of the hillside, there are a few old men sitting idle on the roadside with few pedestrians. The old man said: Since the Yellow Crane Tower Theater was renamed "Chu You Palace" (the so-called "catering and entertainment venue"), its business has not improved for many years, which is why the managers have given up the business here and developed elsewhere. - "It has been closed for a long time!" the old man said loudly.

Yellow Crane Tower Theater: Originally named "Grand Theater", it was renamed "Hubei Local Theater" in 1950 and "Yellow Crane Tower Theater" in 1956. In 1924, when the theater was built, there was no Yangtze River Bridge built here. The foot of Snake Mountain was originally a prosperous place for commerce and trade. The scenery of the theater back then needs no elaboration. After the bridge was built, the natural moat became a thoroughfare. Vehicles and pedestrians can now pass on the river. The approach bridge of the Yangtze River Bridge extends from the back of the Yellow Crane Tower Theater to the Wuchang Race Course. Most buses passing between the three towns do not stop at the approach bridge to disembark. , if someone wants to go to the theater to watch a play, they have to take the walking path I mentioned above, which is to turn from Yuemachang to Pengliuyang Road and go around in a big circle. Naturally, transportation is very inconvenient - this is the reason why the Yellow Crane Tower Theater collapsed. : The passage of time in the past few decades has transformed the thoroughfare city into a "dead end". Since ancient times, the prosperity of commerce has started from the land and water route, which means "every loss will lead to loss, and every loss will lead to prosperity".

Today, on the bank of the Yangtze River, on the slopes of Snake Mountain, the old theater has lost its vicissitudes of appearance - looking at "The Guanhe River is desolate and the remaining light shines on the building", the scenery in front of us is like an ancient painting - we turn around, Turn your back on it, take a motorcycle through the streets and alleys, and speed towards the bustling city center.