How to pass on Chinese opera?

Chinese society is in a major transition period: from a society dominated by agricultural economy to a society dominated by industrial economy, from rural farmers accounting for the majority of the country's population to urban citizens accounting for the majority Most of them have changed from unidimensional values ??and ethics to pluralistic values ??and ethics. The transformation of society will inevitably have a greater impact on productivity, production relations, and various forms of superstructure. Everything that does not adapt to the new social mechanism will be transformed or even eliminated. Opera, as a part of the superstructure field, is naturally no exception and will also be impacted. If it wants to survive and develop, it must transform.

How to integrate traditional opera into the contemporary era

The essence of restructuring is to break the existing iron rice bowl system and ensure the survival of the fittest and the survival of the fittest. If you want to become a famous actor or popular actor in the opera performance industry, you cannot do it without skills; if you want to gain a foothold in the industry and get a lot of remuneration, you cannot do it without excellent basic skills and your own "unique skills".

At present, there are two opposing views in the opera industry: one is to keep the traditional artistic characteristics of opera intact, and the other is to encourage the bold absorption of contemporary artistic elements and let traditional opera Integrating into contemporary consciousness, both content and form must undergo vigorous transformation.

Objectively speaking, both opinions have limitations. Conservatives don’t understand that opera has been changing since its birth: Yuan opera is different from Song opera, Southern opera is different from Yuan opera, and even today’s Peking opera is different from the Peking opera in the "Tongguang Thirteen Unique" period and the It is different from Peking Opera in the period of the Four Famous Dan Dynasties. They even don’t understand that China is undergoing tremendous changes today. Even farmers are different from the farmers 30 years ago. Radicals are mostly people with higher education and are deeply influenced by Western culture. They prefer dialogue dramas far more than operas. Some of their efforts in revitalizing opera are based on their own professional needs, while others are motivated by their emotions for the national dramatic art, but they have little understanding of the living conditions of the lower class and the aesthetic requirements of the grassroots.

Judging from the current situation, the best attitude is to allow the diversification of opera art forms. Today is an era of cultural diversity. Traditional agricultural culture, Western culture, and a combination of Chinese and Western cultures all have many people who believe in them. Take the agricultural culture that dominated everything in the past as an example. Although it has withdrawn from its dominant position, it has not died and cannot die. Because it is the main content of building traditional culture, it is deeply rooted in the souls of national members and has become an organic part of our character and quality. Even the intellectual class is not monolithic. Some of them believe that Western literature and art are superior to their own country's literature and art; others are dissatisfied with Western culture and believe that the turmoil in the world and various shortcomings in the current society are caused by Western culture; and still others It is argued that both Chinese and Western cultures have their own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, the excellent connotations of Chinese and Western cultures should be selectively absorbed according to the national conditions of the country and the requirements of the development of the times. In fact, the correct attitude should be: let a hundred flowers bloom in the opera garden, which not only allows the existence of opera styles that express traditional culture, but also absorbs multiple stage expression forms of modern and contemporary art elements to meet the cultural and aesthetic requirements of different groups; it is necessary to let opera When you return to the market, you can't completely let it go.

Since the opera reform in the 1950s, most opera troupes have been transformed into state-owned theater troupes, and all their expenses are basically borne by the government, making opera performances completely out of touch with the market. The advantage of the drama reform is that it has improved the social status of artists. They no longer perform performances that cater to vulgar taste due to the pressure of survival, but focus on "art" wholeheartedly. Therefore, from the opera reform period to the 1980s, a number of excellent plays and outstanding actors emerged on the Chinese opera stage.

However, the disadvantages of opera reform have become more and more obvious as time goes by. The main manifestations are: the phenomenon of "following the crowd" on the opera stage is serious, and the opera repertoire and actors lack the motivation to innovate. Since the troupe is a public institution and is allocated funds from the state finance, the salary of the actors will basically remain unchanged regardless of the performance income.

There is a big distance between these symbols and the actions and emotions of everyone in real life, but they are unique and beautiful. After reproducing these symbols countless times, these symbols have been recognized and appreciated by the audience. , has become a feature of opera performances. However, objectively speaking, the performance movements are mechanical and repetitive. Since the actors have not entered the hearts of the characters, some actors even have no understanding of the characters at all. They just act according to a set of actions passed down from generation to generation. As for why they use This action without that action is never thought of. In this way, it is difficult to vividly express the artistic image of the characters played, and it is even more difficult to bring the audience's emotions into the dramatic situation.

Performance forms such as dramas and movies are different. They require actors to concentrate on experiencing the psychology of the characters they play, to deeply study the logical basis for the characters' actions and emotional expressions, and to combine themselves and their emotions under the control of reason. The characters merge into one, giving the audience the illusion that in front of them is not a stage, but the real scene where the story takes place; in front of them are not the actors, but the real characters in the story. However, if the performance of opera abandons the formula and completely resembles a drama, it will inevitably fall into the "drama-singing" expression form that people have repeatedly criticized, and it will be far away from the characteristics of opera. The correct approach is to organically combine expression and experience, reason and emotion, spiritual similarity and physical similarity, giving priority to the former and letting the latter serve the former. Specifically, the characters' emotions experienced are expressed through corresponding programmed actions. Although the expressions of actions and emotions are still exaggerated, deformed, and beautiful, every action and every emotion has a basis in the character's psychology.

Of course, there are musicals, ballets, operas, modern acrobatics, modern magic, modern martial arts, etc. that can be combined with opera performances, as long as they are conducive to the development of opera performing arts. Skills can be imported while maintaining the characteristics of opera.

The third is to integrate traditional culture and modern concepts. Before the decline of Kun Opera, people watched a play not only for its form, but also for its content. Zaju repertoires created by the "Four Great Masters of Yuan Opera", Nan Opera's "The Killing of Jing Liu" and "Pipa Ji", legendary Ming Dynasty plays included in "Sixty Kinds of Songs", as well as the works of Suzhou playwrights in the late Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty "The Palace of Eternal Life", "The Peach Blossom Fan", etc. The reason why they were loved by people when they came out and have continued to live on the stage is mainly because of their ideological content. So, it was called "going to the theater" at that time. After the decline of Kunqu Opera, high-quality scripts are almost no longer produced. Most of the old plays mentioned above are often performed, and they are only excerpts. After watching them too much, the audience is familiar with their content and the ideas of the plays. His soul was no longer touched, so his attention was entirely focused on the form, especially the actors' singing. From then until the 1950s, watching operas was renamed "listening to operas". In terms of aesthetic acceptance, the function of the ears is greater than that of the eyes. Since then, new plays have emerged one after another, and they are all written according to the standard of "content first, form second". In addition, influenced by foreign drama forms such as dramas, actors present their inner experiences in facial expressions and movements. , the audience also watched opera in the form of watching dramas, movies, etc., so it was also referred to as "watching opera". It can be said that if the plays written today have no new ideas in terms of ideological content, they will definitely not be successful.