Behind the scenes

When I was a child, I was obsessed with opera for a while.

The tape recorder at home often plays opera arias, such as "Mu Guiying Takes the Command", "Drunk on the Golden Bough" and so on.

Although I don’t understand it, I am fascinated by the ups and downs and the sonorous and powerful singing. I am intoxicated by the babbling and chanting sounds, which I find very beautiful. After listening to it a lot, sometimes I would blurt out a few lines without realizing it, and I would even be surprised: I have learned it all!

Where we have temple fairs or weddings and funerals during festivals and festivals, we will use big speakers to play opera.

When I lived at my parents’ house a few years ago, I would sometimes hear the sound of opera singers at night. It came from a loudspeaker I didn’t know where, and it sounded like it was far away.

Listening to the intermittent moaning at that time makes me feel like I have traveled back in time, as if I have returned to my childhood.

When I was a child, I would sing operas at every temple fair.

What I was happiest at that time was going to the theater. After watching a play in our village, we also went to a neighboring village to watch a play.

The neighboring village of Hanzhuang is separated from our village by a river and a hill. After crossing the river, we climbed up the hill and walked for a while. We are familiar with that road because we have walked it many times.

At that time, I often made appointments with my sister or friends to go to Hanzhuang to watch the theater. Along the way, we talked, laughed, jumped and walked on the path. There are green wheat fields and golden rapeseed flowers on both sides of the road. Our laughter and laughter echo in the silent fields.

For children, watching a play is much more interesting than listening to a play.

Listening to a play is an art of hearing; watching a play is a dual impact of hearing and vision, giving people a deeper feeling.

At that time, I felt that opera was much better than today’s concerts, and my ears were filled with the sound of “Listen to the Tangtang”, which was played by a special musical instrument troupe.

As the musical instruments played, opera characters dressed in red and green and painted with rich colors appeared on the stage.

The more important the characters are, the slower they come out. It often takes a long time for "Ting Ting Tang Tang" to sing, and then they make their grand entrance by singing a piece behind the scenes. After the character comes on stage, he walks to the center of the stage and makes his appearance, which will make your eyes light up.

Among those roles, I like Xiaodan’s appearance the most. She is the young woman in the play, with pink makeup and a peach-like face. The most fascinating thing is the gently flicked water sleeves, which are graceful and graceful, with all kinds of charms.

Because I was so obsessed, I tied all the gauze scarves at home together and draped them over my shoulders to make them look like water sleeves. I flicked them gently and the gauze scarves floated up. I felt very beautiful. That time I dressed up like this and was surprised and happy when my neighbor's sister-in-law came to see me.

Every time there is a temple fair in the village, a seven-eight-day opera is performed, and I often run under the stage to watch the opera. Although I can't understand the content of the play or understand who is coming and going on the stage, I can still watch it with gusto.

I am not the only one who likes to watch operas and watch the excitement. Lu Xun said in "Social Opera":

Children's love for operas is probably similar.

Because I loved going to the theater so much, I admired the actors on the stage. That was probably my earliest star-chasing experience. I even suddenly thought: How about I also learn to sing.

Watching the actors on the stage singing and dancing, feeling happy or sad, I thought they were really amazing. Whenever the curtain falls and the actors leave the stage, I feel infinitely sad.

I really want to know what is behind the curtain and what the actors are doing after the curtain call. I feel that the curtain is very mysterious. With strong curiosity, my friend and I sneaked behind the stage to watch.

The stage was completely covered with cloth, like a house. Coincidentally, there was a corner of the curtain at the back that could be lifted up, and we peeked backstage through the gap.

Different from the grandeur at the front desk, the backstage was messy, with luggage everywhere, as if they had just returned from a long journey.

In the middle of a pile of luggage, there is an actress playing Xiaodan sitting - you can tell from her makeup. She was not as dazzling as she was on stage. She looked very tired. She was holding a child in her arms and the child was breastfeeding.

While we were watching intently, the curtain opened and a "big painted face" came back from the front desk and walked into the backstage. While he was talking to "Xiao Dan", we ran away in a hurry.

This backstage "curiosity" completely gave up my idea of ??learning drama, and I felt a little disappointed: It turns out that the actors on stage are not as glamorous as we saw, and their lives are not as beautiful as those we saw. Life in the play is just as exciting.

After this experience, whenever there are other performances in the village, such as the circus, we all like to go backstage and take a peek.

The front and backstage of every performance belong to two completely different worlds: one is brilliant and dazzling, the other is dark and messy.

It turns out that this world is not as perfect and flawless as we imagined. It is really just like life.

Coincidentally, in an article, the author described her experience of encountering celebrities. She saw her idol star near the hotel where the star was staying. The idol she saw at this time might have just gotten off the plane. She looked tired and haggard. She was completely different from the one she saw on the stage.

But when I saw the idol again at the concert the next day, she was back to her usual glamorous appearance, without any signs of haggard or tiredness, as if she was another person she saw yesterday.

I am thinking: Why is there such a big difference between the front and backstage? Is there any necessary connection between the two?

I feel that not only actors, but each of us is experiencing life in front of and behind the scenes. In front of others, we arm ourselves impeccably; behind others, we reveal our true selves.

The self in front of others may be beautiful, dignified, or the idol in many people's hearts; the self behind the scenes may often be unable to control emotions and be on the verge of collapse from time to time.

No matter whether you are in front of others or behind the scenes, in front of or behind the scenes, you are yourself, and neither side is indispensable.

If you only show the bright side and hide the bad side, then this person will either become crazy or explode in the end.

If you don’t care about the eyes of the people around you at all and show all the bad things behind you, then your life will stop here and it will be difficult to improve.

In front of the stage is what we most want to be: sunny, beautiful, and proactive; behind the scenes is our real situation, which is unbearable but real and makes us feel at ease.

Because there is a person in front of the stage, we have good expectations and make ourselves better; because there is a person behind the scenes, we can be ourselves and not lose ourselves.

Being on stage and behind the scenes is the real life!

2021-8-29

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