Chapter 10 1957 "Tea House"

Genre: Drama Author: Lao She Original publication: first issue Published: July 1957 Premiere: March 29, 1958 Directors: Jiao Juyin, Xia Chun Performer: Beijing People's Art Theater Chinese drama is imported.At first, it was the appearance of Chinese students studying in Japan to learn new Japanese dramas. In June 1907, the five-act drama "Black Slave Calls to Heaven" was performed in Tokyo, marking the birth of Chinese drama. In 1934, Cao Yu created the three-act drama "Thunderstorm", which marked the maturity of Chinese drama creation.Since then, many excellent drama works have appeared on the drama stage, such as "Playing the Ghost Tower" (Bai Wei), (Cao Yu), "Qu Yuan" (Guo Moruo), "Heavenly Spring and Autumn" (Yang Hansheng), "It's Just Spring "(Li Jianwu), "Picture of Promotion" (Chen Baichen), (Xia Yan), "Returning on a Snowy Night" (Wu Zuguang), "Foggy Chongqing" (Song Zhi's), "Outside History of the Qing Palace" (Yang Cunbin), " Beauty Walk" (Tian Han) and so on.However, it is Lao She who has the greatest influence on the world stage in Chinese drama.

Lao She, formerly known as Shu Qingchun, styled Sheyu. Born in Beijing in 1899. He graduated from Beijing Normal School in 1918 and worked as a primary school principal and Chinese teacher. In the summer of 1924, he went to the Oriental College of London University as a Chinese lecturer. In 1925, he completed his debut novel "Lao Zhang's Philosophy", which was first serialized in "Novel Monthly" in 1926 under the pseudonym of "Lao She". After returning to China in 1930, he was employed by Qilu University in Jinan as a professor of the Faculty of Arts and the director of the Department of Literature of the Institute of Chinese Studies.From 1931 to 1934, he created novels such as "Xiaopo's Birthday", "Cat City", "The Biography of Niu Tianci", as well as a large number of short stories, essays, poems, etc. In the summer of 1936, creation.

In 1938, the All-China Association of Literary and Art Circles Against the Enemy was established in Wuhan, and Lao She was promoted as a director and director of the General Affairs Department.From 1939 onwards, he successively wrote the scripts "Remnant Fog" (1939), "Country First" (cooperation with Song Zhi, 1940), "Zhang Zizhong" (1941), (1941 ), (1941), etc. In March 1946, Lao She and Cao Yu went to the United States to give lectures.During this period, he completed and two novels. The birth of New China made Lao She feel joy and encouragement.The difference in personal experience between the old and the new society made him continuously create dramas praising the new society and reflecting the new changes in Beijing with unprecedented enthusiasm (1950), "Longxugou" (1950), "Spring Blossoms and Autumn Fruits" (1953), (1959) He also created the novel "The Nameless Heights Are Famous" and the long autobiographical novel "Right Under the Red Flag" reflecting the heroic life of the volunteers during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, vividly depicting the socialist revolution and construction of New China from many aspects.

In 1950, he served as the chairman of the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles. In December 1951, he was awarded the title of "People's Artist" by the Beijing Municipal People's Government for his success in creating "Longxugou". In 1953, he was elected as the vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association.He has visited North Korea, the Soviet Union, India, the Czech Republic, Japan and other countries on behalf of Chinese writers and artists many times.When Lao She Lao Dang Yizhuang continued to write for the people, a catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution hit, and he was severely damaged physically and mentally. On the evening of August 24, 1966, he committed suicide by drowning himself in Taiping Lake in Beijing.

It is a representative work of Lao She's drama creation.Its success is first of all the success of Lao She, which also embodies the wisdom of collective creation, especially the artistic creation of the directors of the Beijing People's Art Theater on the stage. Created in 1957.The creation of this play has a lot to do with Lao She's previous play. After the promulgation of the first "Constitution of the People's Republic of China" in 1954, Lao She wanted to write a drama about the hard-won constitution, in order to cooperate with the publicity and implementation of the constitution.So he wrote the script in 1956.The play is divided into four acts, the general structure is as follows:

Act I, Scene 1 1898 (the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu). After the failure of the second Restoration in 1898. Beijing Yutai Tea House. The third game is at the same time as the front game. Qin's residence study. Act II Early spring 1912. Qin House. Act III "Northern Expedition" period (1927). Qin Boren's home. Act IV Spring 1948. Qin Boren's home. The characters in the play are: Qin Boren Gu Shimeng (Boren's wife) Qin Hanyuan (Boren's daughter) Guan Songyun (Han Yuanfu) Guan Daxing (Han Yuanzi) Guan Erjun (Hanyuan female) Qin Zhongyi Qin Zhao (Zhong Yi's wife)

Qin Dazhang (Zhong Yizi) Qin Erli (Zhong Yi's second son) Qin Shuli Qin Fengxian (Uncle Li's Wife) Master Wang Song Erye Chang Siye Li San Erdezi Ma Wuye Liu Mazi Kang Liu Fat Huang, old man, country woman, chick, Pang, eunuch, Enzi, Xiangzi, etc. At that time, Lao She had cooperated with Beijing People's Art Theater many times. His plays "Longxugou", "Red Courtyard" and Mei Qian's adaptation of his novel of the same name were all performed by Beijing People's Art Theater. There was a tacit understanding and deep feelings in creation between them.Therefore, as soon as the first draft was written, Lao She read the script to the leaders of the Beijing People's Art Theater.After listening to it, Cao Yu, Jiao Juyin, Xia Chun and others felt that the second scene of the first act in this play was the most exciting, so the theater suggested that Lao She use this scene as the basis to write a story that reflects the changes of the times with the changes of the teahouse. play.Lao She readily accepted this opinion, and soon wrote a new draft.Xia Chun said: The new draft "has been rehearsed without any major changes." ("The Postscript of the Director of "Tea House", "The Stage Art of "Tea House", China Drama Publishing House, 1980)

The artistic conception is extremely unique.There is no consistent storyline in the whole play. It describes the 50-year rise and fall of a teahouse, and exposes the decay and darkness of three eras—the late Qing Dynasty during the Reform Movement of 1898, the melee between warlords, and the period of the Kuomintang-controlled areas after the Anti-Japanese War. The faces and fates of various characters who were active in teahouses in this era vividly tell people how the old system is going to perish step by step.More than 50 characters, big and small, were portrayed in the play, which left a deep impression on the audience no matter how many or how few plays were played.Wang Lifa, the proprietor of Yutai Teahouse, is shrewd and capable, and he hangs up the note "Don't talk about state affairs", but "state affairs" keep making troubles for him.Forced by life, he kept improving, but he still couldn't live in peace.Qin Zhongyi wanted to save the "country" by running an "industry", but he was beaten badly in the face of reality.The fourth master Chang spoke uprightly and remained unyielding all his life, but when he said "the Qing Dynasty is about to end", he was arrested by the spies and put in a cell.Kang Liu, a bankrupt farmer, had to sell his sons and daughters.Good people have a hard life, but bad people are like ducks in water.Er Dezi is domineering, Pang the eunuch is showing off his prestige everywhere, Liu Mazi makes money by talking about matchmakers, spies and hooligans extort and extort... The play takes the ups and downs of a teahouse as the central clue, reflecting half a century of old China from the end of Qing Dynasty to the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. social reality.

After its publication, it aroused great repercussions in the literary and art circles. On December 19, 1957, "Literary News" held an expert symposium "Discussion on Lao She's "Teahouse"". The participants included Jiao Juyin, Chen Baichen, Xia Chun, Lin Mohan, Wang Yao, Zhang Henshui, Li Jianwu, Zhao Shaohou, etc.Fully affirmed at the meeting.Zhang Guangnian presided over the meeting. He said in his opening remarks: "Comrade Lao She's is a good script. The three-act play has been written for 50 years." Wang Yao believes that "this script is full of atmosphere of the times, full of life, strong national color, and refined language. ".Chen Baichen believes that "this is a major achievement of Comrade Lao She's writing".Li Jianwu said that this script "has a good language, and the characters are lively, and it can be drawn out in a few strokes, with a finishing touch."Lin Mohan said: "Comrade Lao She expressed his love for the new society through his criticism of the old society."The meeting also talked about the deficiencies in the script.

It's a difficult play.Lao She said: "This play may be very interesting to read as a script, but it is really difficult to perform on the stage." method related.The writing method "uses characters to drive the story, which is similar to a newspaper drama, but not a newspaper drama. This drama focuses on life, while ordinary newspaper dramas often focus on events." "Problems", "The Stage Art of "Tea House"") One of the difficulties is that the young actors are not easy to understand the life in the first and second scenes of the play, and it is difficult to perform; Characters have to go through three ages: youth, middle age, and old age; the third is that some characters only have one or two lines of lines when they speak well.However, through the joint efforts of all the actors and staff of the Beijing People's Art Theater, the stage performance was a success.

On March 29, 1958, the Beijing People's Art Theater premiered in Beijing, directed by Jiao Juyin and Xia Chun, and the main actors were Yu Zhi (played as Wang Lifa), Zheng Rong (played as Chang Siye), Lan Tianye (played as Qin Zhongyi), Tong Chao (playing as Pang Eunuch), etc., fully demonstrated the unique "Beijing flavor" style of Lao She's works.The play is rich in life, the characters are vivid and vivid, and the language is wonderful, concise and vivid, reaching the artistic realm of proficiency.The premiere of the play was met with critical acclaim.Critics say it is "the mirror of the old age, the vision of the new age" (Situ Huimin "The mirror of the old age, the vision of the new age--Talking about the drama and performance of "Tea House", "The Stage Art of "Tea House" "), in just three acts, "he wrote ghosts and snakes, but also uprightness and goodness; there are tragedies and comedies; there is darkness and light; and the most desperate time is the time when hope is about to be realized" ( Li Jianwu, "Reading "Tea House", "The Stage Art of "Tea House""). However, the show was not all smooth sailing.Even though the experts affirmed it, the audience also loved the play very much.However, it was just after the expansion of the "anti-rightist movement" in 1957, and people were nervous about the "rightist" issue.At that time, "left" things were very fashionable, and revolution and party spirit were equated with "left".Therefore, some people criticized and criticized it at that time, and even regarded it as an anti-socialist work, saying that it preached that "one generation is not as good as the previous generation" and "the present is not as good as the past"; He expressed great sympathy for the declining feudal aristocracy; what's more, he said that the author was complaining for the bourgeoisie, insinuating that the public-private partnership was wrong, opposing socialist transformation, etc., and so on.A milder statement is that the work "lacks a running red line" in the background.Therefore, when it was performed for the second time in 1963, the theater tried its best to make up for this so-called principled shortcoming.Especially when there was a wind of "13 years in capital letters" blowing from Shanghai. This wind was blowing very hard. How could it be possible to perform such a play without a "red line"?As a result, the theater organized a group to deal with the so-called "red line" problem.The solution is: in the first act, the sympathy of the tea drinkers for the common people smashing the church and Tan Sitong's talk about reform was added; At the end of the second act, two "gray coats" went to the apartment in the backyard of the teahouse and captured two revolutionary students.At the end of the third act, the student movement of "anti-hunger, anti-persecution, and anti-civil war" was on the rise. The students in the parade shouted slogans, and some rushed to the teahouse to put up slogans. Fourth Master Chang excitedly gave boiled water to the students , and then close. In this environment, although the audience for this play was very enthusiastic, they had to accept it after not many performances.At that time, Premier Zhou Enlai watched the play, fully affirmed it, and enthusiastically put forward suggestions on how to improve it.During the Cultural Revolution, the "Gang of Four" ran rampant and was branded as an anti-Party and anti-socialist black model and a big poisonous weed. The author was also framed as a reactionary literati and black line figure, and was persecuted to death.It was not until the fall of the "Gang of Four" and the end of the Cultural Revolution that the true colors were restored, the "red line" that was imposed was removed, and it was re-presented in front of the audience. It is the pinnacle of Lao She's drama creation and one of the masterpieces in the history of Chinese drama.In the history of the development of Chinese drama, it is definitely the most dazzling page. Generations of Chinese people have truly felt the joys and sorrows of the people in the drama because of this drama spanning decades of time and space. From September 25th to November 13th, 1980, Beijing People's Art Theater visited Germany, France and Switzerland with 25 performances in 15 cities.This is the first time that Chinese drama has entered the world theater stage, and its success and sensation have far exceeded expectations. On September 28, the first performance was held at the National Theater in Mannheim, Germany. "The curtain was closed, and the theater was surprisingly quiet, as if everyone was lost in thought. Then, there was a sudden burst of wild applause, stomping Sounds, cheers, the audience shouted: "Wonderful!" Flocked to the front of the stage, throwing flowers on the stage. The actors called the curtain again and again, but the audience applauded.... According to the statistics of the stage supervisor, there were 24 curtain calls, It lasted more than seven minutes. This is something that has never been encountered in domestic performances." (Gu Wei's ""Tea House" in Western Europe") Mr. Petersen, the artistic director of the National Theater in Mannheim, said: "The performance was a great success. It exceeded our expectations.” The official and non-governmental, experts and ordinary audiences all praised it as “the essence of modern Chinese drama”!Ma Yi, director of the Hannover State Theater in West Germany, came to the backstage to congratulate the success of the performance. He said: "Your play has three characteristics: good script, good director, and good actors. Your performances are not all Stanislavsky. It is systematic and not modern, but has Chinese tradition and Chinese characteristics. There are no secondary characters on the stage, and they all have distinctive images. Such a complete performance is just a dream for us." (Zhou Ruixiang "Western Audiences Watch "Tea House", "The Stage Art of "Tea House"") It caused a sensation not only in Europe, but also in Japan, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong.Many colleagues in foreign drama circles are deeply touched by the realism creation method in connection with the current situation of Western European drama.Wen Te, director of the Office of the National Theater of Mannheim, said excitedly: "Your realism was what we had in the past, but it was lost. It is not easy to get it back if it is lost." Jean · Miack said excitedly during the intermission: "After watching two acts, I feel that this play is concise, direct, and subtle. This is exactly the question that the French theater circle wants to explore, and it is also the question I am exploring." Switzerland Professor Cookson, a friendly person of , said: "European theater is at a crossroads now. Many dramatists are endlessly experimenting and exploring. After all, they don't know anything about the experiment. The road is getting narrower and narrower. Not only lost the vast Audiences, even intellectuals, can’t understand it. Some people say that your realism represents the past, but I think it represents our future.” (“Western Audiences Watch Tea House”) Many foreign audiences know more about China through watching.A young actor at the National Theater in Mannheim said with naive enthusiasm that she used to only know that China was a country with an ancient civilization of thousands of years, and later that China became a communist country, but "I don't know what China is like." Communism. After watching this play, I can understand how China developed step by step."Bais, the deputy mayor of Paris at that time, wrote in a letter to the cultural office of my embassy in France: "Beijing People's Art has made the show come to life. The play is accurate and lifelike, and it is fascinating. The whole play summarizes the period from 1898 to 1949. From the changes in Chinese society in 1990, we can see the increasing corruption of the old China, all of which have led to the birth of a new world." An article in "Le Figaro" wrote: "Like Chekhov, Lao She What is described is transition, change, and rupture. Like Chekhov, Lao She made us understand that one day, a new world, a just and beautiful world, may be born on these ruins." "Nuremberg Evening Post " said: "The most astonishing achievement of the performance is that we really understand a part of China in reality." ("Western Audience Watching "Tea House") It has gone to the world, brought honor to Chinese drama, and let foreigners understand Chinese drama and China. (written by Liu Ping) "Discussion on Lao She's "Tea House"", "Literary News" No. 1, 1958 Li Jianwu: "Reading "Tea House"", "People's Literature", January 1958 Hu Jieqing: "About Lao She's "Teahouse""; "Jiao Juyin's Conversation Record of the First Act of "Teahouse" Rehearsal"; Zhou Ruixiang: "Western Audiences See "Teahouse"", all see "The Stage Art of "Teahouse", Chinese Theater Publishing 1980 Edition