Recently, the "anonymous" drama production reality show "New Life in Drama" , self-made by iQiyi, has been launched.
This self-proclaimed variety show of "anonymous" dramatists has assembled the "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Spring" Iron Triangle: Huang Lei, Lai Shengchuan and He Jiong.
Picture: iQiyi Drama New Life Weibo
as soon as it was broadcasted, the audience would not call it a 9.2 times faster. Treasure Variety Show".
Douban netizens comment
You know, drama is not actually a mass culture. However, it is not uncommon for a niche to knock on the door of the public.
From 2017's "China Has Hip-Hop" was born, hip-hop culture went from "underground" to "on the ground". By 2019, "Band Summer" broke into the public eye and brought a group of bands back. In front of people.
So can "Drama New Life" bring drama into the public eye in 2021?
mentioned drama,Lai Shengchuan is an inescapable name.
His performance workshop introduced the creative form of collective improvisation to the entire Chinese drama for the first time; his "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land" is a dream that a generation of stage fans can't give up; his " like a dream" "Dream" is not only one of the most watched Chinese dramas in the early 21st century, but also created a box office myth that can only be described as a miracle.
It has long been known that Brigitte Lin was once the cloud in his "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Spring", and the legendary drama bone Jin Shijie was his early creative partner, Huang Lei, Sun Li, Hao Lei, He Jiong, Hu Ge, Xie Na and Zhang Jie are both in his play.
Huang Lei and Sun Li version of "Peach Blossom Spring" by Li Yan/photographed by
This is another person who is already standing on the pinnacle of honor. .
Too busy to drive into a different track
Lai Shengchuan's play, you have to choose difficult to do, the existing style is used to do, then invent a new one.
Folk folk arts can be played.
In 1985, the founding work of the performance workshop, cross talk drama "That night, we say cross talk", the contemporary drama using Taiwan’s nearly extinct traditional art is called a time in the history of Taiwan’s culture. "The Incident", the original sound recording of the work was published by the record company and immediately became a platinum record.
Two totally unmatched stories can also be included.
In 1986, "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land", where time, space and fate were intertwined, came out, a paper "chaos and interference".
"Secret Love in Peach Blossom Spring" exclusive edition Photo by Lin Jingwen
Life spanning a century can also be played.
In 2000, the 8-hour drama premiered in Taipei. The stage was designed with a surround design and the auditorium was wrapped in the center, which earned it the reputation of "Lotus Pond", Chi In the eight directions of the side stage, time goes by, space shifts, and coquettishes are intertwined, just like a world away.
The huge memories of the times can be played.
In 2008, ": a village on a treasure island " premiered. The story is based on the growth experience of Taiwanese TV person Wang Weizhong in Taiwanese military villages. 100 oral historical materials have evolved into 48 shows on stage. The life trajectories and cultural identities of three families in the 60 years since 1949.
cross talk, lotus pond, collective impromptu workshop, epic narrative style, subversive viewing relationship...
is on the way of creation,Lai Shengchuan has always been the unprecedented visitor to , a traveler who climbed up the ranks of his predecessor, even because in the foreseeable future, there has been no younger generation to catch up with him, and he is slightly lonely.
"Let it down is a kind of concentration"
In the five years since its completion, the exclusive theater of Lai Shengchuan-Shang Theater-located on the top floor of a shopping mall in Xujiahui District, Shanghai, has been arranged like a small home.
The sofas in the lounge are soft, the tea sets on the table are elegant, and the corners are filled with several guitars that have been collected in recent years. The schedule of the rehearsal hall and the theater is in line with Lai Shengchuan’s creative spectrum to the greatest extent. Obey the artist's deployment and give the greatest freedom and freedom to creation.
It is in such an environment that Lai Shengchuan can "put down" at any time.
and letting go is a key action in the creation of many of his works.
It may be because of problems or obstacles that have accumulated for too long, making one person unable to see the direction of his work. At this time, facing a muddy, complicated picture, touch it and sort it out, it is better to let it go, let it be like muddy water, and then clear it by yourself.
He writes his creative experience on Weibo with a break, and collects the topic of "Director's Life Notes". Now there are 613 pieces.
In contrast, working in theaters in the United States is not so smooth.
The American performance industry has a long history and mature business mechanisms.A set of highly stylized "production standards" has been formed. For example, the actors' union stipulates:
Every 80 minutes of rehearsal requires a 10-minute break. If it involves physical performance, the interval between breaks should be shortened to 55 minutes. The director during the break Can't talk to the actors, nor can the director talk during off-duty, and even between the performances before the stage.
"Millennium Eve, Let's Talk about Crosstalk" by Qin Zhong
Lai Shengchuan spent his entire childhood in the United States on a bus ride when he was a student in the United States. When painting, the bus driver strictly guards his timetable for rest. He will regularly stop and rest for 5 minutes. The children in the bus are frolicking, and the driver will hold a cup for coffee. No one can talk to him for 5 minutes.
When the elementary school student becomes Teacher Lai, he is like a driver defending the rest time, defending every moment of fascination with art.
"Letting down is not an easy action, it is a kind of concentration."
Lai Shengchuan always feels that screenwriter and director are the same thing, so most of his works are written by himself, or He led the actors to improvise, and his original script was never handed over to others to direct.
When he enters the state of focused writing, he will feel that "the drama is writing about himself".
In 2019, when I was creating "It Was Once", there were 75 scenes and 300 characters. When I turned on the computer, writing lines seemed to be playing movie subtitles. With the first sentence, the second sentence emerged by itself; Role one,The role two of the opponent's play will automatically jump out.
Picture: Theatreabove
This kind of focused product, after entering the rehearsal hall, is rarely questioned by the actors.
focus can be practiced, but the method is not in any drama textbook, but in the topic of life meditation .
Although creation is not meditation, it is easier to create so-called flow when you are in a stable state.
Be a director and screenwriter. If you don’t know how to be quiet, how to write things. To be an actor, you must also learn to let go. To become another character, you must first empty it. Based on 70 points to fill up, the space for 30 points is very limited, but if you let go of 70 points first, fill it from 0 to 100. , The process is very beautiful.
The 584th of his "Director’s Life Notes" reads:
I am actually not qualified to teach you meditation, but here is a simple assignment for everyone to try: , please sit down.
"Theater, the epitome of the shortness and impermanence of life"
"The absolute charm of the theater lies in its liveness, and its romance lies in that it is the epitome of the shortness and impermanence of life."
on On the roller shutter door at the entrance of the theater,Lai Shengchuan wrote such a sentence, in which "the shortness and impermanence of life" has been regarded as the motif of his creation by his audiences and fans for many years.
Impermanent, accidental, random, causal. This group of cultural symbols, which seem to be somewhat obscure, is a concept with clear boundaries in the eyes of the director.
Impermanence is one thing, causation is the same thing. Impermanence is that you have to realize that if you are happy today and in a good state, this state will not continue forever, everything is changing, this is the most real life.
And the random events in life that seem to happen by accident may have antecedents, like water heating will boil, gravity makes us stay on the surface of the earth, we thought it was accidental, in fact, we haven’t seen it for the time being. The full picture of cause and effect.
Rather than saying that the motif of creation is impermanence, it is better to say that his works express the truest state of life: Everything is changing. Impermanence is not pessimism. All the past choices make the present turning point, and all the present choices silently write down the ending of tomorrow.
Maybe the older I am, the more I feel that if the world moves in certain directions, it will cause some bad results. So I want to make some works, and I don't want to come down to tell the audience how you want to live. I am no one, but maybe there is something in my play that allows you to think about it for yourself. What are your values? What is pushing you? Can you see clearly where your actions will lead?
A creator favored by time
Lai Shengchuan was born in Washington,His native place is Huichang in Jiangxi. He spent his childhood in the United States and returned to Taiwan as a teenager to settle down. Later, he received a Ph.D. in art and drama from the University of Berkeley in the United States, and returned to Taiwan to teach and create again.
has two daughters, two sons-in-laws, one is from Bhutan and the other is American. The whole family is scattered all over the country. These years of visiting relatives, visiting friends, traveling, and creating have allowed him to travel to 200 countries and regions , Is called a citizen in the true sense of the world.
Maybe my thinking is more international. I always think about the future of all mankind, not just thinking about the future of China. The story written in this way will naturally go to the United States and India soon...
He wrote in "Lai Shengchuan's Creativity" that the original creator should manage your life file. He listened to the stories of the tramp who studied Buddhism, and his friend's father told the story of searching for a pure land. He did not necessarily have to write it in the play, and the expression was never meant to show experience.
"Treasure Island A Village" exclusive version Wang Kai photo
So we see "A Dreamlike Dream", the French Earl fell in love with the charming former Miss Shanghai, The snow-covered people living in the Himalayas in "As So" moved to New York. They were not surprised to see the humanity of the people on both sides of the strait in "Treasure Island and One Village", because there is always such material in the director’s heavy life archives. There are always some fantasy sea wonders that don't need to go deep into the authenticity, and there are always some contradictory causes and effects that don't need to distinguish right from wrong.
Lai Shengchuan is a Scorpio, collects and organizes emotions, stories, and favorite objects is almost instinct.
When he was young, he liked to collect Marvel comic books. He successively collected two thousand comic books. Among them, there are many treasures that were later fired at sky-high prices, such as the first edition of Spider-Man.
The teenager's temperament is also easy to change. Later, he fell in love with music. He sold two thousand comic books for 600 dollars and replaced it with a Martin brand acoustic guitar.
In the past 2019, he has done 6 plays. Time is a preference for him. It has not only enriched his life archives, but has not diminished a trace of creative enthusiasm. Even when the director flips through his pockets, there is a story that can be used to answer the time.
I remember when I first returned to Taiwan, I just got my Ph.D. I was considered a young professor, so in some translation occasions, the media would come to me. At that time, the famous French mime master Marcel Marceau came to Taipei to perform. They asked me to eat and chat with him and write an article. At that time, he could still perform on stage at the age of 72. Someone next to him asked him: You can still be 72 years old this year. Performance, what is this situation? He replied: I am 72 years old and created this problem for you, but it is not my problem.
I insist on saying that time has changed, because my physical strength is not as good as before. I used to play basketball two or three times a week, but now it's played once a week.
and nothing more.
Good dramas rely on good scripts, and those stories that have moved you under the light and shadow of the theater, it is necessary for to consolidate eternity with words and paper.
In 2019, CITIC published 9 classic plays by Lai Shengchuan and published "Lai Shengchuan's Play Collection", which is also the first collective publication of Lai Shengchuan's plays in China.
includes the hard-to-find "Dream of Dreams", "Treasure Island Village", and "Peach Blossom Spring", as well as the niche classics "Thirteen Corners Relationship", " Red Sky" and "In There" A Faraway Planet, A Grain of Sand, and "The Circle Story", "Like a Shadow," and "Book of Water" focusing on the emotions of contemporary urbanites.
"Lai Shengchuan Opera Collection: Second Series", which was launched in October 2020, contains 4 classic cross talk dramas and three newly created drama scripts by Shengchuan Lai, namely "Taiwan Strange Story" "Millennium Eve, we talk about cross talk", "This night, women talk about cross talk", "That night, talk about cross talk on the journey", "Hidden Treasure", "Yaoyao Dongba", "It used to be."
.
