【Cultural Analysis】

  March 27 is World Theatre Day.

According to media reports, on this day, 37 young artists from around the world gathered in the cloud to celebrate together.

As the vice-chairman of the International Theatre Association, China has sent Plum Blossom Award actor Lou Sheng to record Wu Opera videos, showing the charm of traditional Chinese opera culture to the international theatre community.

  Wu Opera, commonly known as "Jinhua Opera", has a history of more than 400 years.

Along with it, there are archaeology, classics, classical dance culture variety shows and short videos that have been out of the circle frequently in recent years.

In the past two months alone, the traditional dance drama "Only Green" has captured the hearts of the people, the countdown to the twenty-four solar terms at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics has been regarded as a new classic, and Bing Dun Dun and Xuerong have become the top of the new country. Flow, and complement each other to make up the "key" of "turning the quintessence of the country into a national trend": ancient culture, youth aesthetics; Chinese aesthetics, element innovation; cultural essence, breaking the circle.

  Taking traditional opera as an example, the traditional national quintessence that has been passed down for a hundred years and accumulated over a thousand years can be transformed into a national trend. First, ancient art meets a new era, new audiences and new media, and realizes "youth aesthetics" with "element innovation".

  The opera itself is broad and profound, and its unique expression has distinct characteristics.

Only by innovating with the elements that the public "understands it as soon as they hear it" can it be widely disseminated, so that the audience will have a "somewhat interesting" sense of following in the feeling of "this is the taste".

From "Lanting Preface" and "Just Met You" and other popular songs that integrate opera elements and singing into the style, to the gradual prosperity of Internet "drama" songs, to the creators of short video platforms who developed "drama show"" Guofeng Makeup Transformation", opera dress up wedding photos and other popular content, many fans of Guofeng are promoting the attempt of "old wine in new bottles" by themselves.

On short video sites, the opera version of "Harry Potter" has reached 3 million views; the Beijing rhyme drum version of "The Lord of the Rings" has formed a delicate balance between form and content; The total number of video views released by the girl group formed by the Shanghai Theater Academy has exceeded 50 million.

According to a survey report by an institution, the attention of Guochao has increased by about 5 times in the past 10 years due to various integration innovations.

  It can be seen that under the blessing of the communication power of the mobile Internet, the national essence is using the distinctive artistic features and symbolic elements in the communication form of "not professional enough but beautiful enough", so that more people can feel the ancient rhyme and new voice in the popular fashion.

The times need bridges for grafting, and art needs to find groups that resonate with each other, so that young people can first overthrow the traditional concept of national quintessence, and then it is possible to move towards a more professional and comprehensive revival on this basis.

  If the above attempts are more "laymen join in the fun", the real basis for breaking the circle of national quintessence needs more "experts preaching the door".

Many people in the opera circle agree that it is an inevitable trend to innovate and adapt to the trend. The difficulty is how to spread new voices while walking the right path.

  On the one hand, the new performance of old plays has accelerated the innovation of performance content.

Since the successful performance of the youth version of "The Peony Pavilion", narrowing the distance between young people and opera art is no longer a proposition written on paper. Break more.

In July 2021, teachers and students from Beijing Opera Art Vocational College and Beijing Peking Opera Theatre staged an adapted version of the Peking Opera "Shajiabang". The singing voice changed from the traditional Peking Opera's Huguang sound and Zhongzhou rhyme to the Mandarin of "Ludang Fire Seed", with a duration from 3 The hours were reduced to 2 hours, and the performance also changed from emphasizing body shape to showing a side closer to life.

  On the other hand, many opera performers have begun to take the initiative to use new media to conduct popular science lectures or even live webcasts, in order to shorten the distance between the quintessence of art and the general public through the sharing of life style.

In these videos, teaching voice training is a fresh experience, practicing martial arts is an exciting spectacle, and dressing up and changing clothes is an aesthetic process like "changing a living person". It also demonstrates the determination and confidence of traditional art towards the future.

  Mr. Shang Changrong, the inheritor of Peking Opera, once said: "Satiated all day long, doing nothing, performing old operas for a long time, performing old operas for a long time, but not promising. An aspiring opera person should put down his air." With his efforts, popular songs and Peking Opera arias became similar. The fusion and collision together sang the modern voice of the classic repertoire.

The confidence and courage of the old gentleman give us reason to believe that time is the best baptism for national quintessence.

And a comment handwritten by a netizen may become the biggest peace of mind for the older generation of qu artists: "Compared to many video games and chases with super high conditions, believe me, it is really not difficult for Peking Opera to enter the pit. As a Chinese People, the first time you listen to it, you think it sounds good. All in all, Peking Opera is beautiful and simple, so let’s listen to it.”

(Author: Lv Fan, Deputy Director of the TV Research Center of Peking University)