Our reporter Wang Run
"There are two ways for a soldier to leave the battlefield, triumph or sacrifice. He is the third..." Yesterday, the play "Tie Liu Dong Jin" adapted from the novel "The Last Radio Wave" by Ji Yu, winner of the People's Literature Award, was held at the National Theatre of China. The premiere opened the curtain of the 7th China Original Drama Invitational Exhibition.
The play focuses on the fighting life of the New Fourth Army's signal corps, and uses the all-male class full of enthusiasm and masculinity to create a group portrait of the Iron Army, which makes audiences aged 60 to 70 years old moved to tears.
The grandfather who suffers from Alzheimer's disease suddenly announced "I am a martyr", and the grandson revealed the mystery of his identity through the words and deeds of the grandfather... Screenwriter Cha Wenbai adopted the alternate narrative method of two time and space. The story unfolds the iron-blooded past of the nation's bloody battle.
On the stage, the turntable kept spinning, the soldiers fell one by one to the sound of gunfire, the projections flashed through the air waves like a barrage, and a bright red flag always stood.
In this fierce battle, the Predators melted their flesh and blood into a continuous stream of iron.
Director Cha Wenhao used his poetic and romantic imagination to present the form of radio waves three-dimensionally through images, lighting, music, actors and other carriers, mobilizing the senses of the audience.
In the play, the shape of the radio wave is concretized into a circle, which is integrated with the rotating stage, and the relationship between the radio wave and the iron army is poetically interpreted.
The elements of Morse code are also added to the music melody, which runs through the whole song in the way of male vocal chorus and humming.
This ticking sound is also the lingering sound of Ang Lee, an elderly man suffering from Alzheimer's disease, in his mind. It is a soft and touching brushstroke in the grand Anti-Japanese War works.
Actor Hou Yansong applied his opera skills to the character of Li Anben. He proposed to arrange the process of Li Anben teaching the soldiers to send messages into a "little car play".
Wang Ting's interpretation of the head of the group speaks Sichuan dialect, which is more persuasive and appealing.
Also performing in Sichuan dialect is Zhang Zhenyuan, who participated in the drama for the first time. After nearly two months of rehearsal, he has gradually become familiar with the characteristics and methods of drama performance.
"Build a monument for the martyrs, and build a biography for the people." Before the curtain ended, the actors used body language to build a monument on the stage.
The premiere of the play welcomed audiences ranging in age from 60 to 70 years old. Many teenage audience members sighed with tears: "It's so burning! I didn't expect the main theme drama to be so good, it's as enjoyable as watching a blockbuster movie!" The young and senior audience also said: "The unswerving belief and indomitable will of these heroic predecessors should not be forgotten, and need to be remembered by today's young people."
It is reported that since the first round of six performances were sold out, the theater immediately decided to perform two more performances. The performance will continue until April 18.