The 2022 Beijing Culture and Art Fund funded project, the neo-realistic Beijing-flavored drama "Qingshuitang", recently appeared on the stage of the Future Theater, and on May 5, the play will also enter the Shunyi Grand Theater.
"Qingshuitang" is written by Yang Shuo, directed by Tang Ye and Zhu Shaopeng, starring Wang Haowei, Wang Yidan, Wu Song, Ji Yuan, Zhang Shuchen and other actors. The whole play takes the welcoming living room of the bathroom of "Qingshuitang" as the main scene, and the dressing room and bath as the secondary scenes, and reflects the tribulations brought to the people by the war and turmoil of the old society through the changes of the bathhouse in three periods: at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Lu Decai, who was living on the street, was rescued by the owner and adopted as a righteous son. Industrious and enthusiastic, he helped his righteous father support the business of the bathhouse Qingshuitang, but the world changed, the braid was gone, the Japanese artillery fire sounded, the owner of Shimizudo changed, and Lu Decai, who was nearly sixty years old, struggled to support and find a way to operate. All kinds of old patrons come and go, but for the sake of morality in his heart, Lu De has always stuck here. A pool of clear water in the "Qingshui Hall" is also his belief in being a clean man.
As a Beijing-style drama, Beijingers account for a large proportion of the main creator and starring team of "Qingshuitang". The whole work uses Beijing dialect as the main language style, borrows the logic gag of crosstalk language, sets up baggage, and intersperses Beijing ditties between the three acts, showing the origin of folklore, industry rules and Beijing idioms in an original way.
In recent years, there have been many kinds of Beijing-style children's dramas, but not many have put bathhouses on the stage, so the main creative team has made sufficient preparations by consulting various materials such as documentaries and books in the early stage. For example, the stage designers found an old-style bathhouse building near the Maju Bridge, and the main creative team also visited the style and restored the historical style in various details such as bathrobes and slippers worn by the characters in the play. Experts and scholars in folklore were also invited to explain the former market culture to the young protagonists. "Through the bathhouse, we are looking for something that has been or is being lost, such as the etiquette of people-to-people interactions, and the 'Li'er' of old Beijing." Tang Ye said. "Reminiscence" is a touch of background color that lingers in "Qingshuitang". Wu Song, a Beijing-based actor who plays the "Eighth Master" Liu Menglin in the play, has a vague memory of the bathhouse in the back of his mind, and this time he used this work to learn about some familiar Beijing culture again.
"The bathhouse is a place where people can let down their guard and reveal their true thoughts in a warm and comfortable environment." Zhu Shaopeng said. In this special place, the three religions and nine streams gathered together, showing the warmth and coldness of the human feelings, and the cold state of the world. "Qingshuitang" uses the fate of small people to write the tide of the big times, quite a shadow of Mr. Lao She's "Teahouse". "This is also China's original theatrical expression, and we are trying to pay tribute to Mr. Lao She and the culture of Beijing."
Text/Reporter Guo Jia