Drama covers a wide range. For every kind of drama, Min Kung has a certain degree of dabbling and literacy. Take Beijing Opera as an example. Before Min Kung took over as the artistic director of Guoguang Troupe, he wrote many operas. In the early years, the Three Armies Troupe held a national drama competition every year. At that time, Min Kung wrote seven or eight plays for Guang Hai Troupe, among which Zhenguan Tu and Mulan participated in the national drama competition and won prizes every year. The newly staged "The Best in the World" by Guoguang Troupe is also the creation of Zigong people in their early years. After working for Guoguang, Min Kung also planned the performance of "Local Peking Opera Series".
Why do you perform a series of local Peking Opera? The main reason is that Min Kung thinks that the old Peking Opera plays are all ancient stories, and the new plays in Taiwan Province Province are mostly based on the legends and history of non-Taiwan Province Province, which makes the general audience in Taiwan Province Province not interested in Peking Opera. So he planned this performance, and the first play "Mazu" was written by Min Kung himself. Generally speaking, China opera actors and screenwriters are apprentices since childhood, but he is totally different. He has accumulated many years of drama experience and explored the truth by himself. Min Kung, born in 193 1, was born in Nanjing. The surname "Gong" is the same as "Duanmu". There are not many surnames like Taiwan Province Province, and even fewer people like Min Kung. Min Kung experienced War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and national war since childhood, and his childhood education was incomplete.
According to Gong Jia, his family used to run a bookstore, and his father loved watching Peking Opera. When he was a child, he often went to the theater with his father, so he naturally liked drama. Most of the stories of Peking Opera come from popular novels such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin and Elvis Presley, but the plot is often cut out and only part of it is performed, making it difficult for Min Kung to see the whole picture. Fortunately, he opened a bookstore at home, so he was eager to find books after watching the play, and he also developed the habit of reading.
1937, the July 7th Incident broke out, and the Japanese army almost completely destroyed Nanjing. Our bookstore is also doomed, and the Gong family has changed from a well-off society to a peddler. Min Kung, who grew up in that turbulent era, had no chance to receive a complete formal education. Fortunately, watching operas and novels since childhood has laid a solid foundation for Chinese studies since he taught himself. Min Kung became attached to modern drama at the age of 15. Although it was more than 60 years ago, Min Kung still remembers it vividly: "The first time I saw a drama that day was Cao Yu's Yuan Ye. The scenery designed by perspective method is quite realistic and has a wide field of vision. The railroad tracks stretched straight into the sky before my eyes. That's great. I was stunned by this spectacle and didn't sing. " From then on, he fell in love with drama.
When I was a child, Min Kung read Zhang Hui's novels to supplement the story of Peking Opera, and read the script when he couldn't see the play. Many plays were published at that time. China is a big country with many troupes, and there is a great demand for scripts. Unlike Taiwan Province Province, one troupe does not perform another script. Among all playwrights, Gong Min, like many people engaged in drama, admires Cao Yu the most. He thinks that Cao Yu is the pioneer of modern drama in China, and his first novel Thunderstorm came out in 1933, which laid the most important foundation for China's drama. He even thinks that no other drama in China has surpassed Thunderstorm so far. Later, Yuan Ye and Sunrise appeared, and Cao Yu's position was irrefutable.
During the anti-Russian war, Min Kung used various channels and took risks to hide all Cao Yu's plays. After the cross-strait exchanges began, he immediately went to Beijing to visit Cao Yu and Wu Zuguang. Being familiar with the works of famous artists, Min Kung does not deny their inspiration to him, and his plays are influenced by them to some extent. Min Kung revealed that when he was reading the script, he might have a wish in his heart, hoping that he could develop in the direction of drama in the future. Drama has really become his lifelong ambition. In 37, the army recruited a drama team. He just turned 17 and went with a group of friends who love drama. His father was worried that he was too young and once opposed him to go, but he was determined to run and act with the national army. In 39, with the drama team of 18 Army1Division, the "Flying Horse Drama Team" came to Taiwan Province Province from Kinmen. He is the only one in 17 who went with him to apply for the drama team. At this time, my family was scattered all over the country, knowing that I was homeless and homesick.
Min Kung stayed in the troupe for a while, then entered the film and drama department of the School of Politics and War, and graduated in 1943. During this period, Min Kung got the guidance of many famous dramatists such as Li Mangui, Qi Rushan, Liang Shiqiu, Deng Suining and Zhang Ying, and really entered the world of drama. At the same time, he also met many classmates, such as Zhang Yongxiang, Qibin Zhao, Xiangru Song, Nie and Liu Weibin. Learn from each other and encourage each other, which inspires them to keep moving forward.
Then, for three years in a row, Min Kung won grand prizes in many competitions. First, in 1944, the director "Spring in the Downtown" won the first prize in the Cultural and Creative Competition of the Ministry of National Defense. At that time, there were many drama teams in the army, and the Ministry of National Defense invited scripts every year. In 45 years, he wrote a one-act drama "Falling Soul Cliff" and won the first prize. In 46 years, he wrote the short story "The Fourth Wall" and won the first prize for essay writing in Hong Kong's Asia Pictorial with a bonus of 1000 yuan. In the same year, "Four Acts Drama" (created in the same year) won the first place in the essay writing of the Ministry of National Defense with a prize of 5,000 yuan. Soldiers were badly treated at that time. Min Kung is a lieutenant officer with a monthly salary of only 7 80 yuan, but writing brings him considerable income. 1946, among the seven troupes who participated in the drama competition in Zhongshan Hall, Taipei, three troupes performed his plays, and the scene was full of "Gong Minsheng". When friends meet, they all praise him with "Gong Min Nian". Min Kung knows that he likes drama and is suitable for it. "It's fun to play. I used to think the play was fun and lively. Later, I was moved by the drama and embarked on the road of drama, only to find that there are many influential forces in the drama. Most people's work is against their own interests. I am lucky that work can be combined with interest. "
196 1 year, Min Kung was transferred from the political cadre school to the studio in China, studied from scratch and worked for 10 year. He has worked as an audience sitter, planner, editor, music editor, screenwriter, deputy director and director, and he has done a great job in news films, documentaries, military education films and drama films. 1969, the great director Li Hanxiang filmed The Wind and Cloud of the Yangtze River and invited Min Kung to be his deputy. They cooperate happily. After the film was finished, Li Hanxiang couldn't go to Japan for post-production work such as film dubbing, so Min Kung did it for him. Min Kung single-handedly entered Tokyo to complete the task, which was also an eye-opener. In the future, Zhang Che and Zhang Ying invited him to Hong Kong for development. This is Min Kung's rich film The Apprentice.
In Min Kung, Hong Kong, he directed the martial arts film Little Boxing Champion, and actor Morphy got into the film circle because he participated in the recruitment of the leading actor in this film. "Little Boxing Champion" was a big hit, and the company wanted him to stay in Hong Kong for a long time, but Min Kung was not interested in martial arts dramas, just because it was popular at that time and had to be filmed. Coupled with being unaccustomed to the working environment in Hong Kong, my mood has become very low. At the end of 1969, China TV started broadcasting, and Min Kung decided to return to Taiwan. "After all, home is here." Min Kung directed and edited a series of well-known series Nujiang Spring Warming and Great River North and South for CTV. Then CTV started broadcasting, and wanted to make a Huangmei opera "Seven Deaths", in which Ling Bo and Li Xuan were invited to star, while CTV asked Min Kung to compose and direct. Min Kung's talent is fully displayed in this play. China Television was unwilling to let such a good talent go, so he stayed in China Television for a long time.
After graduation, I joined the navy drama team, went back to my alma mater to teach, entered a film studio, directed and scripted, went to Hong Kong to film, and then returned to Taiwan Province Province to direct TV dramas. For nearly a year, Min Kung never left his drama job. Writing plays accounts for the vast majority of his works. Wan Wei Tze, a veteran playwright, is favored by him because of his large quantity and excellent quality. He was recommended to enter the criticism and academic research, and began to review the scripts organized by the Information Bureau, the Cultural Development Association, the Ministry of Education and other units, and thus met Hu Yaoheng, Li Diankui, Huang, Zeng Yongyi and other drama scholars, broadening his horizons; Yu Gang, Zhang Fogan, Yao Yiwei, Wang Lan, Zhang, Zhang and other teachers have all inspired him. Huang Zeng, a critic of traditional Chinese opera, once said, "When a master enters the door, he practices in the individual." Describing Min Kung's persistent spirit, he thinks that although Min Kung has been guided by many good teachers, he could not have achieved today's achievements without his own penance, perseverance and talent. Min Kung's self-selected motto: "Read thousands of books, take Wan Li Road and watch ten thousand plays" is a good example.
In fact, Min Kung not only went to Wan Li Road, but also studied thousands of books, and he was also a practitioner who watched thousands of plays. Min Kung's friends all have this experience. If you want to find Min Kung, he either works in a troupe, plays in a theater or watches a movie. His diligent attitude can also be seen from his collection of drama books, videos and DVDs. According to Min Kung, everywhere he goes, the first thing he does is visit bookstores, buy drama books, and then visit record stores. His "Drama Bookstore" has the richest drama books and audio-visual materials in Taiwan Province Province, including 34,000 dramas and 23,000 drama videos. He regards reading as a great pleasure, so the more he reads, the more interesting he becomes. "My teachers and friends are there. If you want to ask anyone at any time, please get off the shelf. " Min Kung collects these books not only for his own reference, but also for anyone who studies drama and traditional China opera. He lent them to others for photocopying, and everyone shared these valuable knowledge assets. Because of this, he also collected many master's and doctoral dissertations, which were given to him by graduate students in exchange for his information. Min Kung has been studying knowledge all his life. He often says that absorption is affected. A few years ago, someone asked him to write down a sentence that had the greatest influence on him. Without thinking, he wrote, "Choose the good and be stubborn, and do your best." This sentence comes from two books, namely "John Christophe" and "Heroes and Hero Worship". Min Kung said, "People have all kinds of talents. Some people become heroes because of fighting, some people become heroes because of writing poems, and some people become heroes because of singing ..... choose what suits you best, give full play to your opinions, choose goals, find directions, and do your best. "
In addition to absorption, Min Kung also constantly tempered. The following is an example: 199 1 year, Min Kung wrote a series of radio dramas "Romantic Men through the Ages" for radio stations. This is after 1964, he presided over the radio drama performance in the civil defense radio station for two years, and after writing many scripts, he wrote the radio drama again. Performers are well-known figures in the art and literature circles, including Mei Sen, Mrs. Wei Wei, Yaxian, Roland and so on. Some people don't care about his writing radio plays, and think his pen is boring. Why else would you write a radio play? Drama critic Huang has different explanations for this. He pointed out that many famous screenwriters in Britain started from writing radio plays, mainly because radio plays rely on sound to impress the audience, and written language is its most important tool. Therefore, writing radio plays is the best "whetstone" for playwrights. His view on Min Kung's writing of radio plays is: "It still has the function of tempering the basic skills of screenwriters." Min Kung likes writing comedies best, and he admits that writing comedies is not a simple matter. "To make people laugh, there are many levels, and the personal feelings of humor are different. Ideological jokes are the highest, followed by words, and actions are the lowest. Let refined, popular and elegant people laugh happily, which is the highest comedy. "
Min Kung was asked which one he was most satisfied with. Every time I mention this issue, Gong Min always seems very helpless. He said: "When I entered the drama industry, I was the loudest against * * * and Russia. For a long time, I wrote anti-slogans and slogans. These materials are not from the heart and deceive the audience. I fled to Taiwan Province Province alone, and I have no permanent property. In order to make a living, I have to write something kitsch and sprinkle some dog blood to cope with the market. " Min Kung revealed that his most satisfying works are some unfinished works, only an outline, which was left there before being completed.
Generally speaking, plays are rarely published. Scripts are not like novels. Readers of novels read words to appreciate works, while audiences of plays seldom read scripts. Most people watch plays and movies instead of scripts. Therefore, the playwright must rely on the performance of the troupe to convey the ideas of the creators. After the idea is conveyed, the audience may not fully realize it. If we can look back at the script, we will have a better understanding of the creator's ideas. Because of this, after taking over the Guoguang Troupe, Min Kung screened and summarized his own works and compiled the Selected Plays. He also knows that no one in the publishing industry wants to publish this book, so he plans to publish it at his own expense for your reference. He said that it would be better if some topics he wanted to write for a long time could be written and included before collection.
Although Min Kung is over 70 years old, he still shows a "healthy" appearance. He is busy reading and watching plays every day, and he doesn't want to waste a moment. His greatest wish is that government cultural institutions can set up a "drama library", just like a film library. He said that if the drama library is established, he will donate all his drama (music) books without reservation and become a reference tool for everyone, which will be his personal drama career. Unfortunately, this wish has never come true. In August this year, Min Kung donated his collected scripts and videos to the National Library and the National Taiwan University Library respectively. He still said, "I hope everyone can share these valuable knowledge assets together."