When will Taihu Hongmei bloom again?
-thinking and research on the present situation of tin drama
Jiangnan water town near Taihu Lake is the birthplace of Wu culture, with beautiful scenery, rich products, developed industry and agriculture, convenient land and water transportation, and a long history. The quaint Wu Ge, elegant Kunqu Opera and colorful rural folk songs have bred the largest local opera in Jiangsu Province-Tin Opera, which has the flavor and characteristics of a water town in the south of the Yangtze River.
Tin Opera is known as "Red Plum in Taihu Lake", which was the first of the three emerging operas (tin opera, Yue opera and Huangmei opera) in East China after the founding of New China, and was known as "Tin Boss". Because of its appearance and popularity, the Yangtze River Delta is the most economically developed area in China, with prosperous economy, developed transportation and profound cultural background. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, under the guidance of the party's literary and artistic policies, with the correct leadership and care and support of governments at all levels, tin opera has gone through an extraordinary and commendable development process. There have been widely influential plays in China, such as: Double Push Mills, Meet in an Hall, Admitting Mother in Ancestral Hall, Pearl Tower, Night Trial in the Red Chamber, Song of Red Flowers, Red Seed, Meng Lijun, Jade Dragonfly, Searching for Children, Third Lady and Island. A large number of artists with great artistic achievements and influence have emerged, such as Yao Cheng, Shen Peihua, Mei Lanzhen, Yang, Wang Hanqing, Wu Yatong, Ni Tongfang, Wu Xiaoying, Wang Jianwei, Yu, Xu Chengyu, Qian Ronghui, Xu Ying and Fu Tian.
Since the reform and opening up, the vigorous development of market economy, especially the diversification of modern media means, has brought unprecedented tests and challenges to China traditional operas. Tin opera is like a boat swaying in the wind and rain of Taihu Lake, which is amazing! Have a sigh! Have anxiety! There are also shouts! It has become an indisputable fact that the audience of tin opera has dropped sharply, the performance market has shrunk, and the hearts of employees are unstable. Some people have taken the initiative to switch to the sea to do business.
Similarly, in the face of the "depression of traditional opera", Yue Opera has found its own position-inheriting and developing the art of Yue Opera schools and actively cultivating new forces. Only one film, Five Women's Birthdays, has almost integrated all schools of Yue Opera into this drama, and at the same time, a group of young actors who are deeply loved by the audience of Yue Opera have emerged. However, Huangmei Opera in Anhui, which is located in underdeveloped areas, has found its own development direction in the torrent of reform and the predicament of opera-by reforming the musical singing method of Huangmei Opera and giving full play to the advantages of actors to open up the situation. Anhui TV Station alone shoots 1-2 Huangmei Opera music TV series every year, which expands the influence of the opera and the popularity of the actors through modern media means.
What is the largest local opera in Jiangsu Province, which is located in an economically developed area?
Since the reform and opening-up, to be fair, practitioners of tin drama have made continuous efforts, and a number of plays with certain characteristics and influences have emerged, such as Happy Mother and Daughter, Head of the Family, A Bing, The Third Lady, The Story of the South and so on. A number of new stars have emerged, such as Jian Wei, Tang Zhenhua, Wan Jianhuan, Bian, Li Ju, and Shen Huilan.
But as far as the overall development of traditional Chinese opera is concerned, it can be summarized in three sentences: the main direction is unknown, and group cooperation is not only weak, but also fragmented and narcissistic. The play has serious internal friction and infighting, and its performance under the stage is very wonderful. Opera with a history of nearly 200 years. Up to now, languages can't be unified. There are Wuxi dialect, Changzhou dialect, Suzhou dialect, Yixing dialect and Jiangyin dialect on the stage ... How to talk about the development and revitalization of traditional Chinese opera? Can be used as "Shang Hua but not simple, flashy but not thick; It is more appropriate to explain the present situation of tin opera by relying on pattern renovation, lack of basic skills, seeking less work and perseverance (see "The vicissitudes of Shanghai opera in a hundred years").
Faced with the grim situation of traditional Chinese opera, the governments of Wuxi and Changzhou, the birthplace of traditional Chinese opera, have successively set up the "Leading Group for Revitalizing Tin Opera". A series of plans and measures to revitalize tin operas have been formulated, and the "Conditions for Government Literary Awards" and special funds for artistic production have been issued. The introduction of these policies and measures has played a certain role in stabilizing this tin drama team, activating the enthusiasm of employees and making people play. However, the fundamental problems of congenital deficiency, acquired imbalance and low quality of employees have not been solved. It seems not enough to survive, innovate and develop in the wave of reform. The change of a set of figures illustrates the present situation of traditional Chinese opera.
In order to revitalize the tin opera, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and the Jiangsu Tin Opera Research Association jointly organized six sessions of "Jiangsu Tin Opera Festival" with the Wuxi Municipal People's Government, the Changzhou Municipal People's Government and the Suzhou Municipal People's Government in 2002.
The first Tin Opera Festival was held in Wuxi. Twenty-four tin troupes in three provinces and one city (namely, Jiangsu Province, Anhui Province and Shanghai) performed 28 sets of tin dramas, which were colorful, unprecedented and full of talents.
1986 1 1 the second tin opera festival was held in Changzhou. There are 16 performances by tin troupe 16 performances. (At this time, three tin troupes in Shanghai and one tin troupes in Anhui should be dissolved, and 19 of the 35 tin troupes in Jiangsu have cancelled, retained their organizational systems or stopped their artistic activities. )
1988 1 1 the third tin opera festival was held in Suzhou. The Tin Troupe alone performed 10.
June 1993 The 4th Tin Opera Festival was held in Wuxi. Only eight tin troupes performed eight plays.
June 65438+April 0999 The 5th Tin Opera Festival was held in Changzhou. There are 16 tin troupes and 16 operas in the province.
In June, 2002, the 6th Tin Opera Festival and the 3rd Jiangsu Humor Opera Festival were held in Suzhou at the same time. There are 1 1 tin troupe performances 1 1 operas.
According to the statistics of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture in 2004, there are still 24 tin troupes in the province. Eight of them have stopped all artistic activities in order to maintain the organizational system and support the retirees of the troupe by financial allocation. There is still 16 tin troupe firmly standing in the front line of the performance. In all fairness, these troupes only rely on the annual government financial allocation and the annual 100-200 investment in commercial performances, and the life and income of their employees are fully guaranteed. Take Wujin District (county-level) tin troupe in Changzhou as an example. The troupe has 42 employees (statistics in 2004), with a financial allocation of 570,000 yuan and an annual performance income of 500,000 yuan. The government-led troupe is married to Wujin Iron and Steel Plant, which gives the troupe 500,000 yuan a year, and the District Cultural Bureau supports150,000-200,000 yuan a year, so the annual income of the troupe is 65,438+. Compared with Liuqin Opera and Huaihai Opera in northern Jiangsu, the living conditions of tin operas are very different from them.
Governments at all levels have done a lot of work in promoting the reform of troupe system and activating human resources, and there are many successful examples. Since the beginning of the new century, the Jintan (county-level) tin troupe under Changzhou has made bold breakthroughs and attempts in two aspects: First, it broke through the nature of the original troupe, dismissed all the staff and made one-time economic compensation, and then implemented the crew employment system. The second is to break through the original wage structure and reform the distribution system. Implement the distribution mode of post salary+performance subsidy+benefit salary. After the reform, the performance of the Tin Troupe climbed all the way. "Young China" won the "Thousand Talents Performance Award" in Jiangsu Province in 2003. In April 2004, the modern large-scale children's drama "Fly, Goose" opened its doors to participate in the fifth Shanghai Excellent Children's Drama Exhibition and won the "Excellent Performance Award". And during the May Day holiday and Children's Day, the drama Flying into the Shanghai Grand Theatre twice. Caused a sensation in the Shanghai drama circle.
The above-mentioned successful cases are really exciting, but the current living conditions of traditional Chinese opera are still not optimistic for the author.
First, retreat from the city theater to the rural square.
It seems that there is nothing to make a fuss about the development of tin operas from rural squares, theaters to squares, and cities to rural areas. Some people call this retrogression regression. Applaud! What are the gains and losses of this problem involving the historical development of tin drama? Is it right or wrong? Is it good or bad? It is not the subject of in-depth discussion at this meeting. But in reality, this retrogression or retrogression involves many problems, including the distribution relationship between troupe and theater, and whether the management system of troupe and theater is reasonable ... but it is an indisputable fact that the audience of urban tin opera is losing or disappearing. Take Jiangsu Tin Troupe as an example. If they don't attend any concerts or commemorative performances, they can hardly be seen in a metropolis like Nanjing. What county temple fairs and festivals I heard. To put it bluntly, it is to perform in the square in the countryside.
The loss and aging of urban tin opera audience is a fundamental reason why the troupe retreated from the city to the countryside. Of course, this is inseparable from the old monotonous performance form and low performance skill level of the troupe. It is directly related to the contradiction between urban audience, especially young audience's aesthetic taste and appreciation habits.
The second is the performance research system, which has become the second occupation of the cast members of the troupe.
In Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou and other economically developed areas, it is impossible for the troupe to maintain its performance by selling tickets in normal theaters. In this way, pushing performance tickets has become the second career of cast members. They have both motivation and joy, but also pressure and helplessness.
Talk about motivation: selling a ticket can get 40%-50% of the ticket value, which is not a small income. Therefore, the actors mobilize all normal and abnormal social relations and rack their brains to sell theater tickets, and the considerable return is joy. According to the author's investigation in several county theatrical troupes, few people can make a profit by selling theater tickets, and most people just look at the tickets and sigh.
Pressure: In order to ensure the normal income of the troupe, some troupe leaders ask actors to contact the booking and sales of theater tickets to solve the difference in their monthly salary. Among them, pushing tickets is wonderful outside the play, and it is hard to imagine without in-depth understanding. This also gives some rich and powerful people a chance. Some abnormal or even improper transactions followed, which affected the unity and stability of this team. In this way, how much energy can cast members spend on professional training and quality improvement?
Third, foreign monks like to recite scriptures, and the subjective consciousness of opera gradually disappears.
Since the reform and opening up, various performances and awards have been held many times every year, and the awareness of participating in and winning prizes has been greatly strengthened in the troupe. It is also an indisputable fact that the competent leaders use the award-winning performance to engage in their own performance projects. Therefore, the investment in a drama is generally one or several times that of the local finance in the whole year. In order to win the prize, various research methods have been refurbished repeatedly. It's wonderful outside the play, and the insiders are helpless.
In order to win the prize, it has become a fashion to hire famous screenwriters, directors, composers and directors to participate in the creative team of the play, and the wind of chanting scriptures by foreign monks has become increasingly fierce. There are many successful works among them. Most of these foreign monks know nothing about the characteristics of drama style, musical singing and actor's performance personality. If they are directed to compose music, the result is often that either the play is sung, or the form is greater than the content, or the actors are thoroughly remoulded. A certain group invested more than one million yuan in a drama, which was not suitable for the performance of the drama, and ended hastily in the censure of its peers. Some old artists of tin opera lamented: "If you do this, you will definitely make the tin opera into four elephants. Throw away the style and subjective consciousness of the play! " A director from other provinces bluntly said after drinking: "Tin operas grow in economically developed areas. In order to win the prize, the competent department spared no expense. This is a good opportunity for us to use our imagination and talents. We must firmly seize this opportunity to ensure the harvest through drought and flood! "
With the popularity of The Foreign Monk, the writers and directors trained by the drama itself have nothing to do, and some have changed careers! Abandon the text and go into business! The writers and directors of many theatrical troupes have long since disappeared from the personnel list. Colleagues in the field of tin opera are shouting loudly that the personality characteristics of opera are the basis of its development. The main force to get out of the predicament still depends on oneself.
Fourth, the prosperity and thinking of "Xi Opera Five Cars and Two Groups"
A semi-professional "tin opera cantata group" is extremely active in the rural areas of the south of the Yangtze River and the urban-rural fringe of Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou, when the performance of professional troupes is depressed, the audience drops sharply and the box office is difficult to guarantee. Some business owners and villagers' committees hold activities, and some people invite the Tin Opera Choir to perform at weddings, funerals, new houses and military schools. Manage diet and control alcohol and tobacco. Singers earn 50- 100 yuan a day, and group leaders (monitor) earn more. According to the author's incomplete statistics, there are more than 200 tin opera choirs active in towns and villages in Jiangsu, Wuxi and Changzhou. The rich economic income has attracted some depressed troupe actors to join the singing group ... and the momentum has not diminished. The prosperity of cappella Troupe can't help but make people think, what kind of development path should this form of tin opera, which originated in the rural areas of the south of the Yangtze River and grew up in the city, take? It is also worrying. While the choir is active in the rural tin opera performance, it also has a negative impact on the content and form of the performance, which should be highly valued by government departments and opera colleagues. How to guide the cappella delegation to a healthy and regular road is imminent. Researchers from Jiangsu Academy of Culture and Art are working with relevant parties to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth investigation on the audience base, singing form and singing content of the tin opera cantata. On the basis of fully obtaining first-hand information, they will support, standardize and develop the tin opera chorus, and make suggestions to the cultural authorities to make it develop healthily.
When will Taihu plum blossom bloom again? It is the concern and expectation of every tin opera practitioner and people who care about and love this kind of drama. Since the new century, Jiangsu Institute of Culture and Art, Shanghai Institute of Art, Zhejiang Institute of Art and Shanghai Tongji University Law School have held two academic seminars on the survival and development of Tan Chun Opera in the Yangtze River Delta. At the end of this year, the third Yangtze River Delta Beach Spring Opera Symposium will be held in Shanghai. The author is full of confidence in the future of tin drama. Because: after all, it is active in the economically developed areas of Jiangsu and has a solid economic foundation; Today, there are still a large number of audiences who care about and love tin operas (the active and prosperous cappella troupe is the best example); Over the past few decades, the Party has indeed trained a batch of talented people with artistic achievements and influence, and the opera has also grown up in Wuyu District, a water town in the south of the Yangtze River with profound cultural heritage. However, tin opera workers are still facing a new turning point and a severe test. So far, the language of the play is not unified, the occupation is not clear, and the performance skills are lacking. The stylization, diversification, genre innovation and perfection of music singing are all unavoidable realities in the development of drama. How to adapt the art of tin opera to the requirements of the times and the changing aesthetic needs of the audience, how to inherit and carry forward the traditional artistic characteristics of traditional opera, and the reform and management of the troupe system still need to be solved by in-depth exploration and practice. With the progress of the times, the art of tin drama will win a new turn and endless vitality in the test. Red plum in Taihu Lake will shine again. (Zhu Guofang)