What can I do to save you?

In early November last year, Guangdong Cantonese Opera Theatre participated in the Shanghai International Theatre Festival with its modern Cantonese opera "Wind and Cloud in the Mountain Village", and organized a seminar after the performance. A group of famous dramatists from Shanghai attended, and Mr. Luo Huizhen was the first to speak. He first praised the play as a successful and excellent one, and then made a very intriguing remark: "However, 'Wind and Cloud in the Hill Country' is, after all, a work of more than forty years ago, and we expect Guangdong Cantonese Opera to bring us even greater surprises the next time it comes to Shanghai... ... "Stills from a Cantonese Opera PerformanceIf one is allowed to be self-deprecating, I think one can interpret this statement a bit more acerbically: what a year, and still using this to "fool" us! I am ashamed to say that after more than 40 years, there are still only a few Cantonese operas that can be presented as window dressing. Luo Huizhen's head-butt was deafening. But it is the truth, a truth that many of us do not even want to face! It is an indisputable fact that Cantonese opera needs to be saved. But what is there to save? I. Have we tried? Since the mid-to-late 1980s, there has been a lot of talk about the crisis of Cantonese Opera, and the situation of the audience and the depletion of talents in Cantonese Opera has become a topic of concern for the people time and again. But to this day, the audience is still there after all, and in terms of quantity, it is not much different. The reasons for this are as follows: Firstly, China's continuous economic growth has brought about an increase in people's demand for cultural life. The second is the role of the objective regularity between the development of Cantonese opera itself and the natural cycle of the audience. Thirdly, over the past decades, people's governments at all levels and Cantonese opera practitioners have made various efforts to revitalize Cantonese opera. The first two can be considered objective reasons, while the third is our subjective impetus to promote the development of Cantonese opera. It should be said that these efforts have been quite effective. First of all, as reflected in the training of Cantonese opera performers, a number of outstanding young actors and actresses have come to the fore. They have beautiful images, good voices and excellent kung fu! All of them are good talents who are capable of performing on their own. For example, in the province's major Cantonese opera troupes in the role of the cultural and military students Ou Kaiming, Lai Junsheng, Peng Qinghua, Huang Weikun, Liang Zhaoming, Li Qiuyuan, and flower girl Jiang Wenduan, Su Chunmei, Qiongxia, Zeng Xiaomin, Li Shukin, Cui Yumei, and so on. What is even more encouraging is that behind them, a number of raw power is a small lotus tip, growing, through their stage performance, you can effortlessly find their hidden potential and broad prospects for development. Secondly, in the context of the development of market economy, various artistic undertakings in the cultural field are gradually lowering or even removing the barriers between art and the public, and are seeking to integrate with the psychological needs of the public culture and marketization. The development of the Cantonese opera market and the study of audience psychology are increasingly emphasized by Cantonese opera performing groups. A series of commercialized marketing models, such as market planning, publicity, packaging and promotion, have been widely used in the cultural field and continuously improved with their own characteristics. For example, in recent years, artists and leaders of major arts organizations have been trying to find ways to open up avenues for the development and expression of Cantonese opera. Cantonese opera artist Hong Lin Nü led the creation of the Cantonese opera animated movie "Difficult Princess Dumpy Emperor's Son-in-law", which has extraordinary exploratory value in opening up the space for the dissemination of Cantonese opera and expanding the audience level of Cantonese opera. The successful rehearsal of the beautiful Cantonese opera "Shadow of the Flower Moon" by the Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Troupe, and the vigorous implementation of activities such as the one-dollar-per-performance campaign for university students to enter the theatre, etc., are all reflective of the efforts made by the Cantonese opera groups to gain audience and expand the market. The modern Cantonese opera "Wedding on the Penal Colony" staged by the Guangzhou Hongdou Cantonese Opera Troupe has made an excellent performance in exploring the local themes of Cantonese opera. The success of their production of "Guan Gong's Loyalty and Righteousness for a Thousand Years", as well as Zhanjiang Cantonese Opera Troupe's "Pearl Pagoda" and Zhaoqing Cantonese Opera Troupe's "Zhong Kui Marries Her Sisters", also reflect the importance that we attach to the traditional repertoire of Cantonese opera and our efforts to combine the tradition with the times in the pursuit of aesthetics. According to incomplete statistics, in the past ten years, there have been no less than one hundred plays created by major troupes and the restoration of traditional opera repertoire, with different themes and styles,**** the same colorful clouds of hope woven into the sky for the prosperity of Cantonese opera. Furthermore, governments around the world are increasing their support and investment in culture year by year. The revitalization of the cultural industry has always been an economic growth point promoted by the central and local governments at all levels, so the investment in culture by governments at all levels has been increasing year by year. The most obvious aspect of the support for Cantonese opera is the increase in the number of large-scale productions around the world. In the past decade, the number of productions with an investment of more than one million dollars includes "The Flag of Hunchback" by Shenzhen Cantonese Opera Troupe, "Shadow of the Flowering Moon" and "Three Alleys" by Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Troupe, "Wedding on the Penal Colony" by Guangzhou Hongdou Cantonese Opera Troupe, "Princess Butterfly" and "Little Empress Dowager" by Foshan Cantonese Opera Troupe, "Princess Qingqing" and "Dongpo and Chaoyun" by Guangdong Cantonese Opera Troupe, etc. Many of these large-scale productions have been produced with a total investment of over $100 million. Many of these large-scale productions have indeed played some positive roles in upgrading the artistic taste of Cantonese opera, enriching its means of expression and expanding its influence. Admittedly, we can also enumerate many facts that various parties have spared no effort in the development of Cantonese opera, such as the enthusiastic concern of various sectors of the community, the various inputs from the provincial and municipal Cantonese Opera Foundations, the strong support from many well-known enterprises and entrepreneurs, and the cooperation of the mainstream media, etc. The above forces have contributed to the development of Cantonese opera. The efforts of all these forces have indeed played a positive role in promoting and stimulating the development of Cantonese opera. However, behind the prosperity, some imaginary bubbles are gradually forming. The forces from all walks of life are like doctors of varying standards who **** together to take the pulse of Cantonese Opera, enthusiastically offer their own recipes and medicines, and bravely participate in the process of salvation. However, there is no absolute authority of the alliance leader of the hundred parties, the more prescriptions, the more difficult to reconcile, the results are even more conceivable. Second, have we tried our best? Due to the limitations of subjective and objective factors, "doctors" are like a blind man feeling an elephant, a leopard in the tube, it is inevitable to generalize. The phenomenon of carrying out the so-called reform in the name of personal favoritism and realizing personal or small-group interests has existed for a long time. The lack of a comprehensive study on the current situation of Cantonese Opera has also led to a lack of unified understanding, long-term planning, reasonable deployment and scientific scheduling for the development of Cantonese Opera. As a result, all kinds of contradictions arising therefrom are inevitable. For example, the imbalance in the development of artistic talents in Cantonese opera is very obvious. As mentioned above, a group of young actors in Cantonese Opera have already taken over the burden and are getting better, but only limited to actors. As a comprehensive art, the talents we need should also be comprehensive and not only limited to actors. Screenwriting, directing, music, choreography ...... is the creation of stage art is essential to the synthesis, but at present, we are these aspects of the talent is pitifully small, and some positions have even been faced with the point of complete rupture (such as screenwriters). Other aspects such as directing, music, choreography, etc., really have the ability to create and be recognized by the audience, is also rare. Some leaders are eager for success, lack of consideration for the actual ability of the person concerned, and boldly enable young people to serve as directors, music designers, choreographers, but often, the way of pulling up the seedling can only lead to a laughable end. Drama connotation, music language, the laws of art, not overnight can be mastered, not to mention the will of the chief can be copied and pasted. Having said that, the development of Cantonese opera performers, who are considered to be newcomers, is also markedly unbalanced, mainly in terms of their lineage. The long-established performance system centered on the Shengdan has resulted in a tendency for opera practitioners to rush to the Wenwusheng and Huadan trades, while other trades, such as the Wusheng, Huafang, Chousheng, Laodan and Wudan trades, have been neglected due to their restricted career paths. These problems are in fact already a cliché, many predecessors not only pointed out its shortcomings, and even give a good prescription, but unfortunately has not been a fundamental attention, not to mention a complete solution. Another example is the various contradictions caused by the deficiencies in the troupe system and the influence of the general social environment, which affect all aspects of artistic production and restrict the development of Cantonese opera. I don't know when the phenomenon of "art and worry" has become widespread. Although this phenomenon has long been subjected to various criticisms and questions, it has not ceased, but has become more and more intense. At present, the leaders of the major Cantonese opera groups in the province are almost all led by their own leading artists or flower girls. Although there are many reasons for this phenomenon, its disadvantages are obvious. First of all, human energy is limited after all. How can one have both the creation and the management of the fish and the bear's paw? Even if reluctantly, it is easy to get to exhaustion, and a careless will fall into a thankless result. Secondly, the manager and the managed is always a pair of contradictory combinations, some real problems are always leaders can not avoid, if not handled well, is bound to affect the cooperation on the stage, reduce the quality of art. Once again, only the stage is the place where the dramatist's life blossoms, between administrative cadres and artists, no matter the humanistic value or historical value, can never be equated. Once, when a theater troupe was rehearsing a new play, the young flower girl who was the leader of the troupe disregarded the sad atmosphere of the play, and forced the actor who was playing the rival to speak faster and sing faster, in order to let the rival get off the stage quickly, so as to leave the space for his own performance. Something like this serious violation of the laws of art is not uncommon in professional organizations. This situation often ends with the weak yielding to the strong, but if you run into a strong artistic personality of the actors, the conflict becomes inevitable. Because of poor management, some professional troupes have been known to put on disastrous variety shows. There are also some relatively well-known professionals, because of the profit motive, even in order to go to the hole and give up the troupe and go, disregard for the normal artistic production of the troupe. Some troupe leaders, knowing that the artistic quality will be discounted, but are willing to create repertoire in the important artistic positions cronyism ...... and then we have a common problem is that we can not hear the real theater criticism. In recent years, there has been a growing trend of aphasia in theater criticism. No matter what the quality of a new play is, the public always hears a flood of praise. However, many of us Cantonese opera practitioners only know that the words of critics are sometimes unpleasant to the ear, but we seldom understand that a real critic should also be one of the creators, and that a theatrical creation is not complete without criticism, and that very few successful artists have ever rejected artistic criticism. In the absence of criticism, it is even more difficult to curb the phenomenon of liberalization and arbitrariness in the creation of Cantonese opera. As a result, we have heard a lot of unimaginable reform arguments and seen many changes that defy common sense - a music designer designed the entire play's music based on the script text and asked the troupe to rehearse with it - putting the cart before the horse. A theater troupe rehearsed a certain play and asked the actors to abandon the program and learn the way of free interpretation of drama performance - putting the cart before the horse. A director even said "no matter how the play, anyway, the audience love to see what will give him what" -? ...... As the saying goes: Art is not a matter of chance. But today, some of our art workers are keen on flukes, and even go out of their way to create flukes, spread flukes, and multiply flukes. Power and half-knowledge of the rape of science and the laws of art; ignorance and fearlessness have become the raw material for the production of cheap "artists"; some award programs have been deformed and evolved into catalysts for utilitarians and so on. As a matter of fact, behind the various appearances, there are all kinds of complex and profound problems, and we need to do more than just think y about them. Cantonese Opera, Where to Go? When South Korea to the Dragon Boat Festival to UNESCO to declare the World Intangible Cultural Heritage list, the people of China exclaimed: Dragon Boat Festival dumplings we have eaten for thousands of years, South Korea with what we compete? But the protests were ineffective, and South Korea still successfully obtained the world intangible cultural heritage. Like men and women in love, always after the breakup only feel valuable, always after the loss only know cherish. What's left but regret? However, the Dragon Boat Festival in Korea is a bit different from ours, and, to be fair, it is also a traditional festival, and they really do it better than we do. Thankfully, we still have! Such as our opera, our Cantonese Opera. It is a classic presence of human theater, she belongs to all mankind, but the maker is only us, and only us! Therein lies our value. In the various programs of opera, hand, eye, body, method and step, there are a thousand changes and ten thousand styles; on the stage everywhere in the State of China, there are various genres and styles, such as Sheng, Dan, Jings, Mou, Chou. Once upon a time, the beauty of our country's opera, so that generation after generation of actors willing to shed tears and blood for it, so that throughout the ages how many rich and poor wise and foolish people appreciate. Stanislavsky, the father of modern theater in the Soviet Union, was convinced by it, and Brecht, the originator of German expressive theater, was inexplicably amazed. On the aesthetic value of our opera, Chinese and foreign dramatists have had countless insightful exposition, will not repeat here. Therefore, we should not be presumptuous, but should really study our traditions and retain all the valuable traditions. This may be scolded as "old-fashioned", but for our traditional things, some of the "old", must be kept. Only by preserving the essence of the "old" can we preserve our own selves and not be assimilated or alienated. Culture and art, like nature, is characterized by "the law of the jungle". Historically, the phenomenon of different regions and types of cultures merging with each other has been very common, and there are countless examples of disadvantaged cultures being annexed by strong cultures. However, as an aesthetic activity, the interaction between the aesthetic subject and object of theater makes it impossible to ignore the needs of the audience and the requirements of the times. In the context of the globalization of the world village, and in the trend of increasing diversification of the world's artistic needs, people's aesthetic mode, aesthetic psychology, and aesthetic rhythm are all changing, and if we rely only on mechanical "old-fashionedness", sooner or later, Cantonese opera will be drowned by the tide of the world's popular culture. Therefore, we also need to seek development. Therefore, we also need to seek development, but the relationship between inheritance and development must be made clear; it is an obvious truth that inheritance is the first thing to talk about development. The dialectical relationship among them has been scientifically discussed by many predecessors of Cantonese Opera, such as Xue Juexian, Ma Shi Zeng, Hong Xin Nü, and so on, and they have used it as a guide to their own creative practices. For example, their bold borrowing of Western theatrical elements, their learning of story structure and expression from modern theater and film, and their series of innovative reforms of traditional art have all led to brilliant artistic achievements that have attracted the world's attention, and they have successively become great masters of their own generation, which is indeed a model for the younger generation. Based on Cantonese Opera and with an outlook on the world, they have used many ways to enrich the means of expression of the genre, but have not rebelled against or subverted the tradition. The audience, watching their operas, feels that they are much better, but recognizes that this is Cantonese Opera. This is because they have grasped the relationship between the "essence" and the "end" in a very appropriate way. Someone once lamented: In the past, no matter where we performed or what we played, the audience was always packed. But today, there are sometimes more people on stage than off. I heard that there are only a few thousand hardcore fans of Cantonese Opera in the huge city of Guangzhou. I do not intend to investigate the exact meaning of "real hardcore opera fans" here, but I believe that this number may not be accurate, because the audience who did not go to the theater does not necessarily mean that they are not "hardcore". It is important to realize that when we think about the reasons why the audience did not come, the audience is also thinking about the reasons to go. A theatergoer once said, "It's not that I don't want to go to the theater, but what can you show me at the theater?" As the old saying goes: the outsider sees the show, the insider sees the door. I prefer to believe that those who can "see the way" are the real hardcore theater fans. What to watch? This is a topic worth exploring. And any other kind of art appreciation, opera aesthetic is also a complex psychological behavior. Audience into the theater, always want to get a beautiful enjoyment, the lack of aesthetic value of the play, naturally difficult to arouse the interest of the audience, even if we join the famous director phase, huge advertising *** bombardment, but also inevitably end up in the dismal and embarrassing. In the field of art, I still prefer to believe in this old saying - the work will come naturally! The success of nature, that art needs a hard process of honing, efforts to improve, grasp the essence of life, penetrate the human nature, and can be highly summarized in the language of art, only with the conditions of artistic creation. Only by relying on the real skills, it is possible to be based on the stage, the real solution to the audience "what to see" problem, rather than subjectively that as long as I stand on the stage, I am art. Artists can always use special means to conquer the audience. Some people say that because of the language, there are obstacles and limitations for audiences in non-Cantonese-speaking areas to appreciate Cantonese opera. This is not entirely unjustified, but in fact, in today's technologically advanced world, language is no longer a barrier to theater appreciation. American pop star Michael Jackson, Italian tenor singer Jackson, the Italian tenor singer Pavarotti, they sang in their native languages, but how many people around the world are fascinated by them? When we watch Hollywood blockbusters today, aren't there still a lot of people who are reluctant to watch the translated version and would rather read the subtitles and listen to the original sound? When the Red Thread Girls sang in the Kremlin in Moscow in 1957, how many of the overwhelmed audience could listen to Cantonese? True art can cross the boundaries of time and space. Or as the saying goes, when the work is done, it is done. A painting, a poem, a comedy, a dance, or even a handwritten word, after the artist's in-depth processing, will often arouse an artistic ****song in us, not to mention, our opera is a synthesis of many kinds of art. The charm of the art of opera is infinite, even a simple standing step "dingzhi step", in fact, already contains a very rich aesthetic connotation, just we have been used to ignoring.