Characteristics of Yueju Opera

Characteristics of Yueju Opera

Any kind of opera has a development process from immaturity to maturity. The development trajectory of the performing art of Yueju Opera and the formation of its performing style can be roughly divided into three important stages.

Prior to the reform in the 1940s was a stage. Some people have compared the situation of a stage of the opera to that of a baby waiting to be fed, saying that she was "born before the birth of congenital deficiencies, after the birth of the milk is insufficient". This generalization is quite graphic. According to the memories and accounts of the old generation, at the end of the 1930s and the beginning of the 1940s, the first generation of female Yueju Opera performers, represented by Shi Yinhua, Zhao Ruihua, Wang Weihua, Yao Shujuan and Shiaodangui, had already explored and improved a lot in their art, which resulted in significant improvement and development of their performances compared with those of the male class. However, due to subjective and objective reasons and historical conditions, the women's Yueju Opera on the Shanghai stage at that time was still basically a "curtain play" and "road play" without a script or lyrics. Actors could improvise and give free play on stage according to the simple speech of the master of the curtain table to understand the plot. To sing more performances, backstage said "bend to"; let less sing less performances, backstage shouted "Malay", the play can be long or short, things can be on or off, the rhythm can be tight or loose. Actors on the stage has a great deal of discretion, "sitting singing" period of refined habits are still very thick, the stage action is also extremely simple, performing characters are also more rough, conceptualization. Acting cry sleeve away from the eye three inches, only pulling the cry, no emotion; a cry after the tone or a section in the middle of the song, the actors can be from the inspection of the field personnel have taken over the teapot to drink water to moisturize their throats, spit to clear their voices, and even whispering, whispering and talking to each other. In the performance, or simply apply some Peking Opera programs, or naturalism, formalism, copying the life action, illustrating the content of the lyrics. So, acting sad Dan tears, in the corner of the eye stuffed with some soap, when needed, rubbed on a rub; acting poor simply shuffled on the shoe leather; acting beggars are painted on the corner of the eye blemishes, snoring snot under the nose; acting pregnant women before the waist tied to a big bag, etc. In addition to these early unavoidable ugly stage performances, such as "Zombie moon worship", "Yin Yang River water" and other bad plays, there are a lot of yellow, fear, and unhealthy!

Being a member of the Chinese Communist Party is not a good idea.

In the "isolated island" of Shanghai, where national and class conflicts are becoming increasingly acute, and in the face of the bad habits and obscenities that can be seen everywhere on the stage of the Yueju Opera, the question of how to survive and how to grow and develop this young opera has historically been placed in front of Yueju Opera practitioners who are seriously thinking about it. Represented by Yuan Xuefen, the sisters of Yueju Opera, with their strong sense of responsibility to the society and the cause, were determined to break out of the old art world. Yuan Xuefen was the first one to loudly put forward the law of "If you want me to perform, you have to change". She took the lead in saying and doing so, and for the sake of reform, Yuan Xuefen took the initiative to cut down her own purse and silver for the purpose of reforming the performance of the new Yueju Opera; for the sake of reform, she and her sisters in Yueju Opera guarded against the destructive and persecutory actions of the bosses, hooligans, and reactionary rulers, and opposed to compromising and bowing down to the old habits and evil forces. In order to reform, she and her sisters in Yueju Opera prevented the destruction and persecution of the bosses and the reactionary rule, and opposed the compromise and bowing down to the old habits and evil forces. They reached out to Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera and other ancient styles; they reached out to dramas, movies and other new arts and crafts to learn from them, assimilating them and slowly enriching themselves to make up for their shortcomings. This is the reason why it is popular to call drama and kunqu as the "adoptive father and mother" or "two nannies" of Yueju Opera. This stage is also often referred to as the reform stage of the 1940s in the Vietnamese opera industry.

The reform of this spontaneous stage could not be clear from the beginning on how and what to change. Therefore, reflected in the artistic performance, there will inevitably be a lot of gulping mechanical imitation and copy phenomenon. Such as the Kunqu opera song body of a board a movement, was inappropriately moved over, so that once the action and singing is difficult to harmonize; in order to learn the drama, they have also canceled the beautiful water sleeve, and replaced with a short and wide sleeve, which affects their own unique dance beauty; they have moved the piano into the orchestra, resulting in the sound of the thumping piano when the actors on the stage can hardly open step, and so on. However, no matter how many detours they had taken and how many jokes they had made, the pioneers of Yueju Opera innovation were determined to reform the old Yueju Opera into a new Yueju Opera adapted to the needs of the times, and they strongly demanded to take out the bad things in the old Yueju Opera which were vulgar, murderous and yellow and hoped that the new Yueju Opera would become a serious and decent art which could play the role of "educating people on high platforms", which was a beautiful and healthy art. Their intention is good and their spirit is precious. Therefore, in the reform, they paid attention to learning and assimilating, as well as correcting and improving at the same time. For example, Yuan Xuefen, the advocate of innovation, was very modest in her performance and learned from Kunqu, an ancient and elegant opera, the beautiful dance figures and program techniques to enhance the beauty of Yueju Opera performance. At the same time, she pays special attention to drawing nourishment from progressive dramas and excellent movies, and learns from their realism. She has seen several dramas that glorify Wen Tianxiang's national righteousness, one by one. Madame Curie", "The Lady of the Camellias" and other progressive movies, she more than once to observe, learn. Her upright and tenacious personality, coupled with her artistic insights, made her abandon the cumbersome and false illustrations of movement and crude and shallow artifice of performance. What she tirelessly pursued was the simplicity and purity, the delicate and touching sense of reality and the deep and subtle, clear and elegant artistic beauty. For example, in her performance of The Broken Hearted, which depicted the love story of the patriotic poet Lu You, Yuan Xuefen skillfully applied the great pause of Mrs. Cheng Li's shocked grief after she heard the news of her husband's death to Tang Huixian: when her aunt blamed her for decapitating her love for Lu You and decided to go down to the stage, Yuan Xuefen first used a heart-wrenching cold scene to demonstrate Tang Huixian's extreme consternation and agony at hearing the words of her aunt, as if she had been struck by a huge thunderbolt; Then, she held her breath, suppressing the sadness, moving the stage in confusion, walking half a circle; then, she suddenly saw the wooden fish on the table, and suddenly could not help but pounce on the table, trembling, holding up the wooden fish that will become the home of his life, the first is miserable and desperate to look at the look, hold back and hold back, and then let the cry like a tidal wave breaking the embankment of the surging eruption of a torrent of water. This heart-stopping pause, like the calligraphy of the reverse stroke, contains a strong and powerful momentum; like a painting in the blank, leaving people a grandiose mood. This novel and unique realism performance, not only to the strength of the character's inner complexity of feelings, but also a touch of momentum tied to the audience's anxious anticipation of the heartstrings, so that they and the playwrights of the emotions cohesive together, with a strong artistic infectivity. Such unprecedented and innovative performances were really refreshing at that time. It is no wonder that old actors and old audiences still marvel at the performance. Yuan Xuefen's innovative demonstration further promoted her neighbors who also diligently explored new performance paths at the same time. Other members of the "Ten Sisters" of Yueju Opera, as well as many self-established family pillars, also set up a system of choreographing and directing one after another, updated their repertoire, and gradually embarked on the road of realism in beauty and truth in the course of reform. The spirit of innovation injected new blood into this young theater, and the spirit of innovation enabled this young theater to find a new way and finally open up new horizons in the performing arts. For this reason, as early as 1946, Comrade Tian Han predicted with confidence that Yueju Opera "will be able to divide the world into three parts: Pingju Opera (i.e., Peking Opera - the author) and drama". This can not be said to be visionary.

However, it was after the founding of New China that the performing art of Yueju Opera was really blended into a complete synthesis of editing, directing, sound, and beauty, thus enabling it to really form its own unique style.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Party's "let a hundred flowers blossom, push out the new" approach to literature and art has illuminated the path of Yueju Opera, and has led to spontaneous reforms into conscious reforms. In the "change people, change the play, change the system" of the solid efforts, a number of plays in the idea of the rapid growth of business; a number of editors, guides, sound, the United States of new literature and art workers to further enrich the team; to focus on the new collation of the "Liang Zhuhu" as a starting point, a number of outstanding traditional plays and tableau of new historical plays and new historical dramas have appeared on the stage with a new look and new appearance. A number of excellent traditional plays and tableau and new historical dramas appeared on the stage in a new form one after another. Thus, after the East China Opera Festival and the National Opera Festival in the 1950s, Yueju Opera gradually expanded its influence, won more audiences, and developed from a local opera to a national opera. Starting from the visits to the German Democratic **** and Soviet Union in 1955, Yueju Opera went from the Chinese stage to the world stage. As a result, this young opera was able to broaden its horizons, improve its standard, and further develop its own specialties in continuous artistic practice, finally forming its own unique style of performance.