original title:
Director Li Liuyi: The creation must be lawless and lawless
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily trainee reporter Li Danping reporter Guo Shaoming
a figure
We need to let everyone slowly feel the beauty of the small theater in an artistic way.
Director Li Liuyi. Photo provided by the interviewee
“A certain small theater play is ‘out of the loop’, and it’s hard to get a ticket.” “XX has created a brand of small theater drama performances and launched hundreds of performances.” In recent years, it seems that small theaters have been quite popular, making the city full of “dramas” At the same time, we are also constantly exploring methods of production and performance in plays, operas, musicals, children’s plays and other art categories to enrich the audience’s viewing experience.
Recently, a reporter had an exclusive interview with the director and playwright Li Liuyi. Speaking about the phenomenon of “thriving small theaters,” Li Liuyi said that 80% or even 90% of the so-called ” small theater plays” in the present The market cannot be called “small theater plays.”
In 1982, the play “Absolute Signal” directed by Lin Shaohua was performed for the first time, marking the entry of contemporary small theater plays into the Chinese drama stage. It has a history of 42 years now. Li Liuyi also began to explore the repertoire of small theater 20 years ago, and launched the play “After the Rain and the Sunny Sky” in 1998, created the play “Extraordinary Mahjong” in 2000, and directed the small theater play “The Puppet Chronicles” in 2002, etc.
During the interview, “common sense” was the word Li Liuyi mentioned most often. He believes that many of the problems that often occur in theaters today are common sense mistakes that could have been avoided. The tendentious understanding of “small theater play” is one of them. “The most common mistakes people make are common sense mistakes. We tend to focus on the ‘high level’ content and ignore the common sense understanding and learning.”
“Now we lack critics or real artists, and we rarely think about ‘what is drama.'” He said that the problem this brings is not only the lack of drama, but also the lack of appreciation. Many people don’t know what to watch What kind of drama is it?
When he was young, Li Liuyi often warned himself to be “down-to-earth and lawless”, that is, his creative attitude should be lawless and his creative methods should be “lawless”. If art is to criticize and subvert, “creators need to have a specific understanding of history and innovate on the basis of integrity.”
Li Liuyi hopes to see some more daring works in the future, “This is the vitality that young people should have.” “However, these are just my personal opinions. I can’t tell others. “He said that real art requires creators to develop and create according to their own opinion, and they don’t necessarily have to follow what others say. “Just keep your original intention.” , it’s even better if you can beat the ones that come along.”
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily: What new features do small theater plays present today compared to those twenty or thirty years ago?
Li Liuyi: After hundreds of years of development, the concept of small theater has gradually changed in the West, gradually emerging and improving, forming a series of concepts. Modern Chinese drama is influenced by Western drama. If you want to understand Chinese small theater drama, you must have a certain understanding of the history of Western small theaters.
From a broad concept perspective, drama includes Chinese opera. In ancient times, opera was performed in small places, Tanghui and Goulan were small theaters, but the concept of theater had not emerged at that time. Therefore, we need to understand the history of opera as well. After the reform and opening, Chinese culture and art entered an important period of development, and this period of history is equally important.
There are many small theaters in society today. Are they really small theatres? Are plays performed in small spaces considered small theater plays? Not really. The reason why such a cognitive bias occurs is because by now we have not asked or understood “what is a play” and “what is a small theater play”, so it is difficult to judge whether a play has value. Only when creators have professional common sense can their plays influence and establish connections with the audience.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily: What kind of play is a small theater play?
Li Liuyi: Simply put, a small theater play should be revolutionary, experimental and critical. After hundreds of years of development, the traditional frame-type stage of the theater has many limitations due to cultural, time and other reasons, making it lack vitality. And drama is a synthesis. From which angle to revolution, we need to experiment and explore step by step. When a small theater’s repertoire is full of a revolutionary and experimental nature, it will definitely cause undermining, which will naturally lead to criticism.
The frame stage has formed an inherent relationship between viewers and performers, and has a complete set of theories and methods. If you continue to use this performance method in a small theater, it will just be a big theater play in a small space. The first thing that needs to change in small theater plays is the relationship between spectators and performers. Although some plays are innovative, 99% are performances on a framed stage, and changes are still being sought within this framework. If the most fundamental relationship between spectators and performances does not change, innovation, revolution, experimentation and the development of art will be impossible. This is a matter of common sense.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily: Immersive drama has changed the viewing relationship Is it a small theater drama?
Li Liuyi: Many immersive dramas have changed the relationship between spectators and performers, but they have not changed the performance method of the big theater frame stage; the form has changed, but the essence of the performance has not. revolutionary change and does not fit the essential meaning of small theatre.
The reason why “Absolute Signal” has become a milestone is that it has changes from tradition, from literary writing to drama, including performance, space, time, viewing and performing relationships, music and many other contents, and each has new element category. .
In 2000, the play “The Wilderness” I staged used 3 cameras and 24 TV sets for real time change on site, which was much higher than the information available in multimedia today. Many shows in the past have been linear, but this is non-linear. The TV sets on the stage seem to form a “symphony”, which shows the existence of various different states of consciousness of the actors by changing camera and TV projection.
Small theater plays must be experimental, and this experimental nature lies in your understanding of small theatres. Going back to the most basic elements, if the repertoire of the small theater is not subversive, revolutionary, experimental and critical, then its artistic and contemporary nature will not be established, and it will look lively.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily: If the creator’s understanding of art is one-sided, it will also mislead the audience.
Li Liuyi: After the audience is misled, the established appreciation system will be biased, thinking that what they were watching before was a small theater play. When real small theater plays appear, it will feel wrong. If there is a problem with enlightenment and the problem becomes a habit, it will be difficult to correct.
But if we recognize the problem, we can slowly solve it. Just like reading, if you can’t read 1,000 words, start with 500 words, and slowly you can read 1,000 words, 30,000 words, and then 300,000 words. For small theater plays, you have to use an artistic way to let everyone slowly feel the beauty of a small theater. It may not work once or twice, but after 3 or 5 times, he may slowly feel that he can enjoy it.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily: What are your expectations for future plays in these small theaters?
Li Liuyi: Nowadays, many people do a lot of fun and exploration, but sometimes I think, why do young people these days lack courage? The reason is that they do not understand history and do not know what to inherit and what to throw away.
I hope that young people can be bolder, move faster, and have a greater understanding of history. However, we are not qualified to tell young people now, but we hope that the artistic creation can flourish, the more styles and styles, the better, and the more individual the better.
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