The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

A Flower Drum "Cloud" Comes from China

2022-12-19T02:10:34.788Z


"Picking tea in the first month is the New Year, and sisters both enter the tea garden..." At 7:30 p.m., the online live broadcast of the Huagu Opera Protection and Inheritance Center in Changsha City, Hunan Province began. In order to solve the problem of protection and inheritance, in September this year, the Huagu Opera Protection and Inheritance Center of Changsha City entered the short video live broadcast platform, and carried out 3 online live broadcast performances every week, with an average audience of more than 600,000 people per game.


The Huagu Opera Protection and Inheritance Center in Changsha, Hunan Province set up a live broadcast stage to inherit classic plays

A Flower Drum "Cloud" Comes (Protecting Cultural Heritage and Revealing the New Era)

  core reading

  There are 3 online live broadcasts a week, with an average viewership of more than 600,000 people per game... The Huagu Opera Protection and Inheritance Center of Changsha City, Hunan Province leveraged on the network platform to carefully create a live broadcast stage and create a "skewer" of excerpts, so that the Huagu Opera with a long history can be passed on. Enter thousands of households and enter modern life.

  "Picking tea in the first month is the New Year, and the sisters both enter the tea garden..."

  At 7:30 in the evening, the online live broadcast of the Huagu Opera Protection and Inheritance Center in Changsha City, Hunan Province began.

While singing "Picking Tea Tune", an excerpt from the classic Huagu Opera "Pull Carrot Vegetables", they performed "Beat the Cup".

The actors worked hard, the audience enjoyed it, and there were constant comments and likes in the live broadcast room, which was very lively.

  In order to solve the problem of protection and inheritance, in September this year, the Huagu Opera Protection and Inheritance Center of Changsha City entered the short video live broadcast platform, and carried out 3 online live broadcast performances every week, with an average audience of more than 600,000 people per game.

  "We make good use of the online platform, adhere to integrity and innovation, so that Huagu Opera can achieve creative transformation, innovative development, and continue to glow with new vitality." Wang Yong, director of Changsha Huagu Opera Protection and Inheritance Center, said.

  Traditional theater troupes enter the live broadcast room, gathering more popularity

  One minute on stage, ten years off stage.

In order to master the skill of "beating cups", the actors practiced all day long, their arms and wrists were often sore, and they couldn't even hold chopsticks when eating.

  "Just getting the cup to stand firmly on your fingers is not an easy task." A post-95 actor told reporters, "Only by practicing for a long time can you show it effortlessly in front of the audience."

  In the Changsha Huagu Opera Protection and Inheritance Center, there are not a few actors with such solid foundation and unique skills.

  Changsha Huagu Opera Protection and Inheritance Center was formerly known as Changsha Huagu Opera Troupe, which was established in the 1950s.

Over the years, generations of outstanding actors have relayed their talents, creating and choreographing classic plays such as "Liu Hai Cutting Woods" and "Blessings of Love", enriching the spiritual life of the people.

  With the diversification of the cultural market, Huagu Opera is facing problems such as aging audience and shrinking market.

"In the past, when there were big or small happy events in the village, the main family would pay for the opera. Later, the opera market shrank and the troupe also encountered financial difficulties. Some people chose to leave their jobs." Wang Yong recalled.

  In order to better protect and inherit Huagu Opera, a national intangible cultural heritage project, in 2021, the Changsha Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government will convert the center into a fully funded institution to support creation and performance.

The income and remuneration are guaranteed, and the outstanding actors have stayed on, focusing more on the creation and rehearsal of high-quality repertoires and cultural performances that benefit the people.

  After accumulation and precipitation, the performance team of the center has reached more than 80 people, including 2 national first-class actors, more than 30 actors with intermediate and senior professional titles, and can perform 70 high-quality plays.

Over the past year, the team has completed 160 performances of "Culture into Thousands of Homes" benefiting the people.

  However, the phenomenon of audience loss has not changed much.

"Most of the audience at the scene is elderly. When the weather is bad, there may be more actors on stage than audience in the audience." Wang Yong was worried.

  In recent years, short video live broadcast platforms have emerged, and Wang Yong was inspired by this: Where the audience is, the stage should be set up. Through the short video live broadcast platform, more people can feel the charm of Huagu Opera.

  After more than half a year of preparation, the center registered an official account "Changsha Huagu Opera" on the short video live broadcast platform. The frequency of the live broadcast is 3 times a week, and it adopts the form of interspersed with complete repertoire and classic selections.

  The first live broadcast officially started, and complete plays such as "Study Tuning Uncle" and "Five Watches Persuading the Husband" appeared in turn, successfully attracting a large number of audiences.

Statistics show that the number of viewers of this live broadcast reached 3.505 million, and the highest number of people online in real time reached 330,000.

  Adapt to the characteristics of the platform and innovate the way of performance

  After the big stage built in the live broadcast room was used for the first time, six actors took the stage one after another, presenting "Wang Jinlong Visits the Prison".

The actors' gestures are full of emotion, showing the emotions of the characters vividly.

"The singing is very good, very touching" "The acting is great"... The audience left messages in the live broadcast room.

  "If drama art wants to touch people's hearts, the characters must stand up. Sing well and act well, and many body movements are inseparable." Actor Ding Chenghuan said.

  There is a large rehearsal hall less than 400 square meters on the second floor of the center. Wang Yong transformed it into a live broadcast room, and built a small stage of 35 square meters and an anchor station of 25 square meters.

In order to let the audience have a better viewing experience, a large stage was built that not only conforms to the vertical screen viewing habits, but also meets the needs of the performance.

In today's live broadcast room, two stages, one large and one small, together form an "L" shape.

  "The anchor station and the small stage are used to perform small programs and sing selections of 'skewers', and the large stage is used to perform complete repertoires with large scenes and a large number of people. The space in the rehearsal hall has been used efficiently." Ding Chenghuan said.

  Despite this, compared with the big theater, the stage in the live broadcast room is still "pocket", and the actors have to adjust their movements.

While the stage space is "condensed", the high-definition lens magnifies every move of the actors on the stage.

  "Thousands of audiences are staring at the screen, and our singing and facial expressions cannot tolerate a little bit of hypocrisy. This also forces us to constantly figure out the role and practice singing repeatedly." Ding Chenghuan said.

  The live broadcast also tests the overall quality of the actors.

"In the past, we only needed to sing a good show, but now we need to have strong language expression skills and learn to interact with the audience." Actor He Ling said that with the encouragement of the unit, the actors will take turns to host.

  "The front and back of the stage are all adapting to the new performance method of live broadcast. Everyone is constantly summarizing and refining, solving various situations, and must not disappoint the trust and support of the audience." Wang Yong said that as of December 13, the center has broadcast live In 29 games, the number of fans rose to 101,000, and 50% of them were young people under the age of 40.

  Excavate classic plays and cultivate young audiences

  During the live broadcast of "Skewers", accompanied by a cheerful rhythm, Hu Jianzhong, a national first-class actor of the center, partnered with his colleague Dai Nezha, and sang classic excerpts from "Beat the Gong".

This aroused the memories of many netizens: ""Playing the Tonggong" is too classic, you will never get tired of watching it, will there be a stage version in the future?"

  The administrator of the center's live broadcast room found that the audience's voice for "Playing the Gong" was very high. After the premiere, she reported this situation to the performance team. Everyone decided to give priority to performing "Playing the Gong" to meet the needs of the audience.

  "Harvest season, grains are like gold, every household, chickens and ducks be careful..." When this line, which is familiar to fans of the drama, comes from the mouth of the actor Cai Jiu, the performance officially begins.

Cai Jiu, played by Nezha Dai, is humorous, while Lin Shiniang, played by Hu Jianzhong, is hot and capable.

Through the hilarious lyrics and dialogues, two real and vivid images of farmers come to life.

  As soon as the classic came out, the popularity soared, and the screen was flooded with messages: "When I was young, my grandfather often sang to me, as if I had returned to my childhood."

  "The more classic, the more timeless." Wang Yong noticed that although the scene only had one scene and two characters, the number of online viewers remained stable during the half-hour performance.

  In the "New Era Realistic Theme Creation Project" organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Changsha Flower Drum Opera jointly created by the center and the Changsha Art Creation Research Institute was successfully selected as a supporting play.

  "Huagu Opera has a humorous comedy style, beautiful melodies, and a strong sense of life. In the process of protecting and inheriting, these artistic characteristics must be refined and transformed according to the aesthetics of modern people to make the repertoire more beautiful and attractive." Hu Jianzhong said.

  "People's Daily" (10th edition on December 19, 2022)

Source: chinanews

All news articles on 2022-12-19

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.