介绍:
Trumpet and Chinese flute comprise much of the music. An empty stage with near-to-nothing props serves as the habitat for a group of downtrodden peasants in shabby clothes. No romantic scenes. Even flirting seemed a bit too coarse. Yet, you just can't take your eyes off the stage, off the peasants in baggy trousers whose back hunch over the heavy weight of life, excessive taxes, and deaths. For many deaths, they don't even bother to ponder "why", or "if that was necessary". But in the end, they were forced to rise in arms and fought back against invaders, shouting, "To die for the sake of living". Throughout the course, your heart in turn swells with pity, anger and compassion for the fate of those on stage. For a lot of people, that's what they get from Tian Qinxin's play, The Field of Life and Death.
Despite that it was a remake of the play from 16 years ago, it's been overwhelmingly popular, just as it was 16 years ago in 1999 when the play first greeted the audience.
Prominent director Tian Qinxin, who is behind such famous plays as Four Generations, Green Snake, compared working on the play with a revisit to a first love. Picking up the baton once again as director of the play, and with the original cast congregating, Tian promises the play can only be more soul touching.
As this year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the director thinks it can't be more timely for The Field of Life and Death to come back on stage again,as it contains true introspect for war.
"It has to be a true introspect for war and its threat to human life and people's lives. If there's invasion, there will be resistance; you have to fight to live. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the war against Fascism, we stage the play made from Xiao Hong's work once again. It's a reflection on the relation between life and death, and about respect for life. It's not a work made for the occasion. It's a work of high artistic value".
The story happened in a small village outside the Northeastern city of Harbin, against the backdrop of Japanese invasion to China in the 1930s. The villagers lived in dire poverty, though they toil day and night. Landlords controlled the fate of peasants, and men ruled over the fate of women. The villagers became numb over the cycle of life and death. They put up no fight until faced with Japanese invaders' mass killing and rape. It was then they fought back, even if it was for not having a Japanese flag over their tombs.
"In her work, Xiao Hong adopted a true-to-life tone in recording the attitude of farmers in Northeastern China towards life and death, until the invaders came. Then people began a wild search for a way out, and struggled. The Chinese nation had experienced humiliation in the past. We struggled and fought the fight, till we come to today's achievement. This is the national spirit of the Huaxia nationality. We never give up. Otherwise, how could we make our five thousand year's history."
Ni Dahong (left) starring as Er Li Ban, and Han Tongsheng (right) starring as Zhao San in the play The Field of Life and Death. [photo: fun.youth.cn]
Zhao San, a main figure in the play is a representative peasant in the collective profile. Seemingly daring, he tried to assassin the landlord who bullied the villagers, but when things went wrong, he took a U turn.
Famous actor Han Tongsheng played Zhao San.
"To describe my feeling towards my role as Zhao San, I will quote Mr. Lu Xun: that I feel piteous about his miseries, but angry about his weakness. He represents a generation of Chinese of that age. He was originally the leader of the poor villagers, who dared to fight the landlord. Yet, with mere five silver coins and a jar of liquor, he was bought over by the landlord. All his courage, all his guts evaporated and he becomes a weak-kneed person. Whoever wants to bully him, they can do it. Until the Japanese knife was at his throat, he began to fight back again. His weakness and follies in between the two major fights of his life will set the audience thinking, how come he could be like that?"
Actor Ma Shuliang, plays the canning landlord, who exploited the poor peasants and was the center of hatred and fear for the poor villagers. When the Japanese came, he was among the first to be killed for not cooperating. Ma shares with us how he feels about the play and the origional work.
"You can read Chinese people's miserable life at that time in Xiao Hong's book. They were in dire plight yet unconscious of where all their plight come from, which saddens me deeply. Even when I act, I feel touched. For us actors, we too go through two hours of spiritual roller coaster every time we are on stage."
Post of The Field of Life and Death [photo: ent.sina.com.cn]
As a female director, Tian Qinxin didn't forget to look into the relationship between men and women of that time, where women were subordinates in relationships. In the play, this is reflected through the way people treated Jinzhi, daughter of Zhao San. When she got pregnant with the child of her lover, the lover's initial response was to blame her "useless" body, for getting pregnant so easily. Humiliation is an everyday thing for her, until she was killed by the Japanese.
Actress Li Lin who plays Jinzhi shared with us her understanding of the play.
"This play has some moral for today's people. Chinese people don't like to meddle into other people's businesses. Some of today's people should look at themselves, and ponder, would you still extend a helping hand if what's happening before you doesn't affect your own interests. Sometimes justice is done with only a shout of support from bystanders."
Apart from the enticing plot and an all star cast, the expressionist performance techniques employed by actors are also something to look forward to.
As the set has been reduced to the minimum, actors use a lot of physical movements to reflect the spiritual conflicts of each role.
Er Li Ban is a peasant in the play who's a target of bullies. Throughout the play, actor Ni Dahong, hunched his back, and almost never looked at anybody eye to eye.
"This is for revealing the character of the role. Just by judging from his outside features, his posture, you will know that this guy must have been the down-trodden one among them all, even if he stands amongst a whole bunch of people, even when nobody has said anything, you will know."
The Field of Life and Death will run till the 19th of July. Director Tian Qinxin says, she hopes when the music ends and everything comes to a stand still, the audience members will come away with a sense of pride for Chinese culture and most of all, a respect for life.
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