"Tea House", "Looking West to Chang'an", "Longxugou", "Remnant Fog", "Who Arrives in Chongqing First", etc.
1. "Teahouse"
"Teahouse" is a play written by Lao She in 1956. It was published in the first issue of "Harvest" magazine edited by Ba Jin in early July 1957. A single volume was published by China Drama Publishing House in June 1958.
The play shows the social changes of nearly half a century in three eras: the Reform Movement of 1898, the warlord war, and the eve of the founding of New China. Through a teahouse called Yutai, it reveals the darkness, corruption, grotesqueness and bizarreness of Chinese society in the past half century, as well as all the living beings in this society.
There are nearly 50 characters in the script. In addition to the teahouse owner, there are bannermen who eat royal food, capitalists who run industries, eunuchs from upright officials, priests who believe in foreign religions, impoverished farmers, and Spies, thugs, policemen, gangsters, fortune tellers, etc., there are many characters but distinct personalities. You can "know the person by hearing their voice" and "outline the outline of a character in a few words."
The work depicts the dismal management of the ancestral "Yutai Teahouse" by teahouse owner Wang Lifa. Although he is shrewd, tactful, and devoted, he is ultimately unable to stop the decline. It reflects the trend of Chinese society from the side. The play has been performed many times at home and abroad and has won high praise. It is a classic work of contemporary Chinese drama creation.
2. "Looking West to Chang'an"
"Looking West to Chang'an" is a four-act play written by Lao She and published by Writers Publishing House.
In July 1955, at the second session of the First National People's Congress, Comrade Luo Ruiqing, the Minister of Public Security, introduced the history of the activities of a counter-revolutionary liar in his speech.
Since 1951, this political liar has traveled to more than a dozen cities, broken through more than a dozen important agencies, and infiltrated the Communist Party in four years;
Not only did he pretend to be a combat hero, but he also stole important positions within our national institutions. This is a very serious incident and a bitter irony for us.
The script "Looking West to Chang'an" is about this big scam and how it was exposed.
3. "Longxugou"
The three-act drama "Longxugou" is one of Lao She's masterpieces. The play was completed in 1950 and premiered in February 1951 at the Beijing People's Art Theater, directed by Jiao Juyin.
"Longxugou" is an ode to the new socialist China. It tells the story of the protagonist, Madman Cheng, who changed from an artist to a "madman" in the old society, and then from a "madman" to an artist after liberation. , reflecting the different destinies of the Chinese people before and after liberation as well as their support and love for the party and the government.
The play describes the different experiences of four families in a small courtyard in Beijing during social changes, and shows the tremendous changes in the old and new eras. The play has created unique characters such as Madman Cheng, Aunt Wang, Niangzi, and Sister-in-law Ding.
4. "The Remaining Fog"
Lao She's 4-act play "The Remaining Fog" was written in 1939 and is based on the social reality of Chongqing. In the play, Director Xi shouts about the war of resistance. He was sanctimonious, greedy for money, lustful, and manipulative of power. He not only used his position to play with women, but also colluded with traitors to steal intelligence for them. Later, he was defeated and captured, which landed him in jail.
He had no choice but to confess the traitor, but at this time, this woman with great supernatural powers openly went to a banquet at the home of an important government official. Lao She's comedy aims to clear away the "remnant fog" that has shrouded the situation of the Anti-Japanese War and thrust the edge of satire directly into the decadent rule.
The characters in the play have distinctive personalities and the language is vivid and playful. In November 1939, the play premiered in Chongqing by the Roaring Theater Company.
5. "Who Arrives in Chongqing First"
"Who Arrives in Chongqing First" has four scenes. The content is that the protagonist Wu Fengming helps his younger brother Feng Yu escape from the enemy-occupied area of ????Beiping. Chongqing participated in the Anti-Japanese War, while he stayed in Peiping to assassinate Japanese officers and traitors, and finally died for his country.
Before he died, he said, "I got to Chongqing first." Here, Chongqing has become the center and spiritual symbol of the Anti-Japanese War. The first thing that comes to Chongqing is to devote oneself to the Anti-Japanese War.
Baidu Encyclopedia——Lao She