1. Introduction:
Sichuan Opera is one of the Han operas, which is popular in eastern and central Sichuan, Chongqing and parts of Guizhou and Yunnan. The facial makeup of Sichuan Opera is an important part of the performing arts of Sichuan Opera, and it is a treasure of Han folk art created and passed down by Sichuan Opera artists in past dynasties.
Changing face is a stunt used in shaping characters in Sichuan Opera. It is a romantic technique to reveal the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters in the play. Face-changing originally refers to emotional makeup in traditional Chinese opera, and later refers to a stunt that changes facial makeup many times in an instant. This kind of performance can be found in many operas, among which Sichuan Opera is the most famous.
2. Techniques of changing face:
There are many kinds and methods of changing face in Sichuan Opera. To sum up, there are eight kinds: wiping, kneading, wiping, blowing, painting, wearing, holding back and pulling. In terms of "wiping", there are one-handed wiping and two-handed wiping; One hand, one finger, two fingers, three fingers, etc.
Face-changing, as early as the Ming dynasty drama "Guankou Jiro Chops Jianjiao", there was a record of "changing green face". Only at that time, the method of changing face was very simple, and the method of "changing" was single and not very skillful.
The preciousness of Sichuan Opera's changing face is not only regarded as a stunt, but also reflects the traditional directing art of Sichuan Opera. It can also be asserted that the traditional directing art of Sichuan Opera inherits and develops "changing face" and applies this stunt to the traditional directing technique.
here, with eight kinds of face-changing in Sichuan Opera, we can know the ingenuity of its traditional directing techniques in using face-changing by giving just one or two examples.
wiping is "wiping eyes". Xiao Fang, the water thief in Xiao Fang's Killing the Ship, heard that the boat had reached the heartless crossing, and the plot to kill her husband and wife was completed. Shout: "Gold is of great use!" If the windmill rotates once, a black bar (named "wooden stick") is crossed with two eyes; "You can't live!" After losing his hat, flying shirt and holding a knife, he went straight to the back cabin. What does Xiao Fang want? The audience has seen the series of performances from "wiping the eyes" clearly.
Pei Sheng in "The Story of a Red Plum", when he heard that an assassin sent by Jia Sidao was coming, could not help but be shocked-he still expanded and thickened his eyes with "wiping his eyes", showing the character's horror.
Rub your face-with the original thick eyebrows, black eyes, foundation and oily face on your character's face, rub it with your hands.
Zhao Kuangyin, the "King of Starting a Business at once", ordered Ouyang Fang to take the lead and Hu Yanfeng to be the general, and used his royal carriage to personally levy Hedong White Dragon (Xiahedong). Ouyang Fang, the prime minister, secretly communicated with Bailong, trying to achieve a plan to usurp. Excuse me, when you stand in front of Feng Ting, you want to kill Zhao. Because of Zhao Kuangyin's great valor, the traitor Ouyang Fang was prostrated by Kuang Yin. At this point, the domineering Ouyang Fang struggled to get up from the ground, his face showed a dying color, swept away the vicious image just now, picked up his tail and fled the imperial camp-by "rubbing" the method, he punished the traitor Cao Cao, who held the relieving power, and found out the "blood imperial edict" from the prince's maternal uncle, Wan Fu House, which ordered the prince's maternal uncle to unite with foreign ministers to punish Cao Cao, so he led the people into the palace in a murderous way. Cao Cao beat the Queen Fu to death in front of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty, and killed the second prince. Cao Fei explored her father with words: Do you have the heart to usurp the throne? Where to put your daughter? Because the time was not yet ripe, Cao Cao made a false pledge to dispel Cao Fei's doubts-he lifted his robe and knelt down to swear, and kowtowed-only to see Cao Cao, whose eyebrows were blurred, his eyes were dull and his white face turned to ashes. "Rub your face" and "shine" the "ghost" in the heart of this adulterer who gambled on the "wrong curse".
The master and servant of Ma Bai and Qing Er fought fiercely for Xu Xian, and lost the bridge. Xu Xian was ordered by Fa Hai to go to Broken Bridge to have a meeting with his wife Bai. Xiaoqing (played by an actor in Sichuan Opera), who was as hot as fire, heard Xu's call, and he was so angry that he flew into a rage and shouted, "... wait, the handmaiden will pick you up!" Jumping with both feet, he immediately turned around-the handsome face L suddenly turned into a red B. Qing Er caught up with Xu Xian and grabbed Xu, but he escaped with a golden cicada and glared at Xu. Often writing "blue shirts" is also a mistake. ) Yi unlined upper garment, eyes wide with anger, then raised his hand and folded ... His face turned from red to black; Bai hurriedly rushed to protect Xu Xian and repel Xiaoqing. Qing Er, who was furious, returned, but was stopped by his master, and Qing became more and more indignant-black face fused with gold. Xu Xian, Qing Er's "three chases and three drives", changed his face with "wipe" for three times, which not only showed Qing Er's "masculine" characteristics, but also highlighted Qing Er's strong character, and added a "mala Tang" style to the unique Sichuan opera Broken Bridge.
Blowing "Qingzhou Tomb" (also known as "Li Cunxiao Reveals Soul"): On the Qingming Festival in March, Li Keyong, king of Jin, visited the tomb of Li Cunxiao, the adopted son of the 13th Taibao. Wang Yanzhang, the Shuikou, learned that soldiers surrounded Qingzhou grave and came after Li Keyong. Cunxiao led the Yin troops to rescue the vehicle-relying on Jia Wushengjun to dress up as the thirteen Pacific guards who should work. Seeing that the defeated man Yan Zhang had broken his oath against the Tang Dynasty before his death, he wanted to hurt his adoptive father, turned around, shook his head, and suddenly his face was golden, and Yin Tang was red and "soaring to the sky", which scared Yan Zhang out of his wits. The actor who decorated the filial piety changed his appearance by blowing with his mouth, which enhanced the dramatic atmosphere on the stage and showed Li Cunxiao's heroic power. All the gold is on the face, and the original "red sky" remains, which also shows the superb skills of the actors in "blowing".
painting is painting change. Actors use pens and paints as tools to change their faces.
in the northern and southern dynasties (song dynasty), the deposed emperor Liu Ziye was so stupid that he killed the hero and ruined the ethics. His uncle Dai Faxing risked his life to remonstrate and was beheaded at the noon gate, and his brother Liu Zirong, the king of eastern Hunan, was also killed in the golden hall ... Thus, a palace coup broke out, and the king of eastern Hunan led the public to the bamboo forest hall.
When the crowd shouted "Clean the Golden Temple, the king of eastern Hunan will ascend to the throne", Liu Zirong, who was dressed as a worker by Wu Shengjun, turned around with joy-a piece of pink "dried bean curd" was added to his white face, accompanied by a "hee hee" sharp smile and a funny performance. An emperor with a "flowery nose" was overthrown, and a new monarch with a "flowery nose" came. The dramatists on the stage and the audience naturally made a proper judgment for this "enthronement": "Another bad monarch!" This is the ending of the traditional directing technique of the Sichuan opera Zhulin Hall. One example is also.
The story drama "Romance of the Gods"-Guang Chengzi's "Three Visits to the Biyou Palace", used the seal of heaven to transform the disciples of the leader of the Heaven into the original animal shape for three times in a row. The leader was angry when he heard the newspaper for three times-the leader of the Heaven, who was dressed as a handsome man, changed his face every time he heard the fierce news. This kind of painting (except for the first time) changed his face. The audience not only got artistic enjoyment from it, but also vividly saw the gradual escalation of anger in the chest of Tongtian leader, which also laid a good foundation for Tongtian leader to make a big mistake. The second example is also.
Dai's Capture Wang Huai alive: Wang Huai, a scholar, started chaos and eventually abandoned it, causing two girls to hang themselves in shame. One night, two female ghosts went to the study to kill Wang Huai. Two teachers who taught Huai homework went to Wang's study, and when they saw Wang unconscious, they woke up and asked questions. When Wang Huai, who was in a coma, saw the arrival of the second division, his voice was abnormal-his voice was squeaky, his shape was delicate, and his pink-faced husband became pink lady-he "wore" a thin woman mask with eyebrows, almond eyes and cherry mouth-and "wearing" changed the female voice of Wang Huai, played by Wensheng, and the horns and claws tended to be more plot-friendly. Imagine that if Wang Huai was not talking to himself about the past, how could the second teacher record his "confession" of his negative behavior? Its artistic appeal is also greatly weakened, and the role of punishing this ungrateful person will not be so strong.
The family of Li Yangui, the son of Shangshu in the Ministry of Military Suppression, suffered a sudden change. His father went to prison, and the whole family raided him. Yan Gui boarded his mother and sister-in-law in an ancient temple. Yan Gui turned to Huang Zhang, the minister of rites (the father of his fiancee) for help, and was humiliated by Huang's breaking an engagement. Desperate, they make a living by selling water ... At ordinary times, where have the children of the official family worked as coolies? When he used all his strength to suck milk and barely picked up a bucket filled with dozens of pounds of water, the gentle, delicate and handsome white-faced scholar became a "red-faced Guan Gong"-the director mobilized the means of "holding back" to change his face, and handled a trivial detail in "Selling Water: A Scholar Selling Water" perfectly. There is no need to use lines such as "bitterness", which also reflects the tragic situation of this fallen scholar.
Pulling faces is the most technical and difficult way to change faces.
Bei Rong, a hero of Dongting, is a chivalrous man, helping the rich and helping the poor. Robbery of the official silver of Huang Gang angered the official government, captured by painting, and changed the appearance of Bei Rong by "moving the capacity" to save the day-all the plots about Bei Rong in Guizheng Building. The director seized the detail of the official painting to catch the righteous thief, and used the "shifting capacity" to make Bei Rong slip away from the nose of your official. "Face-changing" provides the actor who plays Bei Rong with skills, and also provides the audience with an opportunity to appreciate this stunt. In the old days, in the off-season of "three days" and "three-nine days", the troupe could be packed as long as it hung "Guizhenglou" and performed "Nine Changes". This shows the artistic attraction of this "face-changing" stunt, and it was only in this play at that time that there was a face-changing face to watch.
Bei Rong was not a major role in Guizhenlou. Because of the use of "pull" change, the "seating" of the characters rose, and after the name of the play was renamed, the subtitle of Nine Changes was produced.
The director predecessors of Sichuan Opera not only designed a "pull" change for the character Bei Rong, but also made detailed treatment in some places in the "nine times" face change:
The fierce "piling mountains and gongs and drums" played the magnificent and powerful Bei Rong-his face was colorful, his eyes were wide and his eyebrows were red and bearded. Bei Rong, who is played by Wu Sheng, uses "palm-plate mouth", "Tiger Claw" hand posture and bear-like pace-"Deng Da" in Sichuan opera "Hua Lian"; Immediately after "pulling" off the "multicolored" mask, the old man's image of full forehead wrinkles, white eyebrows and silver whiskers appeared-percussion music cooperated with the actor's slow body movements, from slamming to playing slowly (half-drumming). After that, the faces were pulled one by one, and the gongs and drums changed accordingly. When the face of "Bei Rong" has the face of "clown", the percussion music is changed to "small beating" with small gongs and cymbals as the main parts, and the actors also shrink their hands with short feet and use "short stature" ... The performance of "Bei Rong" changes its face again and again, always looking around and exploring the content. When he was convinced that there was no pursuer to catch up with the Song Dynasty and no official interception before, he revealed his true self and walked smartly.
The method of "pulling" face in Nine Changes was borrowed from the potty boy in Shuiyong Jinshan Temple after the founding of the People's Republic of China, which was well received by experts and audiences at home and abroad. Because the material of "pulling" the face is superior to the old days, the reform is also more diverse and ingenious than before. Regrettably, many people learned to "pull" the face, but few people studied the reason why the ancestors used this technique, so they used it in a general way, which did not suit the situation and characters, and made this stunt lose some charm to attract the audience.
generally speaking, there are three methods of changing face: "wiping face", "blowing face" and "pulling face". In addition, there is a special "luck" change of face.
"If only a local change is needed, paint can only be applied to the position to be changed. For example, Xu Xian in Legend of the White Snake, Pei Yu in Release Pei, and Chen Lun, an old ghost in Flying Cloud Sword, all use the method of "wiping face".
"Face Blowing" is only suitable for powdered cosmetics, such as gold powder, toner, silver powder and so on. Some put a very small box on the ground of the stage, and the face inside is filled with powder. When the actor does a prostrate dance, he takes the opportunity to blow his face close to the box, and the powder is thrown on his face, which immediately turns into a face of another color. Attention must be paid to: close your eyes, shut your mouth and hold your breath when blowing. Zi Zi in "Capturing Zi Zi alive" and Le Yangzi in "Governing Zhongshan" changed their faces by blowing their faces.
"For example, the bowl boy (purple and gold bowl) in Legend of the White Snake can turn seven or eight different faces, such as green, red, white and black. Another example is the thief in "Old Main Building" and Nie Long in "Looking at Niang Beach". It is difficult to pull a face. First, there should not be too much adhesive to stick the face, so as not to tear it off at that time, or to tear off all the faces at once. Second, the movements should be clean and neat, and the fake movements should be clever, which can hide the eyes of the audience.
another way is "luck changes face". Legend has it that when Peng Sihong, a famous actor in Sichuan Opera, played Zhuge Liang in Empty City, when Qin Tong reported that Sima Yi had retired, he was able to use Qigong to turn his face from red to white, and then from white to green, in order to show Zhuge Liang's fear after he was relieved.
In a word, changing face is a unique skill in Sichuan Opera ("changing face for five years, returning face for ten years"), which has been borrowed from other brother operas and spread abroad.