The drama "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" premiered at the media venue last night, and I hurried there after class.
I don’t really like to read adaptations - they either remain unchanged at all; or they become completely different and become another work. The frame is there, feeling uncomfortable out of nowhere. But in the end, it was difficult to resist the curiosity. Wang Anyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" of 300,000 words was still too short. The revised version of the drama was limited by the length. Which one should I choose...
I took the reserved ticket from the concierge, and there were two more Opening in ten minutes. The theater is full.
1)
When the lights dimmed, Wang Qiyao appeared on the stage in a white wedding dress. At this time, it was the "Miss Shanghai" competition. When the curtain opened, Wang Qiyao didn't know that she would never have the chance to put on a wedding dress and get married.
Only at this moment, she was still a young girl, able to wear a wedding dress, lightly lift the skirt, and walk in style.
Director Li looked like a staff member when he appeared on the stage, but was mistakenly recognized by Wang Qiyao. Director Li didn't expose it, he just followed her words firmly. It was as if Wang Qiyao was already in his hands and nothing would happen again.
Therefore, an older man, who has wealth and power, and who has experienced hardships and is well versed in the world, has already seen through you, and is determined to wait for you. This is too lethal for girls - unlike those young people with hairless mouths, like Sun Wukong, they are not yet determined and do not understand anything, so they are not interesting.
The way Director Li flirts is also very interesting. He pointed at Wang Qiyao's beads and said: What is this? Young Wang Qiyao answered honestly: It's beads. Director Li suddenly realized: Oh, it’s beads! Only then did Wang Qiyao realize that he was teasing her.
However, men who have had some experiences are dangerous to little girls who are not familiar with the world. Under the charming halo they show, there is actually a emptiness deep in their hearts. Find some little girls to fill these voids, it cannot be because of love, but only from desire.
2)
Of course Wang Qiyao, who is still a student, does not understand this truth. She followed Director Li into Alice's apartment. The stage changed, and her ill-fated life began in Alice's apartment.
Wang Anyi said in the novel that such an apartment is also known as a "social butterfly apartment". It is between good men and prostitutes, and also between wives and concubines. At this point, Wang Qiyao already understood that she would not get a marriage from Director Li.
She is depressed and lonely. However, she is sensitive and self-respecting. Always maintain the dignity a woman should have and look happy.
Her mother and old lady had a dispute over the wedding dress she wore during the competition. This wedding dress was also dazzling and worldly to Wang Qiyao, so much so that when Mr. Cheng came over, she was almost trembling all over and forced herself to do it. Look calm. As soon as Mr. Cheng went out, she yelled at the top of her lungs to take the wedding dress away.
The pain in my heart is clearly there. Like a wound.
Her confession to Jiang Lili was also very interesting. Wang Qiyao said: You are a person on the face of others, and the so-called "respectability" probably means this; but I am a person on the inside, and what is shameful is beneficial.
After saying these words, Wang Qiyao really stepped in the mud. Just don't care, just keep going. These principles are much more straightforward than those in romance novels.
From these words, it can also be seen that Wang Qiyao is not in love with Director Li. Although Director Li made her become a real woman, in the final analysis, it was only because Director Li could satisfy her vanity.
The process of Director Li's pursuit of the girl determined Wang Qiyao's direction. As soon as they met, Director Li took off the yellow stuff in his hand and put it on Wang Qiyao. It was too big and immediately said: Go buy one tomorrow. He rented an apartment for Wang Qiyao and gave Wang Qiyao a box of gold bars to support her.
As a girl who came out of the alley, Wang Qiyao is only beautiful but not knowledgeable. Seeing these "benefits", I naturally entrusted them.
However, this entrustment was hasty after all. She was "waiting" day and night in Alice's apartment. The novel describes it delicately: "Sometimes she thought, when it rains, Director Li will come; when it rains, she thinks, when the sun rises, Director Li will come. She also throws copper plates to predict whether Director Li will come on this side and not on that side. ..." On the stage, Wang Qiyao cried, I just kept waiting, day after day.
3)
In the third act, the stage shifts to the house in Ping An. In a new society, Director Li was martyred in a plane crash. Wang Qiyao could only walk out of Alice's Apartment to make a living on her own.
She got a license to give injections and made a living by giving injections to others in her house in Ping'an. Here, she met Mrs. Yan and Cummingsun.
Mrs. Yan is a smart, worldly person who loves chewing bits and pieces. She saw that Wang Qiyao had a story, and asked Wang Qiyao every day why he didn't have a family, and made plans to introduce one to Wang Qiyao.
What did Wang Qiyao say: "Thank you for not disdain me. A woman like me only wants a peaceful life, how dare she have any extravagant hopes."
She put herself down In the dust, there is no water on the lips, but the fire in the heart has never been extinguished.
So after she met Cummingsun, even though she was in isolation and self-protection, she finally compromised. She should have some love for Cummingsun, because she longs for love and to be loved at this time. After all, she is still a young girl. But there was no result between her and Cummingsun. Even though she saw through it, she still jumped in.
The Queen Mother said, if you make a wrong step, you will make a wrong step every step of the way.
Wang Qiyao gave birth to Cummingsun's child. The Queen Mother came to take care of the confinement child. In front of Cummingsun, she scolded: "You have no shame in giving you face. That's why I say you are inferior. This bastard is You made it yourself. If you want to go down, no one else can help you!"
A woman, no matter what era she was in, was kept and had children out of wedlock. It's a little different. If you don't take the ordinary path, you will eventually suffer some unique pains. This cannot be replaced by others.
Wang Qiyao seems to live a casual life. Whoever she meets actually hides her choice and depends on her desires. Director Li has desire for her, the desire of a man for a woman; she also has desire for Director Li, the desire for a luxurious life. However, that desire did not bring her happiness, which made her devote herself to the so-called love, which also determined the tragedy of her life.
4)
In the fourth act, the background suddenly jumps to twenty years later. Wang Qiyao's children have grown up. The version of the play arranges for Weiwei to go abroad, leaving only Weiwei's classmate Zhang Yonghong to accompany Wang Qiyao.
The last man in Wang Qiyao’s life appeared: Lao Ke La. This is a romantic figure, he is very young, but he likes "old" things, old photos, old furniture, old things...
Wang Qiyao is also old. However, the scene of old Shanghai is still there, and the charm of every gesture is still there.
Lao Kela was twenty years old, so he couldn't keep his temper, so he knelt down in front of Wang Qiyao, hugged Wang Qiyao's legs and shouted: You blame me in your heart, blame me for being late!
This love story was too pretentious, and compared to Director Li, it was really not on stage. The audience in the theater burst into laughter at his lines. It can be seen that the love words that everyone recognized were light-hearted and homely. Such dense and colorful lyricism is really overwhelming.
Anyone with a discerning eye can understand. Only Wang Qiyao didn't understand.
Her dead heart was illuminated by Old Clara. She also knew that she was the one walking on the thin edge and could fall if she made a mistake, but she didn't know how to hold her feet.
In the end, this abnormal love could not resist Wang Qiyao's desire for love. ——Her life has been really miserable.
But she is in her fifties after all. Falling in love with a twenty-six-year-old boy will never last.
Zhang Yonghong described to Lao Kela the feeling of going to Wang Qiyao's house: there were stains of hair dye on the pillow, and the room was filled with the rotten smell of the previous night. Lao Kela shouted: Stop talking!
Lao Kela's so-called love for Wang Qiyao was only temporary, and could not compare with the wrinkles on Wang Qiyao's face and the whiteness of her hair.
Zhang Yonghong comforted Wang Qiyao and said: You are so young! Wang Qiyao replied angrily: "No matter how young I am, I can't be younger than you!" The resentment that is hard to hold on to as the years go by is all over her face.
5)
The last scene returns to Wang Qiyao’s bed.
In this scene, in order to keep Lao Carat, Wang Qiyao took out the trump card of her life: the wooden box given to her by Director Li. Inside the box was the guarantee for her old age.
This is all she has. It's all she has left.
Now for Lao Kela, she would rather have nothing. She is willing to give everything she has in exchange for Lao Kela's company. She raised the gold bar in front of Lao Kelat and said: I just want you to accompany me. I just want you to accompany me!
Of course she knows that she should dress neatly, stand upright, and send guests off with a smile. But she couldn't do it anymore. She was lying on her hands and knees, crying and begging. Her aging and ugly crying appearance frightened her twenty-six-year-old boyfriend, and Lao Kra ran away in a hurry.
Wang Qiyao lay on the bed and cried sadly, but she didn't notice that Long Foot turned around and walked into her room.
Longfoot saw the gold on the ground.
At this point, Wang Qiyao, a famous lady of a generation, died unexpectedly.
The death was hasty. I only saw the actor playing Wang Qiyao motionless on the stage. Wang Qiyao's life was wrapped in her long legs and she left. Wang Qiyao's body lay on the cold floor of the stage, motionless.
Neither does music. Nothing.
The former Shanghai lady was as beautiful as a flower. That's it.
The music started playing later. Sad, yet touching.
No matter how touching it is, it’s over.
6)
I like Wang Anyi’s novels. In "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", Wang Anyi uses long paragraphs of description, which is very tense and delicate. On the drama stage, due to time and space constraints, screenwriters have to rely on long paragraphs of dialogue to present the relationship between characters.
But the long dialogue is very brilliant.
The description in the novel conceals the power of dialogue, and the dialogue on the stage is particularly shocking.
On the contrary, some humorous touches won a lot of laughter, giving this sighing script a little basis for life.
The drama ended at 22:30. A three-hour play is considered too long. But a woman's life was brought to the stage for just three hours, which is also chilling.
Catching the last subway home, there were only a few people in the carriage, leaning on their seats, taking out the brochure of Song of Everlasting Regret and flipping through it. The cast list in the brochure was all Wang Qiyao's on this stage. She has been good at dancing in life, which constitutes the life of "Wang Qiyao".
After the curtain was closed, everything disappeared again. Thinking about it this way, life can be considered to have come to an end.
If you are in Shanghai, I recommend you to visit it.
From September 3 to September 18, 2016, 7:30 pm, Shanghai Dramatic Art Center (288 Anfu Road), starring Zhu Jie became famous for his role as "Mu Wanqiu" in the TV series "Latent", When she was taking classes at the Shanghai Theater Academy, her beauty caused a sensation on campus. I really don’t tell people this kind of gossip. hehe.
Of course, don’t forget to read Wang Anyi’s novels before reading. You will understand better the changes in time and space on the stage.