Lu Xun (1881-1936) is regarded as China's
greatest writer of the 20th century. On the 120th anniversary of his
birth, two dramatic interpretations of this revolutionary thinker's
life will be staged in the capital this April.
One will be "Master Lu Xun" featuring songs in folk rhyme
style written by Zhang Guangtian. The other will be the drama "Lu
Xun" directed by Li Liuyi. These two works, very different in
style and message may well reignite the interest of modern audiences
in the life and thought of this great writer.
Between 1907 and 1936, Lu Xun finished three collections of short
stories. Two of the stories therein, "A Madman's Diary"
and "The True Story of Ah Q," stand as the epitome of his
work. And his 16 collections of essays made him one of the most significant
essayists of 20th century China.
Yet, he was more than a "literary man." Late Chairman Mao
Zedong paid him this tribute: "The Chief commander of China's
cultural revolution, he was not only a great man of letters but a
great thinker and revolutionary."
"He is a warrior more than a 'literary man'," wrote Lin
Yutang, one of Lu's contemporaries and a prolific writer, in the introduction
to his work "The Wisdom of China and India," a book dealing
partly with Chinese literature.
"(Lu Xun) is one of the most biting satirists of Chinese culture..."
he added. "Behind some of his short epigrams one gets a glimpse
of the gigantic spiritual and mental turmoil of a China in revolt
against the past. Lusin (Lu Xun) represents the Literature of Revolt."
In his introduction to "The True Story of Ah Q," one of
his immortal works, Lu Xun declared that he wanted to portray the
"silent soul of the people" which for thousands of years
"grew, faded and withered quietly like grass under a great rock."
"Fierce-browed, I coldly stand up to the evil people; head-bowed,
I serve the people like a cow feeding its calf."
This couplet, taken from a poem by Lu Xun, is cherished by many who
see in it the epitome of the character of Chinese people: righteousness,
honesty, and respect for humanity.
As a youth Lu Xun lived in a gloomy, failure-ridden atmosphere. Among
his family, who lived in a typical courtyard home, were several unsuccessful
uncles who were addicted to opium. The imprisonment of his grandfather,
a government official, together with the sickness and death of his
father, exhausted the family's wealth. In spite of the family shame,
Lu Xun worked hard and in 1902 won a government scholarship to study
in Japan. He later returned to China to devote his life and writing
to the nation's new cultural movement.
In 1993, long before Zhang Guangtian finished the script of "Master
Lu Xun" in 1998, Li Liuyi had completed his drama "Lu Xun."
For both playwrights, Lu Xun was the ideal character through whom
to express their vision of society.
Zhang started writing his play in 1993, when the Shanghai Film Production
Studio asked him to write a play about Lu Xun. He began to write a
biographical drama but eventually turned to the musical genre. He
couldn't find a director at the time, so the play got relegated to
the back burner.
This year, the Central Experimental Drama Institute chose to take
on "Master Lu Xun" as its most important play of the year.
Director of the institute Zhao Youliang also invited Zhang Guangtian
to join the institute so that he could better co-operate with the
troupe members.
Li Liuyi has been reading Lu Xun's works for many years and holds
him to be the finest writer China has produced. But over the past
eight years, Li failed to find anyone interested in bringing his drama
to the stage.
Now, at last, the play has its chance to come to life, but Li is still
a bit disappointed, as he had planned to invite Jiang Wen, Wang Zhiwen
or some other famous actors to act in the drama, but they were all
busy with other commissions.
Every Chinese person has his or her own image of Lu Xun. No two are
the same. In Zhang Guangtian's musical, most of the lyrics are taken
from Lu Xun's articles or letters.
Zhang plans to put the orchestra and chorus at the back of the stage,
while the front will be taken up by four singers who will use traditional
folk song forms to give shape and character to Lu Xun, his wife Xu
Guangping, his students Liu Hezhen, Feng Xuefeng, Rou Shi and others.
As for the negative characters, the four singers will render them
through tradition folk opera forms.
A narrator will carry the development of the play, and the singers
will attempt to capture every nuance of the writer's life and friends
in their interpretation of their roles.
As a demonstration, Zhang Guangtian sang Lu Xun's lines that come
just before his death. It is surprising that Lu Xun's writing adapts
itself so wonderfully to folk tunes. The singing is subdued but rich
in content, easy for the audience to understand and it provokes deep
thought.
While Zhang Guangtian enriches his version of Lu Xun with musical
elements, Li Liuyi is trying to strike a delicate balance between
openness and reserve in his drama. Li feels that Lu Xun is such a
complex character that he can hardly represent this great writer in
a single story. At one point, he picks the moment of Lu Xun's death
and amplifies it, to bring forth his view of Lu Xun's spiritual world,
the time, society and history.
Li Liuyi divides his drama into three acts, titled "Na Han (Crying
Out)," "Liang Di Shu (Correspondence)," and "Ye
Cao (Wild Grass)," three of Lu Xun's most famous pieces. Li believes
the most sparkling part will be the final act, which will bring the
drama to its climax.
With Wu Gang playing Lu Xun, Chen Xiaoyi his wife Xu Guangping, and
Yang Qing as Aunt Xianling, who was a tragic character in one of Lu
Xun's novels. Li's drama has a cast of 30.
"Master Lu Xun" will debut on April 12 at the China Children's
Theatre in downtown Beijing's Wangfujing. Li Liuyi's drama "Lu
Xun" will start around April 15 at the nearby Capital Theatre.
Although neither of them intended to stage the dramas so close together,
both Zhang and Li believe it's a good chance to bring Lu Xun into
modern people's minds.
"I hope that more people will think about Lu Xun today, because
his thoughts aren't old for us. On the contrary, you'll probably be
surprised at the timeliness of his ideas," said Zhang Guangtian.
"No matter whether it is in literature or philosophy, Lu Xun
is without doubt China's foremost writer of the past century,"
said Li Liuyi. "Lu Xun had a profound understanding and insight
into the human character. His works still rings true today."
(China Daily 03/20/01) |
