The literary era since 1979

Chapter 125: Must be severely disciplined
"My dad, dad, dad, dad."

"Dear father."

"My dad, dad, dad, dad."

"My kind father."

"He has no teeth in his mouth and his hair is all white. He laughs all the time, just like a doll..."

Early in the morning, the song "The Ageless Father" made famous by Teresa Teng was heard in the yard.

Fang Yan is doing radio gymnastics with her friends in the school. They do this every day during the summer vacation.

Fangyan looked through the window and watched his little sister leading the group in the fifth set of radio gymnastics, and he couldn't help but do a few chest expansion exercises.

Then he turned his head and his eyes fell on the manuscript on the table.

There are dense words all over the place, and the ink has not yet dried.

The first line of the grid paper clearly reads the title:

"That Mountain, That Man, That Dog".

I thought of the postman, Master Hu and his son, and the stories about his comrades-in-arms told by Master Hu, and my inspiration immediately started flowing.

After holding it in for so long, I finally let it all out, feeling completely refreshed. I thought of this novel which is so suitable, yet so plain, that it couldn't be more suitable.

The story is not complicated. The old postman has been delivering letters in the mountains for his entire life. His legs and feet became sick from years of hard work, so he had to retire early. It happened that his son failed the college entrance examination, so he returned home and took over his job.

On his son's first day at work, the old postman packed the parcels and sent "Lao Er", a big yellow dog who had experience on mountain roads, to accompany him.

Despite giving numerous warnings, she was still worried and finally decided to make the last postal trip with her son.

There are novels and there are movies.

Fangyan has only seen the movie, starring Liu Ye and Cheng Hao, and it was also the time when their acting was at its best and most spiritual.

It looks like a road movie.

A mountain road with an unchanging route, two generations of different people, a three-day long journey, and a loyal big yellow dog.

The father, who was about to retire, took his son, who was taking over as a rural postman on his first day, to walk the postal route that had been used for more than 20 years.

The son's misunderstanding, rebellion, complaints, and cold feelings towards his father gradually disappeared after he traveled through mountains and rivers and had some short periods of solitude along the way.

Before, the son did not know his father, but after actually experiencing the postal route, the son began to understand his father.

At the end, the son carries his old father across the river, and all the barriers between father and son disappear with the flowing water.

The whole story takes place in southern Hunan Province, or more precisely, in western Hunan.

Fangyan touched his chin and was thinking about writing a letter to Gu Hua to help arrange for him to go to Xiangxi for field research.

"elder brother!"

The music outside the room suddenly stopped. Fang Yan took small steps and ran to his room. "When are we leaving?"

"You, you, why are you in such a hurry?"

Fang Yan rolled his eyes and glanced at the letter he received yesterday, which was an invitation to the Yenching University drama and art performance.

It is held on the second Sunday after school starts.

In other words, there is not much time left for Yingda, Bai Ruoxue, Tang Shengnan and others to rehearse the drama "Under the Hawthorn Tree".

Fangyan felt it necessary to see their work, after all, he only charged one cent for the adaptation.

Rounding off, that’s one hundred million!
It's all my money! I have to see if it's worth it!
…………

Yenching University, by the Weiming Lake.

"My mother doesn't allow me to date before I'm 25."

"Then I will wait until you are 25."

"What if 25 is still not enough?"

"Then I will wait for you forever."

Bai Ruoxue, who played "Jingqiu", and Xiao Feng, who played "Laosan", recited their lines and looked into each other's eyes.

Yingda, Tang Shengnan and other members of the drama troupe were either sitting or standing, staring at them with all their eyes.

Suddenly, Bai Ruoxue noticed Fang Yan walking towards them from not far away, and said in surprise: "Teacher Fang!"

Yingda, Tang Shengnan and others looked over when they heard the sound, and saw Fang Yan holding Fang Yan's hand, coming to them.

Fang Yan smiled and said, "We are just here to take a look. You guys continue, continue."

"How about starting over again?"

Ying answered nervously and excitedly, "Let me show you our performance. If there are any shortcomings, please give me some advice."

Fangyan nodded and watched everyone calm down and start to immerse themselves in the performance.

Due to limited funding, there are almost no props, and everyone is performing without props. The more this is the case, the more it tests the acting skills.

Without acting skills, it would be a farce. Not only does it not give people a sense of immersion, but it makes people so embarrassed that they can carve out a three-bedroom apartment.

Supporting characters like Tang Shengnan and Yingda are okay, they don't have many roles and there are no obvious traces of their acting.

But Bai Ruoxue and Xiao Feng have important roles. The more they act, the more obvious the performance becomes, and the more you can tell that they are forcing themselves to play "Jing Qiu" and "Laosan".

The play lasted about an hour and a half from beginning to end.

Yingda turned around and said, "Teacher Fang, what do you think?"

"There's nothing wrong with the script, and your images are quite suitable, but there are some flaws in your performance."

Fang Yan called Xiao Feng and Bai Ruoxue, and first asked Xiao Feng to act out the gentle and sunny smile of the third brother to Jing Qiu.

His facial muscles trembled and he seemed to be forcing a smile, just as greasy as when Huang Xiaoming played the overbearing president.

Bai Ruoxue realized the problem, but before she could react, she was asked to act out Jingqiu's conflicted expression.

Fang Yan looked at her with an awkward expression, stopped her and said, "What do you think is the problem?"

Xiao Feng and Bai Ruoxue looked at each other, and Bai Ruoxue said directly: "I can't find the feeling. It's like a shell without a soul."

"Why is this happening?" Fangyan looked left and right.

"Teacher Fang, we don't fully understand the experiential school, method school, expressionism, Stanislavsky, and Brecht that you talked about, and we haven't studied them deeply enough, and we haven't mastered the right methods..."

Bai Ruoxue pursed her lips in embarrassment, "It lacks soul."

"It is indeed related to these things, but the relationship is not significant. Your biggest problem is actually that you have lost your 'true colors'."

Fang Yan said: "Your current state is better than the 'difficult situation' you just acted out, why don't you use it in the play?"

Bai Ruoxue was surprised. "This is my state in real life. It's not appropriate to put it in the play, right?"

"Why is it inappropriate?" Fang Yan asked, "What do you think performance is? Summarize it in one sentence."

"Of course it's about character creation."

"Yes, the more similar the performance is to the description in the script, the better."

"I think Ruoxue and Xiaofeng have been working very hard to get closer to the image of Jingqiu and Lao San."

"........."

Each member of the drama team spoke, one sentence at a time.

"So, how do you shape it?"

“How do I get closer to the characters?”

Facing everyone's inquiring gazes, Fangyan coughed a few times. It seemed that he had to strike hard. He had to teach the enemy a lesson without some action.

“Although performance is subjective and the audience’s perception of performance is also subjective, performance at least has an objective baseline.”

"For example, the lines should be clearly pronounced, with emotional ups and downs. The tone of voice, facial expressions, and body movements should be used and switched in accordance with the needs of the plot, and should not be abrupt or stiff..."

"Only those who are above this baseline can be considered as qualified actors. This applies to both drama and film."

"........."

Bai Ruoxue and the others raised their heads and listened attentively, afraid of missing a single punctuation mark.

After all, they want to make progress so much!

In his previous life, he watched a lot of reality shows in dialect, read a lot of books and watched a lot of movies. In this life, he also read all the books on the list of drama theory and guidance that Wan Jiabao gave him. He has rich theoretical knowledge and can explain it clearly.

But there is no talk of the world drama system or performing arts system, nor is there any talk of "seeing mountains as mountains and seeing water as water."

Instead, he said directly, "The actor's style is very important. Style determines the way of acting. Generally speaking, it can be divided into three categories."

"One is to act according to the script and the director's requirements and act like what you want."

"One is to act whatever you want, but also integrate your own understanding and characteristics."

"The last type is that no matter what role you play, you are the same person. Every character is just your own shadow..."

"Teacher Fang, this is a bit deep."

Bai Ruoxue savored it carefully for a while, and there were faint signs that the window paper was about to be broken.

Yingda rubbed his hands and said, "We are not professional actors and have little experience. Can you give us some specific guidance on how to act? For example, Ruoxue, how do you think we can play Jingqiu well?"

"Your understanding of Jingqiu is correct, but don't always think about playing the 'Jingqiu' that you imagine."

Fang Yan said: "You should think of yourself as Jing Qiu."

Bai Ruoxue frowned, still unsure whether to understand or not.

Fangyan picked up a small stone from the ground, asked her to hold it in her hand, and asked, "Is it hard?"

"hard."

“Did it hurt when you poked me?”

"pain."

"Is it you who is in pain, or Jingqiu?"

"what!!"

Bai Ruoxue suddenly had an epiphany that almost overflowed.

Teacher Fang said that her image was similar to Jingqiu's, but she lost sight of the main point and has been trying hard to play a new, illusory "Jingqiu", but she forgot her real feelings in life, and even deliberately acted differently from her real self.

As a result, when he acts out expressions of confusion, embarrassment, etc., he always acts very awkwardly, as if he has twisted himself into a dough stick.

Suddenly, I seemed to grasp the pulse of "Jingqiu" and felt a soul entering my body.

"what about you?"

Fangyan looked at Yingda and others, especially the male protagonist Xiao Feng.

"Teacher Fang, I think I understand a little bit now."

Xiao Feng couldn't wait to have a scene with Bai Ruoxue.

"Then you guys try again."

Fangyan clapped his hands, acting like a big boss behind the scenes.

In full view of everyone, Bai Ruoxue and Xiao Feng acted out a love scene, and they looked visibly more relaxed and natural.

It was just like our usual interactions, and the awkwardness faded a little.

"it is good!!"

When they finished the performance, Tang Shengnan, Yingda and others' eyes lit up and they immediately applauded.

Listening to the applause, Bai Ruoxue was so excited that she didn't bother to savor the sound. She immediately tried to find the dialect, and her eyes finally stopped under the tree.

Fangyan was sitting on the lawn, also looking at her, with a smile on his face. He clapped his hands lightly, and then gave her a thumbs up.

In order to win "Oedipus Rex" and to make the storm of love blow more violently in the literary and art world, it's not easy for me!

Being both a father and a mother, and not charging any money!

(End of this chapter)