Sixty Years on and the Cycle Continues
Embarking on a New Cycle
According to Zhang Heping, president of Beijing People’s Art Theater, the decision to invite so many prestigious elderly artists to act in Jiazi Garden was to create a chance for the young-generation actors to learn from their predecessors’ meticulousness and devotion to the theater, as well as from their attitudes and approach to the stage, rehearsals and life in general.
This experienced generation of actors has not let their years of accumulated skills and knowledge go to their heads and cloud their vision, and they still diligently research their roles. Zhu Xu had barely recovered from a condition that gripped him for six months when he joined the cast. But the moment he got the part, a maven of The Book of Changes, the octogenarian began to bone up on the classic of divination, cosmology and philosophy that daunts the brightest mind.
Pu Cunxin, who has starred in a slew of popular films, TV series and stage dramas and is active in charity projects, also delved deep into the real life examples of his supporting character in a nursing home in Beijing. The multi-award winner has humbly taken the position of understudy in the play, the first time he has done so since he first gained national acclaim some 20 years ago.
Like Pu and Zhu, the Beijing People’s Art Theater is well aware that it cannot rely simply on the prestige its 60 years of operation has earned, and with a history that has followed the twists and turns of Chinese society, it has learned to adapt.
Nowadays, the theater is also facing some grave challenges. For example, the predominance of television and film and the dwindling interest of audiences have meant that actors and writers alike are moving away from the stage as a form of expression. In recent times there has been sharp drop of new, good-quality scripts, and it is essential for theatrical artists to stick to the form and develop it. There is also contradiction between a theater’s development, which involves the passing down of valuable traditions and conventions, and social development, which calls for innovation.
Zhang Heping is clear about the future of the Beijing People’s Art Theater. He believes that, as a national theater, it should remain dedicated to the more mainstream concept of realism, but at the same time it should present productions of other genres.
He is aware that bringing this into fruition will be an arduous task, but the theater has ample resources and talent with which to try and achieve the goal. On the heels of Jiazi Garden, the theater also presented Аnton Chekhov’s Swan Song and The Dangers of Tobacco, which, directed by experimental pioneering director Lin Zhaohua, are both the first Chinese renditions of the two works. In doing so, the theater hopes to integrate its respect for tradition with dedication to reality, advocacy of innovation and tolerance of diverse art schools, and bring about a new cycle in its journey.
