The red mansion trick “Wang Xifeng makes trouble in Ningguo Mansion” Weiwuying opens | A Dream of Red Mansions | Peking Opera | Wei Haimin

[The Epoch Times, April 25, 2024](The Epoch Times reporter Fang Jinyuan reported from Kaohsiung, Taiwan) The classic Peking opera “Wang Xifeng Trouble in Ningguofu” by the National Center for Traditional Arts Guoguang Theater Company has been performed for 20 years and will be held on April 27th and 28th at The Opera House of Weiwuying National Art and Culture Center made its grand debut. In the play, the role of Wang Xifeng is performed by Taiwan’s most important female actor Wei Haimin, and Henan opera queen Wang Hailing is invited to play the role of Jia’s mother. The two masters meet each other and perform on the same stage, which is exciting.

Wang Anqi, artistic director of Guoguang Theater Company, said that “Wang Xifeng’s Trouble in Ningguo Mansion” premiered in Taiwan in 2003. It was the beginning of Guoguang’s “Taiwan Peking Opera New Aesthetics” and is also Guoguang’s signature masterpiece. This play is derived from the literary masterpiece “A Dream of Red Mansions”, and the plot is gripping and full of dramatic tension. The screenwriter Chen Xiting is known as the “veteran writer of Red Mansions”. His screenwriting techniques are both loyal to the original work and yet innovative, making the whole drama very charming. The play has a rigorous structure, fast pace, sharp language, and every character is lifelike. “Wang Xifeng Havoc in Ningguofu” premiered in Hong Kong in 1983 by the well-known Peking opera artist Tong Zhiling. It has not been performed in mainland China since then. Tong Zhiling also died of illness in the United States in 1995. This play has been performed for 20 years and 30 times by a theater company born in Taiwan. It combines the mellow heritage of Peking Opera queen Wei Haimin’s Mei School art and transcends the traditional performance framework. It not only creates a new image of Wang Xifeng, but also becomes Wei Haimin’s exclusive masterpiece. The characters in this drama are all distinct and dazzling, and the role of Wang Xifeng needs magnanimity and weight. Wei Haimin created Wang Xifeng’s character who is in charge of the overall situation, “clearly a pot of fire, secretly a knife” in a very three-dimensional way. Wei Haimin said that this play is nothing more than human nature. Over the past 20 years, she has gained a better understanding of Wang Xifeng’s background and relationships with other people, which has helped her develop a more profound and comprehensive performance design for this character. “The audience never gets tired of watching it, and I never get tired of playing it.” In addition, the key character “ancestor” Jia Mu is performed by the Queen of Henan Opera Wang Hailing, which is a highlight; the new generation Huang Yulin plays the shrewd and vulgar Qiu Tong, and Huang Shiya plays the pitiful Second Sister You, both of whom have great room for development.

Wang Hailing said that although Jia Mu’s role in the play is not large, she has her weight and is a “very green leaf”. This is a good show. “Every time you watch a show like this, you will make a profit.”

The classics are timeless. In the play, Jia Lian is rich and powerful, but spends all his time messing around with women. He is a complete “scumbag”; Wang Xifeng has a strong style, but cannot get love and suffers from being unable to have children. This can still arouse a lot of resonance in modern society, allowing the audience to find points of empathy. . ◇

Editor in charge: Tang Yin