Deng Chao’s "Super Theater" will be unveiled on June 26. On the 23rd, Deng Chao wrote a long article detailing his fate with drama, and sighed: "A dream for more than ten years is finally coming true."
The "Super Theater" created by Deng Chao [Weibo] will be unveiled on June 26. On the evening of the 23rd, Deng Chao wrote a long article detailing his fate with drama, and sighed: "A dream for more than ten years is finally coming true."
Deng Chao said that the first performance opportunity he got in his life was the play "Che, Guevara." Before he started Chinese opera, he had no particular love for drama, and the motivation for learning to act was just to cope with the pressure at home. His love for acting began in the second semester of his freshman year, when the World Theatre Art Festival was held in Beijing, and he was truly infected, moved, and even wept.
Deng Chao said that after years of planning and promotion, there was finally a Super Theater. On the day the theater was renovated, he stood on the stage, facing more than 500 empty seats, and his heart was full. Deng Chao said: "Our Super Theater should also gather more young artists to pursue dreams, realize dreams, shine and shine." (He Shi)
"Hey, let me be a captain" in its entirety:
My first chance to perform was in the play "Che, Guevara." I was given the role – no role, just the voice of Guevara, a voiceover of less than ten sentences. But I was so excited, I gave it my all, and I felt like a proud captain as I recited my words. More than a decade later, I still remember the line: Warriors, our ship is now set sail.
How incredible is fate? Who knew that I didn’t have any particular love for drama before I went to Chinese drama.
In my school days, the most important thing was actually the diploma, and my motivation for studying acting was just to cope with the pressure at home. To this day, I don’t know what the professional teacher liked during the interview. After singing a few songs indiscriminately, I was admitted. But even though I went to Chinese opera, I still had low self-esteem in my bones and felt that I was not the material. Falling in love with acting, falling in love with drama, or even making it a lifelong career? That has nothing to do with me.
The transition took place during the next semester of freshman year.
That year, the World Theatre Festival was held in Beijing. The British Shakespeare Company, the German Physical Theatre Company, the Japanese Shinjuku Liangshanbo Company, the best performing teams from all over the world came together in Beijing, and suddenly, any theater in Beijing, at any time, will have the best theater performance on the planet. Even the playground of the Chinese opera has set up Japanese theater tents. I was like an amateur painter who broke into the Louvre Museum, excited, excited, dazzled. I watched a lot of plays non-stop, some were moving, interesting, fascinating, and sometimes I didn’t understand what they were talking about, but I was really infected by them, moved by them, and even cried. At that time, I seemed to have entered a whole new world of art: unlike the theatre I had been exposed to before, it turned out that theatre could be so charming and moving.
In the beginning of my sophomore year, I couldn’t resist the urge to do a one-act play by myself, called "Farewell My Concubine", which is an adaptation of the movie of the same name. The length is very short and there are many shortcomings. I lacked confidence in this work, and only regarded it as my own study and attempt. But I didn’t expect that because of this work, I got my first praise in drama – Teacher Gao Jingwen said to me after reading it, super, good.
From that day on, I realized that praise is the best teacher. Like a door opened, the love of the theater space began. I began to play important and unimportant roles in various repertoires, and I deeply felt the pleasure of drama and performance.
In the second semester of my sophomore year, the school held a ceremony at the Shaw Theater. After the show, the crowd dispersed. Facing the bustling stage, I suddenly felt an irresistible urge: I couldn’t help it, crouched down, and then, half-kneeling, kissed the stage.
Tears welled up.
Like a magic box, the stage can condense and show the joys and sorrows of life. At that moment, a huge thought flew through my mind: I will never leave the stage in my lifetime, I want to have my own stage.
Later, I acted in TV series, movies, stage plays, and did a lot of things. Like a sailor, I set off from the dock of the Drama Academy and took a boat to the ocean, riding the wind and waves.
Sometimes, I also look back.
I have shared my graduation story on many occasions. That year, I was full of confidence and felt that I could go to a good theater career, but how frustrated I was after being rejected by a well-known theater company. There is too little space in the country to accommodate the development of theater, and I almost missed the theater as a graduate student. How many talented young people, dreamers with theatrical dreams, where can they go to pursue their dreams?
I always think of the creeper in the dappled tree shadows on the walls of the Chinese Theater. We crouched outside the theater on rainy afternoons eating pastoral burgers, and pushed open the windows after all-night rehearsals, and the white snow outside. If the memory of theater is so beautiful, why can’t I give more young people who love acting and the stage as much as I did?
The thought came uninvited: Can I have my own stage?
This dream, which doesn’t seem to be commensurate with the status of an actor, will be very laborious and may not make money. Fortunately, I have my friends Yu Baimei [Weibo], Qian Rui and Wang Qi who also love drama by my side. They say, do what you want! I ask, don’t you think I’m crazy? Bai Mei said, make life your stage.
With our joint efforts, after years of planning and promotion, we finally had this super theater. On the day the theater was renovated, I stood on the stage, facing more than 500 empty seats, and my heart was full. I remembered the Shaw theater I had kissed, the lines I had read, and the scenes I had performed wildly. Suddenly, I was a little timid. At this moment, I wish Mr. Gao Jingwen was still by my side and said to me, Super, good.
But I couldn’t hear it again. The year before last, he passed away.
Therefore, I am well aware of the great significance of supporting and encouraging future generations. Our Super Theater should also gather more young artists to pursue dreams, realize dreams, and shine brightly. I hope that one day, we old guys are really old and can come to the Super Theater like captains, happily drinking rum, sitting alone on the deck in the warm sunshine, quietly watching the young sailors wash their hair, climb the mast, untie the cable, and hold up their own sails.
Hey, let me be a captain and announce that our ship is about to set sail now!
(Editor in charge: shining)
