Wu Husheng
Shanghai Ballet's original ballet Phantom of the Opera has just premiered, the sixth work created by British choreographer Deek Dean for Shangba. It is very exciting to be able to devote myself to such a large-scale creation as soon as the full restoration of offline international exchanges, and to bring Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel to the Chinese ballet stage for the first time with the artists who have been reunited for a long time.
Like Mr. Derek's usual artistic style, Phantom of the Opera is a highly dramatic work. When I learned that I was going to play the role of "Phantom", I was expecting but not easy, because he was too classic and rich, and he alone ran through and guided the beginning and end of the entire show - there is no doubt that the characterization of this multi-faceted character will be the original priority of the entire dance drama. In particular, the shape of "Phantom" does not have the delicacy and elegance of the traditional ballet hero, and his mask has become a symbol of ugliness and fear, and I hope that I can sincerely embody everything about him. After putting on the mask, I could feel more involved, and I gradually "hidden" myself, just like a phantom suddenly "hidden" into the darkness. If you ask me if it was me or the character who was on stage at the time, I would answer: it must be him, the phantom of the opera house.
Love and sorrow hidden behind the suspense
"Phantom of the Opera" is a love story cloaked in suspense, and many important emotional elements are buried under his cold mask by the "Phantom", such as the inferiority and weakness of a person who vainly tries to dominate his destiny. And wearing the mask of "phantom" to hide the ugliness, I can always feel the cold eyes from around me. This made me lonely, sad, fearful, and crazy as a "phantom". Until the end of the story, "Christine" kiss relieves the sad heart of "Phantom", which is the power of love and inclusion.
The mask of the "phantom" is the embodiment of his inner level, the mask of the devil makes him open his teeth and dance his claws just to win back love, the half-faced black mask allows him to inhabit the darkness and stay away from the world, and the ugly face makeup is scolded by the world, so the inner wrapped by the appearance is also unbearable?
It is not difficult to show his teeth and claws, and it is not difficult to show his infatuation with his lover, it is difficult to love and unwillingness, in his inner considerations, due to his own misfortune, the love he sincerely gives is equivalent to hurt.
I remember the first time I rehearsed the pas de deux of the "Phantom" and "Kirsteen" scenes, the director designed a lot of "Phantom" to manipulate the actions of "Kiristin", and I tried to perform and vent my emotions to "Kiristin". But the director stopped the performance, and he told me that such a state of performance would make "Christine" afraid of "Phantom", the two characters are not such a relationship, "Phantom" is loving her and protecting herself. Afterwards, I continued to adjust my state during rehearsals and repeatedly explore the psychological process behind this dance, and since then I began to truly integrate into this environment, trying to use different dance segments and different ways to make others accept or escape. In this process, the "phantom" hurt himself and others.
Reducing technical density and increasing "white space" where key points are
As an actor, how to better understand the character and enter the character, I have always followed some of my own procedures. In particular, dance drama works created according to literary classics here, such as reading the original work, watching theatrical works related to it, stage works, and so on. But in the creation of "Phantom", I seem to have gained a new perspective. Perhaps because of my choreographic experience in the past few years, I have a director's thinking for my understanding of works and characters, that is, to analyze characters and understand works from the overall perspective of creation.
Phantom of the Opera is a neoclassical style theatrical ballet. The characters in this type of work are not the princes and aristocrats of classical ballet such as "Swan Lake", but only need a straight posture and exquisite skills to interpret. The heart of the "Phantom" is full of dramatic contradictions, and the emergence of classical ballet technology will only make people "jump". Therefore, what he needs is a more tense and more telling, and through this role, the power of suspense runs through the whole play, then the dance drama will be more compact.
This role was tailor-made for me by Mr. Derek, and the director reduced the density of technical action but increased his white space in several important scenes for me to ponder, and I quickly understood the director's intention. Every detail is carved into the limited dance moves, every shot, every movement or even a simple look is my opportunity to express. I started paying attention to everyone's actions, everyone's characters, with their props, costumes, even lighting, and I had to try to turn into a phantom and keep everything in my hands.
In order to hone yourself in order to play the role, you also have to "give up" yourself
Performing theatrical ballet is very enjoyable and challenging. Its challenge is not the completion of the action and technique, but the mastery of the actor's sense of proportion of his movements under the domination of strong character emotions, so that everything is in the music, in the stage space, in the story and character relationship of the work.
I have also experienced that emotions push the performance state to the extreme, and the movements will be a little out of control, so out of control that they miss the music, or can't take care of the dance partner, so that the state is not up to the performance standard. This can only be overcome through repeated rehearsals offstage. In the case of Phantom, I do a lot of practice every day, repeatedly polishing details, movements, eyes, and even every breath. High-intensity training every day, from physical to technical to mental. There is no fluke on the stage, any highlight moment is stepped out step by step, otherwise we cannot convince the audience, let alone ourselves.
Before I knew it, I suddenly felt that everything on stage had become a matter of course. The time and space between the actor and the character are opened, and I can feel the distance between me and the different characters, and the distance is written in the various relationships of the characters, and carefully controlling this distance makes my performance more natural.
When it came to the official performance, at the moment before I went on stage, I seemed to forget who I really was, only remembering the music I was waiting for and the first point and first action I made on the stage. The whole performance was immersive, and I finally became one with the character "Phantom" until the end of the dance drama. The performance is over, it is complete, and there are no regrets.
After the first performance, many people suggested that I take off my mask, remove my eerie makeup, and meet the audience with my true face, receiving applause and applause, but I still stuck to the original character design and stuck to the agreement with Mr. Derek - hide in the dark, from beginning to end. I think this is also the special realization that this character gave me: on stage, the role is greater than everything.
(The author is the deputy director and principal principal actor of Shanghai Ballet)
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