Chen Peisi sets new stage to Peking Opera story of '30s

2015-12-07  Source: China Daily

Chen Peisi (left) and Yang Lixin play the major roles in the drama The Stage

In his new drama, The Stage, which tells the story of Peking Opera artists from the 1930s, comedian Chen Peisi plays the role of a troupe owner, Hou Xiting.

Faced with the dilemma of dealing with difficult government officials on the one hand and with warlords on the other, Hou has to compromise to survive.

Chen's plays have always revolved around stories of misfortune.

When he read the script for The Stage written by his childhood friend Yu Yue, he was ecstatic.

"It seemed like I had waited for this my whole life," says Chen, 61. "I finished reading the story overnight. I laughed and felt sad at the same time."

The first few shows of the drama were sold out this summer when staged by Beijing Comedy Theater, a drama project launched in May by Chen and run by the National Center for the Performing Arts.

In the first two months of 2016, Chen's drama will tour eight cities, including Shanghai, Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu province and Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province.

In 1983, Chen became a household name after performing in the sketch comedy Eating Noodles for CCTV's Spring Festival Gala, which is among the country's most popular TV programs.

Since then he has made Chinese audiences laugh with his on-screen presence. Chen started a parallel career in theater in 2001.

"When I started producing dramas, the market was bad," he recalls. "Few people would spend money in theater."

Chen and his troupe toured the country in search of opportunities for the first few years.

"We slept backstage and cleaned the venues every day after performing our plays," Chen says.

"I was just like Hou in The Stage, racking my brain to solve problems, from making money to negotiating with performance companies."

So far, Chen has produced five original comedy plays, including Tuo'er and Balcony, which have received both commercial success and critical acclaim.

He also started a school in Beijing to train young actors in 2012.

For Chen, The Stage pays tribute to Peking Opera. And his role in the drama is challenging because it is his first time dealing with a story that is set in earlier times.

He says he brought in traditional elements of the opera into the show by consulting Peking Opera artists and historians.

As the director of the drama, Chen invited veteran actor Yang Lixin to play the role of a Peking Opera amateur performer, Da Sang'er.

Da had once worked as a delivery boy bringing food to a troupe. He also briefly substituted for a Peking Opera actor in the classic Farewell My Concubine.

"The decision of acting in the drama (Chen's latest) was made during a dinner," says Yang, who became good friends with Chen after co-starring in the comic TV series, A Big House, in 2013.

A famous actor of the established Beijing People's Art Theater, Yang received Peking Opera training at a young age, which helped him interpret the role better.

"We spent a lot of time discussing the dialogue tempo, adjusting our body language and even facial expressions. Chen has the talent to master comedy and he pays attention to detail," says Yang, 58.

In the drama, Yang speaks a Lao-ting dialect, a specialty of North China's Hebei province.

Yang asked a friend from Laoting county to record all the lines in the local dialect for him before the drama's debut.

"I listened to the recording daily, for months," says Yang, a Beijing native.

Yang also says "it is hard to watch a Chinese comedy of quality these days", and he hopes The Stage will make a difference to audiences.