“日本梅蘭芳”來到西子湖

今年9月9日，由坂田藤十郎領銜的日本松竹大歌舞伎近松座一行77人，在杭州劇院進行了一場公演，劇目為《傾城返魂香》和《英執(zhí)著獅子》。

這是日本歌舞伎中的兩個傳統(tǒng)劇目，76歲的老人坂田藤十郎擔任主演。因為歌舞伎是全男班演員，這位老人既能演立役（男角）又能演女形（女角），所以這次杭州觀眾看到劇中的嫵媚女子和勇猛獅子皆為坂田藤十郎所扮。

2007年是中日邦交正常化35周年暨“中日文化體育交流年”，這次松竹大歌舞伎近松座的訪華演出，由中國人民對外友好協(xié)會、中國日本友好協(xié)會和日本松竹株式會社共同主辦，將在北京、杭州、上海、廣州四地巡演。

早在兩國尚未實現(xiàn)邦交正常化的1955年，日本歌舞伎即首次來華參加中華人民共和國的慶典活動，在北京、上海、廣州三地的演出均獲得好評。翌年作為歌舞伎訪華的答謝，以梅蘭芳先生為代表的中國京劇團赴日，在東京歌舞會座等地上演了中國的國粹，1979年為紀念中日和平友好條約的締結(jié)，歌舞伎第二次訪華，在北京、杭州、上海三地演出；歌舞伎第三次來中國是2004年，參加了當時在北京舉行的“第二屆北京國際戲劇節(jié)”，演出陣容以坂田藤十郎為首，還包括中村元雀、中村龜鶴等。

在坂田藤十郎在中國演出前夕，筆者于西子湖畔就有關演出及日本歌舞伎傳統(tǒng)藝術問題對這位有“日本梅蘭芳”之稱的坂田藤十郎作了一次采訪：

“坂田藤十郎先生76歲還能演嗎？”

76歲的坂田毫不含糊地回答“能！”他說，“有基本功，有不懈努力，還有進入角色就會忘記年齡的演員本能”。“50年來，他一直是劇團的臺柱子。”坐在一旁的日本松竹株式會社常務董事安孫子正對于他們的“國寶”作補充介紹。顯然，老人非常滿意這句話。

“歌舞伎有危機嗎？”

“歌舞伎是傳統(tǒng)藝術，但它更是現(xiàn)代戲劇。它在日本很紅，因為日本老百姓喜歡。我現(xiàn)在雖然年紀大了，但是一個月還是有25天演出日。目前日本歌舞伎全部由松竹公司運作，松竹公司已經(jīng)有100多年的歷史了，它保護著日本的歌舞伎，歌舞伎也為公司帶來收益。歌舞伎現(xiàn)在是一種商業(yè)行為，但它也是藝術。”坂田對于日本歌舞伎現(xiàn)狀的介紹充滿著自豪。

“50多年前，我就看過梅蘭芳先生的表演，在東京，他的表演特別優(yōu)美，使我一直崇拜他。聽說男旦是京劇的傳統(tǒng)，而現(xiàn)在男旦的傳承面臨危機，對此我非常遺憾。我希望將來中國的傳統(tǒng)戲曲也能得到發(fā)展，我聽說杭州的越劇全由女子演出，非常有趣，它和歌舞伎的全男班演出一定有共通之處。”

“歌舞伎和寶差不多吧？”

“與所有傳統(tǒng)藝術一樣，歌舞伎也在革新。日本最大的歌舞伎劇院曾于7月上演莎士比亞的《第十二夜》，是請日本最專業(yè)的莎士比亞劇導演來導的。這是歌舞伎適應現(xiàn)代社會的一種革新。傳統(tǒng)劇目追求表現(xiàn)手法的創(chuàng)新，而創(chuàng)新劇目則力求最大程度保存歌舞伎傳統(tǒng)的表現(xiàn)形式，來表現(xiàn)現(xiàn)代內(nèi)容。”對于革新，坂田這樣介紹。

有關日本的劇目革新總讓人想到寶，可是當坂田聽到寶和歌舞伎放在一起提問時，就立刻驕傲地連連搖頭，“不不不，大不一樣，寶只是音樂劇，是完全商業(yè)的，而歌舞伎代表著的是日本的文化。”

“這次給杭州帶來的歌舞伎表演，是完全傳統(tǒng)正宗的，從道具到表演完全傳統(tǒng)，絕不會因為迎合觀眾作改變，因為那是歌舞伎。”

“歌舞伎只傳家人不傳外人嗎？”

日本歌舞伎基本上以“父傳子子傳孫”的方式世代傳承。松竹株式會社代表安孫子正說，目前日本僅有的300多個歌舞伎演員全部在“近松座”門下。

安孫子正說：“上個月，日本有位著名歌舞伎演員的孩子，才2歲就登臺了。在日本，歌舞伎演員從8歲至80歲不等。”

“要帶著考古心態(tài)看表演嗎？”

歌舞伎表演的服裝尤其講究，據(jù)說藤十郎先生曾穿戴的一套和服重達15公斤，僅上臺前的裝扮就要花一個多小時。

“我們將帶來百分之百、原汁原味的歌舞伎表演。我希望觀眾不必帶著考古心態(tài)，只要想著這是一臺戲劇表演就可以了。”坂田藤十郎介紹說。

(本文攝影苗軍)

鍵接1603年歌舞伎于日本江戶幕府成立。此前有女性藝人“出云阿國”在北野天滿宮（京都市上京區(qū)的神社）設舞臺，念佛舞蹈，據(jù)說這個舞臺是歌舞伎的起源。歌舞伎歷經(jīng)400余年，已作為日本獨特的傳統(tǒng)戲劇藝術扎根，現(xiàn)在被指定為世界文化遺產(chǎn)。

Kabuki Shows in Hangzhou

By Ning Shengnan

By the time you are reading this article， a Japanese troupe will probably have staged two kabuki plays in the Hangzhou Grand Theater. The event is scheduled for September 9 in the capital city of eastern China coastal Zhejiang Province. The Shochiku Grand Kabuki Chikamatsuza headed by Sakata Tojuro will be staging \"Keiseihaugonko\" and \"Hanabusa Shuchakujishi\".

The year 2007 marks the thirty-fifth year of the normalization of diplomatic ties between China and Japan. It is also the year designed to hold more exchange programs in culture and sports between the two neighboring countries. The event is sponsored by Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries， China-Japan Friendship Association and Shochiku Co Ltd. On its tour to China， the troupe will also visit Beijing， Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The 76-year-old Sakata Tojuro is a living legend of the 400-year-old Japanese drama. Some Chinese believe that he is Japan's Mei Lanfang， China's Peking Opera master in the early 20th century. As the 77-member kabuki troupe will stage all-men performances， Sakata Tojuro will be acting several roles in performances: he will be a beautiful girl in a play and then a powerful lion in the later part of the play.

In an interview， Sakata Tojuro talks about himself， about Kabuki， about Peking Opera.

He says that he can still play the different roles as his performances are all rooted in the solid training he had received decades before and had been improving since then. As an actor， he has the instinct to forget the issue of age when he becomes someone else on the stage. He has been the leading man of the troupe for the past five decades.

Sakata Tojuro watched the Peking Opera performances by Master Mei Lanfang more than 50 years ago in Tokyo. He admired Mei very much. He was sorry to hear that the all-men tradition of Peking Opera is already gone. He hopes Chinese traditional operas will come back and develop again. He is interested to see the all-women Yueju opera performances in Hangzhou. Sakata Tojuro believes that there must be something the all-women Yueju opera performances and the all-men Kabuki performances have in common.

Sakata Tojuro observes that kabuki， like all other traditional arts， is dedicated to innovation for survival and growth. He says that Japan's biggest Kabuki troupe staged Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night in July， 2007. It was directed by the best director of Shakespeare plays in Japan. That event shows how kabuki is bringing innovations into the old tradition.

Sakata Tojuro hates to compare kabuki with takarazuka， another traditional performance in Japan. Takarazuka is a kind of Japanese musical and it has been commercialized whereas kabuki represents the essence of Japanese culture. The two plays to be staged in Hangzhou are authentic kabuki: props and acting are purely traditional. Kabuki never changes itself to cater to audiences.

Kabuki is a family tradition. It always goes from father to son and has been this way for the past 400 years. Now Japan has about 300 kabuki artists and they all belong to the Chikamatsuza.

Sakata Tojuro's suggestion to audience for a better appreciation of Japan's age-old drama tradition: Kabuki is not an antique that needs to be examined from an archaeologist perspective. It is a drama and you can enjoy it.

(Translated by David)