《臨川夢影》別有情

在春風送暖的春天，浙江昆劇團新排昆劇《臨川夢影》，在夢幻般的詩意江南驚艷登場：

號稱精華版《臨川四夢》的《臨川夢影》，在浙江勝利劇院首次公演，受到戲迷觀眾熱情追捧。浙江大學的精英戲迷團有不少是教授、博士、外教，早早地來到劇院，等候開演；各路戲劇界專家、藝術家紛紛前來，評頭品足，嘖嘖稱贊，驚呼“好戲！好戲！”；劇院里的人說，很久沒有出現上演傳統戲劇時如此火爆的情景了……

如此盛況，讓團長兼導演林為林激動不已。

“一夜四夢”真精華

經典不朽之作，總會引起人們的情感共鳴。明代偉大的文學家、戲劇家湯顯祖的巨作《臨川四夢》就是其中的典型代表。

常言道“濃縮的才是精華”。臺灣白先勇先生搞青春版《牡丹亭》時，把55出3個晚上的原版，壓縮成一臺戲。這次浙昆推出“精華版”《臨川夢影》，并非簡單“壓縮”而已。這《臨川四夢》的全版足本，共有182出戲，上海昆劇團曾排過5本的《臨川四夢》，觀眾要花5個晚上才能看完。在現代快節奏的都市生活中，這無疑有點拖沓。如何把4個故事濃縮在兩小時，讓觀眾一晚看完四夢？林為林把創排《臨川四夢》這個20多年來的夢想，與這個四夢合一的“夢影”結合起來，選取四夢精華，如第一夢《紫釵記》的“折柳陽關”一折“夢影”，第二夢《牡丹亭》常演不衰的“驚夢”、“尋夢”……精選的“四夢”折子如何串聯？林為林別出心裁，增加了作者湯顯祖本人作為核心人物來串場，并由國家一級演員、浙昆副團長程偉兵領銜主演。

林為林在選取精華折子、重組合成時，兼顧角色分配上各有側重，《紫釵記》《牡丹亭》側重生旦戲、文戲為主，《南柯記》側重武生戲，《邯鄲記》側重老生戲，這樣“文武雙全”，老少同臺，生旦競美，充分展現昆劇藝術的無窮魅力。這樣的濃縮，不同于“機械壓縮”，也不是“等比縮放”，而是各自選取“四夢”精華，重新有機組合，原有四夢組合成新的夢；新夢看似一夢，其實仍有四夢在。這樣的精華，無疑是精華中的精華！于是，一出新戲——精華版《臨川夢影》誕生了。

素有“昆劇界第一武生”之稱、名滿天下的“江南一條腿”林為林，曾兩度獲得中國戲劇“梅花獎”，身為國家級非物質文化遺產項目代表性傳承人，20年來最沉迷的便是湯顯祖和他的經典名著《臨川四夢》。如今，他的夢終于圓了。“其實，《紫釵記》說的是俠，《牡丹亭》說的是情，《南柯記》說的是佛，《邯鄲記》說的是仙。”這是他導演“夢影”后的心得。

夢中有夢“蒙太奇”

把原著作者湯顯祖這個人物，以四夢折子戲之間“串場”的角色入戲，作為整臺戲的一根紅線，起到了引導觀眾和貫穿全戲的靈魂作用，這是浙昆這臺新戲在昆劇藝術表演樣式上的最大亮點。戲中有戲，夢中有夢，原著編劇與劇中角色，演員與原著編劇，演員與戲中角色，在同一時空場景中如夢似幻地組合、交替、展現在一起。

借用電影蒙太奇手法，讓人物和時空在舞臺上交錯，使原著者創作“四夢”時的夢中內心所思所想，與舞臺角色演員的當下表演，交織在既定的情景中。畫外音式的念白，也起到了畫龍點睛的作用。雖然這樣的手法，并非是林為林首次試用，但對傳統戲劇的表演來說，絕對是一個大膽的嘗試。這樣的手法可以幫助觀眾理解演員表演的角色的特定性格，較快地進入到戲的情境中去，也起到“提醒”的作用。

林為林說：“我們這臺戲充分尊重原著，不做大的修改，舞美設計說到底是為表演、情節服務，為人物、為內容服務，再怎么變，也不能脫離這個宗旨。這臺戲的舞美設計很簡約，只是四個曲牌的屏風，在變換組合中起到標題招牌的作用。而昆劇藝術的精華——唱腔詞曲、身段功夫，這些昆劇藝術本質和風格的東西不能變，不僅要繼承傳統，還要強化傳統。”在舞美燈光上，這臺戲基本是傳統的屏風桌椅，沒有多余的奢華的聲光電高科技的東西，讓人感覺似曾相識，樸素淡雅、簡約莊重的舞美風格，保留了昆劇藝術原汁原味的形式美。

“夢回故里”傳至情

今年是“東方莎士比亞”——湯顯祖誕辰460周年。在他當年任知縣的遂昌縣，“湯顯祖文化·勸農節”應時舉辦。浙江昆劇團帶著《臨川夢影》，也“夢回故里”，在遂昌舉辦了盛大的“省親”活動。用林為林的話來說，就是“尋根訪祖”來了！

明萬歷二十一年至二十六年，湯顯祖任遂昌知縣，勤政愛民，興教辦學，勸農耕作，政績顯著。而讓他與遂昌結下千古情緣的，是他在這里完成了不朽之作《牡丹亭》。

湯顯祖在明末“滅才情而尊吏法”的禮法社會，高揚“情至”大旗，倡導“天地之性人為貴”，一生坎坷，探索生命情感的價值和人生的意義，留下了彪炳千秋的《臨川四夢》，影響深遠。30歲時，他創作了第一夢《紫釵記》，講述了霍小玉與書生李益喜結良緣，被盧太尉設局陷害，黃衫俠客從中幫助，終于消除誤會的幻夢；49歲時，他創作了第二夢《牡丹亭》，描寫了久居深閨的杜麗娘因夢生情、傷情而死，人鬼相戀，起死回生，終于與柳夢梅永結同心的癡情；51歲時，他創作第三夢《南柯記》，被稱為“人生秋天的失落之夢”，講述了書生淳于棼夢中做大槐安國駙馬，任南柯太守，一度飛黃騰達，但因妻子身亡，空虛無度，終因穢聲四起而被逐出宮門，夢醒后皈依佛門的故事；52歲時，他創作第四夢《邯鄲記》，講述盧生夢中娶妻，又中狀元，建功勛于朝廷，后遭陷害被放逐，再度返朝做宰相，享盡榮華富貴，死后醒來，方知是一場黃粱夢，因此而悟道的故事。四夢寓意，道盡人生如夢，惟有情至真的人性真諦。

遂昌古城，古樸雅致的湯顯祖紀念館，春雨過后，在名叫“姹紫嫣紅”的戲臺，一副“良辰美景奈何天，賞心樂事誰家院”的對聯，正出自《牡丹亭》的故事；回廊燈紅，細雨如歌，“則為你如花美眷，似水流年……”的詞兒，悠揚婉轉地響起。古樸的戲臺，無需燈光，沒有樂隊，就憑玉笛一支，“杜麗娘”和“柳夢梅”便顧盼傳情。觀眾贊美之余，紛紛要求演員們簽名和合影留念。

“夢之情至性，別之離情真，趣之味生形，覓之境隨心。”這次浙昆新推《臨川夢影》，全團上下，傾力獻演。除了導演林為林、主演程衛兵，胡娉飾霍小玉，曾杰飾李益，楊昆飾杜麗娘，毛文霞飾柳夢梅，項衛東飾淳于棼，白云飾瑤芳公主，胡立楠飾檀蘿太子，鮑晨飾盧生，整臺戲清一色由靚麗的青年演員擔綱，閃亮登場，熠熠生輝。至于唱腔、服裝、造型、道具、樂隊、舞美、武打等設計團隊，總人數有60多人，可謂傾情獻演，傾力打造，滿臺生旦，風華無限。

New Kunqu Gala Honors Four Dreams of Linchuan

By Ah Cheng

To celebrate the 460th anniversary of the birthday of Tang Xianzu (1550-1616)， the Zhejiang Kunqu Opera Troupe launched a performance that condenses the four masterpieces of the great playwright into one in 2010. Tang actually wrote five: “The Purple Flute”， “The Purple Hairpin”， “The Peony Pavilion”， “Record of Handan”， and “Record of Southern Bough”. The new play integrates the last four into a gala show. It was a twofold challenge for Lin Weilin， chief executive of the troupe.

Lin himself is a kongfu actor with a 20-year career in Kunqu opera and has won two Plum Flower Awards， China’s Oscar Awards for best performance of theater artists. But the new performance was his first challenge as a director’s debut. No sooner had he completed his two-year director course at Shanghai Theater Academy than he tried to integrate the four plays into one grand show. The four masterpieces are traditionally called “Four Dreams of Linchuan” collectively for each presents a dream as a key factor for plot development and traditionally the four dreams run through 182 scenes. Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe once staged a complete show of the four dreams and it ran five consecutive evenings. When Kenneth Pai (Bai Xianyong) from Taiwan launched his youth version of “The Peony Pavilion”， he condensed all of the 55 scenes through three evenings into a one evening glory.

Lin knew five evenings was definitely out of the question. He needed something compact and good enough to attract audiences and yet retain the best of the four masterpieces. His solution was to select the dream scenes from the four plays and added a character that the four plays do not have: Tang Xianzu himself. The playwright acts as a narrator on the stage and puts the four separate stories together. The result is a two-hour show that glorifies Kunqu and pays homage to the playwright.

The combination of the four required a lot of thinking. Lin highlighted the beauty of each play: “The Purple Hairpin” and “The Peony Pavilion” are romances that give young performers a gold opportunity to show off their singing excellence. “Record of Southern Bough” gives the kongfu players the best time whereas “Record of Handan” needs a good actor， young or otherwise， to show how he acts out a bearded mid-aged or older man. The combination thus avoids looking like a mechanical integration of the four dreams. The four dreams come together like montages.

And the new play is a good experiment for the genre to seek a way to retain its original charm and yet cultivate a healthy growth for future. Lin holds fast to this principle for a reason: nowadays many traditional operas are adding trendy touches for performance， a practice disapproved of by many traditionalists. They contend that too much attention to garish lighting， dazzling costumes， complicated sets and stage art designs can only distract audience and weaken the true and original beauty of operas. According to Lin， what counts in any opera play is performers’ quality and their performance that can yields only from many years of hard and solid training. To avoid emphasizing superfluous points， Lin says he had high respect for the original scripts and made few changes. The stage design is most simple: only four screens and a basic set of one table and two chairs. No high-tech gadgets at all.

The new play made its public debut on March 25， 2010 in Suichang. In order to honor the playwright who served as magistrate in Suichang， a county in southern Zhejiang， and wrote “The Peony Pavilion” during his six-year tenure there， Zhejiang Kunqu Opera Troupe traveled from Hangzhou to the county and premiered the play there. The audience in the county was thrilled.

On April 1， 2010， the play made its first Hangzhou appearance at Victory Theater， attracting a galaxy of experts and critics， celebrities， and enthusiasts from higher education circles including a group of professors， foreign guest teachers and doctoral students.

Zhejiang Kunqu Opera Troupe committed a full range of resources to ensure the success of the play. More than 60 artists participated. Cheng Weibing acted as Tang Xianzu. All the other characters were performed by young artists. All the arias were composed by Zhou Xuehua， a preeminent composer with Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe; the scripts were edited by Zhou Shiduan from a family of Kunqu Opera masters and now a director with the Zhejiang Kunqu Opera Troupe.