5年“克隆”一座古戲臺

文/ 鄭夢瑩

葛招龍正在創作作品《人生·戲臺》。Ge Zhaolong works on the carving work Life · Stage.

木結構的老宅子，門口青石板鋪地。寧海縣岔路鎮湖頭村的這處宅院中，有一座以寧海傳統戲臺建造技藝純手工打造的精美戲臺。

院子的主人、53歲的寧波市非物質文化遺產寧海傳統戲臺建造技藝代表性傳承人葛招龍，正是憑借這座戲臺，不久前從全國眾多民間工藝美術作品中脫穎而出，摘得第十五屆“中國民間文藝山花獎”。

葛招龍是名副其實的古建筑守護人。這些年來，他先后在寧海及周邊縣市主持修繕了20多座古戲臺。葛招龍說：“好多年前，我就想在自家造個古戲臺，這個愿望如今終于實現了。”戲臺建造完工后，葛招龍為這件作品起了個名字—《人生 · 戲臺》。

沒用一顆釘子 以9000余個木構件組裝完成

見到葛招龍時，他幾乎是整個人趴在一塊木料上，手眼并用，正為一塊雕花板劃出一個圓潤的花骨朵。

木匠做雕花，眼睛就是把尺子，得目不轉睛地盯著手頭的木料，恰到好處的手勁也少不了。“這可是個細致活！”刻刀劃到底，葛招龍的雙手松了下來，轉過頭來對記者說。

《人生 · 戲臺》正是在這樣一刀一刀的精雕細琢中成型—這是一座飛檐翹角、雕梁畫棟的木制仿古戲臺，形制為四翹角歇山式，外形高6.6米，長、寬各5.3米，臺面離地0.6米，大小是常見戲臺的一半，可觀賞，也可用于演出。

對于它，有的讀者或許并不陌生。2021年8月，第五屆浙江工藝美術雙年展在浙江展覽館舉辦，222件作品上演了一場浙江民間藝術“寶藏秀”。《人生 · 戲臺》就在其中。

《人生 · 戲臺》是參評本屆“山花獎”作品中體量最大的一件，要把它搬到參評現場，須用集裝箱運載。“當時，我們10多個專業工匠花了五六天時間跟班拆卸、拼裝。”葛招龍回憶道。

如今，這件龐然大物在外“游歷”幾番后，又回到了葛招龍的老宅中。站在戲臺的臺階上，他向記者講述著戲臺背后的故事。

“看，這就是藻井，是整件作品中制作最難的部分。”順著他的示意，記者抬頭向上，看到戲臺的螺旋藻井如花朵層層綻放。這自右向左盤旋而上的造型，由16層木質構件層層堆疊而成，一層一層盤成喇叭狀。

令人驚嘆的是，這件精美絕倫的作品由9000余個木構件組成，卻沒用一顆釘子。“這些都是用榫卯結構對接交疊出來的。”葛招龍說，“要嚴絲合縫，不然拼不起來”。

此外，戲臺制作中使用了浮雕、圓雕、透雕等雕刻手法。“選料也很有講究，使用了香樟木、烏楮木、老柏木等，都是有些年份的木材。”葛招龍說。

從小就很向往 戲臺是“神圣的地方”

寧海被稱為“中國古戲臺文化之鄉”。明清以來，在寧海建的廟宇、祠堂都有戲臺。當地如今現存的古戲臺有120余座，其中10座是國家重點文物保護單位。《人生 ·戲臺》的原型，就是全國重點文物保護單位之一—寧海縣城隍廟古戲臺。

對這座古戲臺，葛招龍再熟悉不過。2017年一年中，他就往這里跑了20多趟，就像小時候看戲那樣端詳著戲臺，每次一待就要大半天。“別看這些木頭塊塊似乎普通，這可是寧海戲臺文化的靈魂。”

愛上戲臺文化時，葛招龍還是個孩子。他常跟長輩去村里的古戲臺看戲，在戲臺前蹲著坐著、聽著敲鑼打鼓聲就長大了，“對我來說，戲臺是個神圣的地方，從小就很向往”。葛招龍說，他因此一直想在家中建一座仿古戲臺。

理想很豐滿，現實很“骨感”。仿造古戲臺，費力費時又費錢，談何容易！葛招龍曾在心里琢磨了許久。首先就面臨一個很現實的問題，費用太多。這些年，他雖然攢了點錢，但還不足以承擔這筆費用。“你干什么，錢多了？”最開始，妻子就提出了質疑。

不過，隨著心中的念想越來越強烈，葛招龍最終還是沒忍住與志同道合的朋友念叨念叨，“賠錢也想干”。想不到葛招龍一說，朋友們紛紛響應。箭在弦上不得不發，他帶著幾個工匠，一咬牙就干了起來。

從采風到設計，從構件制作到整體搭建，再到改進、完善，這個純手工打造的“古戲臺”前前后后花費近4000個工時。“圖紙就畫了一年，找尋合適的雕刻構件用了兩年多時間。這些都準備好后，我們就在這個院子中開工搭臺。搭了拆、拆了搭，反反復復，足足又花費一年才完工。前前后后，總共用了5年時間。”葛招龍掐指算道。

“畫一張圖紙就要這么久？”面對記者的疑惑，葛招龍耐心地解答起來：修復古戲臺時，可以一層一層地把構件拆下來，把損壞的部分挑出來進行修補或替換，再按原樣一個一個拼裝回去。但“克隆”一座比例縮小一半的古戲臺，還要融寧海古戲臺之長，沒有現成的資料可參考，相當于從“白紙一張”開始畫。

《人生·戲臺》。Life · Stage.

《人生·戲臺》局部。Life · Stage (partial).

葛招龍與工友正在創作作品《人生·戲臺》。Ge Zhaolong and his colleagues work on the carving work Life · Stage.

為此，葛招龍只能一趟一趟跑，一來到古戲臺前，就坐下來細細琢磨祖輩口口相傳的技藝口訣，并結合多年修復古戲臺的實踐經驗，在薄木板上按比例描摹、切割出戲臺的每一個部件。打樣后，才能一個一個拼接起來看效果，不行就推倒重來，一改再改。

修復古建筑 10多年來需求漸旺

“最近還有項目正在做嗎？”記者問。“項目怎么能沒有呢，一直有的。”葛招龍說。

葛招龍的確很忙，結束《人生 · 戲臺》這個大工程后，他一直沒停歇，最近又開始忙于修復敦義堂，有時候甚至來不及看手機回復消息。敦義堂位于寧海縣西店鎮嶺口村，是典型的清代早期浙東地區宗祠建筑，占地面積約1200多平方米，其部分木質建筑構件已存在不同程度的變質、糟朽。

葛招龍18歲拜師學藝，曾靠著一手精湛的木作技藝走南闖北。后來行業式微，他一度放下手中的工具箱，做起了小生意。不過，兜兜轉轉，這門手藝在鄉村振興的大背景下又有了用武之地。

2011年，葛招龍發現古建筑修復需求越來越多，于是喊上四里八鄉的能工巧匠，組建了一支古建筑修復隊，開始承接各種各樣的古建筑修復項目。從2014年起至今，他們已經修復古建筑160余處。

對于老物件，葛招龍有著天然的情結。在別人眼里一條普普通通甚至是破敗的老街，在他看來卻樣樣是寶，一個屋檐、一塊木雕、一片瓦當，他都要用手機拍下來。在他的手機相冊中，古建筑修復工地和這些老物件的圖片最多。

“大家對古建筑的保護越來越重視了。這些老祖宗的‘遺產’，讓我心存敬畏，我一定要守護好。”葛招龍說。

How to “Clone” an Ancient Opera Stage?

By Zheng Mengying

A wooden structured old house, with dark flagstones paved in front of the gate. Inside it, located at Hutou village, Chalu township, Ninghai county of Ningbo city, there lies an exquisite opera stage hand-carved using the traditional Ninghai opera stage building craft.

The owner of the house, 53-year-old Ge Zhaolong, is a representative inheritor of the crafting technique of ancient opera stages, which has been listed as Ningbo’s intangible cultural heritage. It is thanks to opera stage that Ge recently won the 15th Shanhua Award, the highest folk-art honor in China.

Ge is a veritable keeper of ancient buildings. Over the years,he has been in charge of repairing more than 20 ancient opera stages in Ninghai and in the surrounding counties and cities. “I have long wanted to build an ancient stage in our house, and my wish has finally come true,” said Ge. For the award-winning work,Ge named it “Life · Stage”.

Right now, Ge is finishing another piece of work, with him almost lying on his stomach on a piece of wood carving out a round flower bud for a carved board. For a woodcarver like Ge, his eyes are like the ruler, as he must have them constantly fixated on the wood pieces at hand.

“It is a most delicate job!” Ge chuckled.

has been created through such meticulous carving.It is a richly ornamented wooden antique stage with flying rafters.Adopting aor hip-and-gable roof style, the stage measures 6.6 meters in height and 5.3 meters in length and width. With a stage height of 0.6 meters, it is about half the size of a regular stage, and can be both a work of art to be admired and an actual stage to be used.

As the biggest piece of work to compete for the Shanhua Award in 2022,needed to be put into a container before it was moved to the place where all the entries were evaluated and judged. “At that time, more than 10 professional craftsmen spent five to six days disassembling and assembling the stage,” Ge recalled.

Now standing on the steps of the stage inside his house, Ge began to tell the story behind it.

“Look, this is the caisson, the most intricate part of the whole piece,” said Ge. Spiraling from right to left, 16 layers of wooden components stack on top of each other, each layer coiled in the shape of a trumpet.

What is most amazing is that not a single nail or screw is used for the stage, which is made up of more than 9,000 wooden pieces.“They have been connected via the traditional mortise and tenon structure,” said Ge. “Therefore, each piece needs to be carefully calibrated, or else they wouldn’t fit together.”

In addition, different carving techniques such as relief, round carving, pierced carving. “Some of the best raw materials have been selected, including camphor wood, mulberry wood and cedarwood,” according to Ge.

Known as the hometown of Chinese ancient opera stage culture, Ninghai county is home to over 120 ancient opera stages,10 of which are listed as national key cultural relic protection units and have been around since the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The inspiration foris the Chenghuang (City God) Temple operat stage in the county.

Ge couldn’t be more familiar with the stage. In 2017, he made more than 20 trips, spending half a day every time examining the stage as he did during childhood. “Although these pieces of wood seem ordinary, they are the soul of Ninghai’s opera stage culture.”

Ge fell in love with the stage culture when he was a small child. He often went to the ancient stage of his village to watch opera performances with his elders. He grew up squatting and sitting in front of the stage, listening to the beating of gongs and drums. “For me, the stage is a sacred place,” Ge said. Indeed, he had long hoped to build an antique stage in his home.

But the realities can be harsh. To build an ancient stage is no easy task at all, which is laborious, time-consuming and costly. Ge had thought about it for a long time. To begin with, where could he find all the money? Although he had some savings over the years, they were far from enough to cover the costs. “What are you doing? Have too much money to burn?” Ge’s wife raised doubts even before he started out.

圖為葛招龍正在創作作品《人生·戲臺》。Ge Zhaolong works on the carving work Life · Stage.

However, as the desire grew stronger in his mind, eventually Ge couldn’t resist telling like-minded friends that he would like to work on it even if he lost money. Unexpectedly, his friends responded readily to his call.These craftsmen set to work at once with him.

From field trips to design,then from component production to overall construction, and to further improvement and perfection, nearly 4,000 hours have been spent on this handmade ancient stage. “The drawings took a year and the carving more than two years,” Ge said. “When all were ready, we set to work in the courtyard, building before tearing everything down, over and over again, which took another year.”

When restoring an ancient stage, the components can be removed layer by layer, the damaged parts can be picked out for repair or replacement, and then put back together one by one.However, to “clone” an ancient stage with half the size is no simple matter, as there is no readily available information for reference,which is equivalent to starting from scratch.

Hence Ge’s multiple trips to the Chenghuang Temple ancient stage. Every time when he came to it, he would sit down,carefully remunerating the craft handed down to him orally over the generations through pithy formulas. Combining his years of practical experience in repairing ancient stages, he would paint and cut out each part of the stage in proportion on a thin wooden board. Each component would then be made and connected. If it didn’t work, Ge would have to redraw, recalibrate and remake each part, time and again.

Lately Ge is quite busy. He has been working on the restoration of an ancestral hall in a nearby village after completing—sometimes he doesn’t even have time to check his phone to reply to messages.

In 2011, Ge found that there was a growing demand for the restoration of ancient buildings, so he called on skilled craftsmen in neighboring towns and villages, organized them into a team specializing in restoring ancient architecture and began to undertake various projects. Since 2014, they have restored more than 160 ancient buildings.

Ge has a natural affection for old objects.An ordinary or even dilapidated old street would be treasures in his eyes. He would take photos of eaves, pieces of wood carving and tiles. In his cellphone photo album are all those restoration sites and “old” objects.

“People are paying more and more attention to the protection of ancient buildings,” Ge said. “I’m simply awed by these heritages passed down from our ancestors, and I will everything I can to protect them.”