The Artistic Features of Suzhou Pingtan

1, the characteristics of Suzhou Pinghua

Slow and tactful

Suzhou Pinghua is an oral language art of telling stories in Suzhou dialect. Its language consists of two parts: the first person is the language of the storyteller, and the third person is the language of the characters in the story, and the former is the main one. This is qualitatively different from the vernacular drama. It tells stories, not plays them. The first-person language is called Biao, the third-person language is Bai, and Biao and Bai are mainly prose, and they don't sing much. But there are also a few rhymes used for chanting, including praise, hanging mouth, introduction and rhyme. Praise is used to describe scenery and objects, and to render and compare the psychological state and personality characteristics of characters. Hanging up is the self-introduction of the character. Introduction is the introduction or theme of the storyteller's book. Rhyme and white is the expression of verse or white, the narrative of plot, or the summary of the previous paragraph.

Suzhou Pinghua attaches great importance to Jue, and it is said that Jue is the treasure of books. The comic factor produced in the development of the contradiction between characters and plots is called "physical humor", which is used as an example, foil, metaphor and explanatory episode. It is called "external flower arrangement". Similarly, making the audience laugh with a few words is also called "selling".

2. Suzhou Pinghua Performance

The performances of Pinghua include "hand face" and "face wind". This kind of action and expression can also be divided into two categories: the storyteller and the characters in the story. The actions and expressions of storytellers are explanatory and used to express their emotions and attitudes. The actions and expressions of the characters in the story are spoken by the storyteller in a language similar to the characters in the story, including pronunciation and intonation, which is called "playing a role". Playing a role is an imitation of the characters in the story, rather than the actor appearing as the characters in the story. "The appearance is still me." Storytellers always appear on the desk as actors. This is also qualitatively different from the performance of drama.

Pinghua performance has formed different styles and schools because of the different characteristics of actors' sentences, languages and roles. If some actors are rigorous and their language is basically fixed after repeated tempering, this is the so-called "square mouth". Some improvise, have flowers at the root of the tongue, are good at improvising, adapt to different audiences, and change at will, which is called "living mouth". Some actors say that epigrams are like couplets, which are powerful and forceful, and they are "dry in one bite" or "quick in one bite". On the contrary, it is "slow mouth". Some actors are good at saying what they say, and they play fewer roles. This is the so-called "flat talk". Some are good at playing a certain role, such as "Fire Official", "Huozhou Jade" and "Shen Zhi".

3. Bibliography of Suzhou Pinghua

There are about 50 traditional bibliographies of Suzhou Pinghua. A kind of historical stories, such as Western Han Dynasty, Eastern Han Dynasty, Three Kingdoms, Sui and Tang Dynasties, Golden Gun, Yue Chuan, Heroes and Heroes, etc. They are all called "relying on books for a long time", and the other is "short writing", which tells the story of heroes and chivalrous men. There are also fairy tales and case-solving books, such as The List of Gods, Biography of Qi Huangong, Gong Peng Case, Stone Case, etc.

Suzhou Pinghua, a long story, is told every day. Say it once a day for about an hour and a half. We can talk for months, or we can talk for a year and a half. The characteristics of this novel form a special technique of comment structure. Single-line sequence, using the method of talking about the future first and then revisiting the past. Use "imprisonment" to create suspense to attract the audience. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Suzhou Pinghua created and adapted a number of new bibliographies, such as Jiangnan Red, Flying Tigers, Linhai Snowfield, Fire and Gold, and Armed Behind the Enemy. There are also some short stories.

The performance area of Suzhou Tanci is not from Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province in the south, but from Changzhou in the west, Changshu in the north and Songjiang in Shanghai in the east. Small area, many artists and different audience needs force artists to explore innovative books, new tunes and new performance styles. During the Tongzhi and Guangxu periods, Suzhou was one of the "last four outstanding figures" in the development history of Pingtan. Among these four artists, three are Tanci artists, who made Suzhou Tanci establish their own artistic system: the prose part of calligraphy is expressed by "saying"; Narrating and describing the behavior, thoughts and activity environment of the characters in the story is called "table"; Character language is called "white"; Seven-character rhythmic poems in calligraphy and lyrics are played and sung by Sanxian and Pipa, accompanied by each other, which are called "singing" and "playing"; It is called "unique" to intersperse comedy factors in the story; Actors imitate the expressions, language, intonation and some actions of the characters in the story, which is called "acting" or "learning" and also called "doing".

The performance of Suzhou Tanci usually focuses on speaking with singing in the middle. When singing, it is often accompanied by sanxian or pipa, and when speaking, it can also be used as props to clap your hands and gather gas. The qupai used in singing is a banqiang storytelling song, the so-called "book tune". Because many musical genres have been formed in the circulation, "book tune" is also called "tone". In the early stage, most of the performances were three-stringed "single-file rap" for a male artist, and later there were two-person "double-file" and three-person "third-file" performances.

Suzhou Tanci has a profound artistic tradition and developed skills. Pay attention to "rap" "Say" refers to narration; "Jue" means "putting Jue", which means making people laugh; "Playing" refers to the accompaniment of Sanxian or Pipa, which can not only play but also sing, and also accompany and contrast each other; "Singing" means singing. Among them, the means of "saying" are very rich, including narration, endorsement, explanation, discussion and so on. In the long-term rap performance, artists have formed different expression techniques and skills, such as official confession, private confession, confession, contrast and support, which can not only express the characters' ideological activities, inner monologues and dialogues, but also describe, explain and comment in the tone of storytellers. Artists also learn Bai Ke techniques such as Kunqu Opera and Peking Opera, and use voice changes, body movements and facial expressions to "express in words", express feelings and shape characters. In the pursuit of aesthetics, the manager is well versed in it. People who have a taste are also resisted by thoughts. I'm relieved if it's interesting. Very good, very elegant. Skilled people, time is also. "

There are dozens of traditional representative programs, such as San Xiao, Biography of Wopao, Description of golden phoenix, Biography of White Snake, Jade Dragonfly and Pearl Tower. Early famous artists included Wang, Chen Yugan, Mao Changpei, Yu Xiushan, Lu Ruiting, Yao, Zhao Xiangzhou and Wang Shiquan. A large number of actresses appeared in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. Since 1930s, with the rise of radio, Suzhou Tanci has entered its heyday, with rich programs and diverse genres. According to the musical style of singing, there are Shen (Jian 'an) tune, Xue (Xiaoqing) tune, Wei (Yuqing) tune, Xia (harmony) tune and Zhou (Yuquan) tune.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the art of Suzhou Tanci has made a leap in art through the conscious reform and innovation of artists. New programs are constantly emerging, such as White-Haired Girl, Biography of Heroes of New Children, Li Chuangwang, Song of Youth, Bitter Cabbage Flower, Hongyan, Wildfire Beats Ancient City, Red Seed, Jiangnan Red, Seizing India, Li Shuangshuang and so on. As well as novellas and independent performances.