Twenty minutes with the angel - meeting Vasuta for the first time

When I was in college, I participated in the performance of "20 Minutes with Angels" in the Chinese Opera Festival in the school drama club. In the show, I play the role of Vasuta, a hotel waiter.

When I first saw this name, a series of rustic Chinese names such as Li Xiuyun, Zhang Cuilan, and Wang Guifang came to my mind, plus their positions as hotel attendants, so for the first time I connected with the character. When we met, we intuitively felt that she was a little person at the bottom of society.

In the script, the playwright gave a hint that this was an older, tired woman with a shrill voice. Since the character did not have any sense of beauty, she was just an insensitive old lady who had been tortured by society. There were not many roles and it was difficult, so no one wanted to play the role, so the director found me. I was both worried and excited about receiving a role that was far away from my own life. On the one hand, I am afraid that if I have not experienced the character's experience, I will not be able to reflect the richness and three-dimensionality of the suffering woman; on the other hand, I can challenge different lives and the psychology of a character whose love is quite different from my own, from the perspective of a complete stranger. This is a period in my life that I am looking forward to.

The drama tells the story of truck driver Anqiu Jin and salesman Ugarov who found themselves penniless the next day after being hungover in the hotel. After shouting out the window to borrow money, there really was a man named Hemu. Tov's people sent them a hundred rubles. This made Anchukin and Ugarov very nervous, because they did not understand this person's motives at all. Later they learned that Khmutov had not visited his mother for six years, and even did not fulfill his filial piety when his mother died. I felt so guilty that I planned to use my money to help the first person who needed it. At this moment, I happened to hear Anchukin’s cry...

For the hero of the drama: Khmutov, we initially set him as a simple, kind-hearted, and a little naive , a selfless person like Xu Sanduo. In fact, this setting is not three-dimensional enough. The hint given by the playwright is that he often has moments when he is controlled by certain emotions. In addition, Khmutov's long monologue at the end of the play makes it obvious that this is a man with a story. He is a person with a story, a person who has reformed his evil ways and has accumulated strength for a long time. He wants to do seemingly crazy good things, but he is a little unsure about doing good things. Therefore, compared to the character setting with a pure heart, the process from when he first entered the door to when he was tied up should be more erratic - his behavior is normal and his attitude is normal, but a little unnatural. He wanted to rescue Anchukin and Ugarov, but actually he wanted to save himself. His performance felt like Fang Wen, played by Deng Chao, in "Li Mi's Conjecture", laughing and saying that Li Mi felt like he had recognized the wrong person - in a way, not only did he not recognize Li Mi anymore, but he also By myself.

From beginning to end, Khmutov was a sane person, neither arrogant nor arrogant. He just didn't want to tell everyone the whole story from the beginning. After all, he hadn't seen his mother in six years. When her mother passed away, Khmutov, who had a lot of money in his pocket, didn't even show his filial piety to his mother. Make him not want to face it. The mixture of regret and guilt made him think of some way to make up for his mistakes, so he happened to hear someone "asking for help" in the hotel, and he regarded this as an opportunity for God to atone for his sins. Unexpectedly, the two people who "asked for help" did not appreciate the charity after receiving it. Compared with the reckless driver Anchukin, the clever salesman Ugarov, the arrogant Stupak, or the kind-hearted Fayingna, he is all mature.

In my opinion, Vasuta’s feelings for Khmutov are probably not just from the perspective of a stranger watching the fun. When Khmutov told his story, Vasuta, who is getting older, may be thinking of her son. Although this so-called son is around all the time, he is a debt collector who cannot be beaten away. She wished that she had not given birth to this son, that she had not married her husband, and that her child would not have to gamble. In Vasuta's repetitive life day after day, the colors are all gray.

I take a mop every day and clean up the vomit of the alcoholic guests of this cheap hotel. I earn a meager salary to support the life of the entire family. I also have to face the beatings of my husband, the abuse of my children, and the endless fight between the two killers. Leak her money and her life. Because of this, when Ugarov tried to borrow money from Vasuta, she showed instinctive defense and grudge, and even acted like a shrew who "if you don't need money, you will need your life." Faced with such an environment, does she have the conditions to escape? As a person at the bottom of society, if she escaped, she might have to sleep on the street at night, because her husband and son would definitely kick her out, and she would not even have a place to live. No one could help her even a little bit. That is to say, the existence of God can bring her comfort, so she sees through the indifference of the world, and then reveals the ugly face of her new husband Stupak to the kind-hearted Faina. It's just that in front of her, she has seen so many people's warmth and coldness, the world's bleakness, and she believes that all ugliness has a reason and can be revealed and understood.

What I didn’t expect was that the drama Vasuta encountered that day really seemed like God sent an angel down. It would be great if she had such a son. Even if he was far away, not seeing her once for 6 years would be better than torture day after day. Vasuta couldn't think about her family, she would shed tears just thinking about it. Facing this polite and fair child in front of me, I actually said that he was also an alcoholic at first... Vasuta felt very guilty. This is a good thing that Vasuta has always expected but dare not hope for. Strangers help strangers. Vasuta plays a key role in the whole play.

In my impression, the worse off women are, the fatter they are. But because my face is contoured and I don’t look fat, it took me about two months to gain 10 pounds. Although it's not much, his face is obviously rounder. In order to create this character, I specially borrowed a set of waiter's clothes from the manager of the school guest house, plus a pair of cloth zip-top shoes. I always feel like something is missing. Because Vasuta is so old and lives such an unsatisfactory life, she has long "no need to worry about appearance and face", so she doesn't feel awkward even if she dresses exaggeratedly. So I specially prepared a pair of bright purple long-waisted socks, which appeared and disappeared as I walked, showing my embarrassment. Due to the torture of life, Vasuta has a very tenacious vitality. She can be regarded as a diligent woman with the simplicity of working people. As long as she puts on rubber gloves and picks up a mop and broom, she moves quickly and shows that Get enough experience. Because he was wearing rubber gloves, Vasuta's hands were also "bent" to pay tribute to the old gentleman.

During the rehearsal process, I also encountered insurmountable bottlenecks. As soon as Vasuta came on the court, he would get very angry and ask Ugarov, "Can I clean the house?" I never found the feeling of being "very angry". At this time, the director asked the actor who played Ugarov to spit on the ground after I came on stage. When I, as a Vasuta, saw his action, it suddenly aroused my "annoyed" feeling. The inner subtext naturally became: "You bunch of drunkards with no sense of hygiene, you have ruined a good house to what extent. I have to restore it to its original state. I can't wait to let you lick your spit clean." …” From another perspective, if you want to create a good stage character, communication and adaptation with your co-performers are also very important. After you really listen, watch, and feel, you will naturally have corresponding emotional experiences, and then further The guidance of the earth is reflected, so "the anger doesn't come from one place" becomes natural.

My encounter with Vasuta made me realize that life is not easy and that some things are not as they seem. On the day of the performance, my classmate’s parents also came to support me. When I met that parent by chance a few years later, the first thing she said to me was: You are the girl who played the old lady who played the hotel waiter back then, right? Thinking that she still has an impression after all these years. Although the Grand Theater Festival did not achieve any results, the memory of refining the script over and over again is the most cherished period for me.

To paraphrase the ending of Mr. Huang Zongluo’s words: “As a drama actor, I have very little talent, but I believe in diligence, not ordinary diligence, but in loving the character so much that I am willing to do it. Give your whole body and soul to the character. You should be silly, intoxicated, and crazy. Let the character come back to life through the actor's body and soul. I think this is what it means. This is the beautiful creative realm that we actors strive to pursue.”f