What was the first comedy in New China?

Before the arrival of the new director

Produced in 1956

Director: Actor: Pu Sammul Chan Guangting

Producer: changchun film studio

One late spring morning, the office of the director of XX Bureau. Liu Shanqi, the chief of general affairs, went to work early and was busy with the preparations before the arrival of the new director. He called the company and asked them to send a set of sofas and spring bed for the new director. Zhu Ling from the Ministry of Construction and an ordinary servant named Wei Dai came to the office noisily. She suggested to section chief Liu, "It is raining heavily today, and our 300 bags of cement can no longer be stored in the open air." Liu said that he had no house and promised to find a way after work. In order to please the new director, he asked the construction department to vacate the house where cement was piled up and carefully decorate it into the new director's office, and the original director's office was changed into his own office. Comrade Zhong came to the General Affairs Section to ask for the maintenance of the leaking dormitory, and said that he had contacted Zhang, the boss of the construction company, and would come to repair it soon. Lao Li, a worker, promised to take him to see section chief Liu when someone came.

The new director Zhang Yuntong came to the director's office. Lao Li told him that it had been changed to the office of the chief of the general affairs section. Hearing his surname Zhang, he even called Zhang "Boss Zhang" and said, "The new director will be in charge this afternoon. Our director is decorating the director's office. It's really busy. Where is the way to repair the house? " "The director's office needs to be painted, the floor needs curtains, and the spring bed needs a sofa. It costs more than 400 yuan at once. How can I afford to repair the house this month? " "Zhang Yuntong immediately pointed out:" Since it is leaking badly, how can it not be repaired? "Decided to go to the staff dormitory to know about the situation.

It's getting darker outside the window, and there are several thunders. Zhu Ling and Liu Shanqi argued and took to the stage. Liu said he gave you a tarpaulin. What else is there? Zhu proposed to take back the house below. Seeing that it was going to rain, I was in a hurry. Lao Li introduced him to Liu. Liu doesn't care about "Boss Zhang" at all. He said in an official tone: "whoever wants to repair the house will find someone." Why do you need me to be the general manager? " As she spoke, she wanted to have a rest. Zhu Ling quickly stopped him and said, "Didn't the new director arrive this afternoon? Just bend the rules, let's move the cement in first and let you out after the heavy rain. " "I'll find someone to move cement now. If the office is dirty, the new director will not like it. I will be responsible for everything. " Liu Shanqi handed the key to Lao Li and told him that no one was allowed to open the door without his order. Zhang Yuntong watched and asked about the situation. It was raining, and Zhu Ling was so anxious that Lao Li stepped forward: "Come! I have the key. Let's move the cement. " Zhang Yuntong asked Zhu Ling to inform everyone to rescue cement and told them that she was the new director.

Lightning flashed outside the window and it began to rain heavily. Liu Shanqi asked Wei Dai to call Jianxin Wood Company to deliver the sofa by truck within half an hour. As soon as Zhang Yuntong came in, Liu impatiently urged him to go quickly and declared that he would not repair the house. Zhang Ze asked why the leakage in the dormitory was inappropriate and why it was not repaired immediately. Liu Shanqi was furious: "What? Do you want to teach me a lesson? I can't be polite to you businessmen. " After losing his temper, he asked David to push Zhang out of the door. Wei Dai handed the note on the table to Liu Shanqi, only to see it read: "Downstairs, the director's office still allocated cement to the construction site; The roof of the staff dormitory will be repaired within two days. " Liu Shanqi is anxious. At the same time, he asked Wei Dai to find someone to repair the house, and at the same time called to return the sofa and the iron wire bed. Dai Wei invited "Boss Zhang" back, and Liu Shanqi quickly offered his seat to smoke, hoping not to get angry, saying that the house must be repaired today, regardless of the price, a little sloppy will do. He also took out a note saying that it was meant by the new director. Then he had the cheek to say, "The director and I are old friends." "We fight guerrilla warfare together, engage in land reform together, together ..." Just boasting, Zhu Ling and Lao Li came to see Director Zhang. Liu Shanqi woke up from a dream and realized that the "boss Zhang" in front of him was the new director Zhang. Zhu Ling criticized on the spot: "You are full of decadent bourgeois ideas. You don't care if the dormitory leaks and the cement is wet. You only have eyes for superiors. In order to climb up, you are busy with curtains for the director and buying sofas all day! " Zhang Yuntong also said: "I am a person who is used to sitting on a hard bench. You didn't mean to make me rickety, did you? " At this time, the steel wire iron bed and sofa were shipped. Liu Shanqi was embarrassed and had to deal with it himself according to the director's opinion. In order to thank Lao Li for taking full responsibility for saving the state property, Director Zhang decided to remove Liu Shanqi from the post of section chief, and suggested that the renovated house should be converted into a staff dormitory, and the original dormitory should be allocated to the construction department after repair. After a storm comes a calm outside the window, the sun shines obliquely in. Zhang said happily, "Open all the windows. Let's clear all the dirty air here! " Everyone is facing the sun and breathing fresh air happily.

(Originally published in the June issue of Script 1955)

Before the arrival of the new director, He Qiu, 19 18, is from Nanhai, Guangdong. In 1950s, he began to create dramas, and published more than ten one-act dramas, such as Before the arrival of a new director, duplicity, road blocked, novel Cotton Red, centenary plan and so on. He Qiu made an important contribution to drama creation, especially in the artistic exploration of satirical comedy.

One-act drama is a highly concentrated drama style. It requires the author to select the most wonderful life fragments from the complicated real life, form sharp contradictions and conflicts, and portray the distinctive character of the characters. Satire comedy requires the author to master the art of "laughter", ridicule the deformed characters and events in the play or on the stage through the laughter of readers or audiences, and expose and attack the ugly phenomena in social life. What "before the arrival of the new director" is exactly like this. The scene of the play is quite concentrated and the contradictions are sharp. Through several cartoon events, the character characteristics of the characters are fully displayed. The author consciously chose this specific situation before the arrival of the new director, which caused a dramatic conflict among several characters: on the one hand, he demanded that 300 tons of cement piled in the open air should be put in place quickly before the thunderstorm came, and the dormitory that had leaked rain for a long time should be repaired quickly, on the other hand, he ignored the state property and people's life, and flattered, bullied the weak and feared the hard, and perfunctory. In the process of drama conflict, comedy techniques such as misunderstanding, coincidence and exaggeration are effectively adopted, and the general manager who tries his best to please and flatter his superiors, regardless of national losses, is fiercely attacked, and the advanced figures who fight against bad guys and bad things are enthusiastically praised. The play adopts the form of one-act satirical comedy, severely criticizes the bureaucracy and decadent vulgar style in real life, and puts forward thought-provoking questions in time, which fully embodies the author's serious thinking about real life and hard exploration of drama art.

The protagonists in satirical comedies are generally villains in order to achieve the goal of "tearing the worthless chess pieces to others" (Lu Xun's words). Therefore, it is very important for the creation of satirical comedy to successfully shape the villain. It requires the author to exaggerate the description of the satirized object in sharp contradictions and conflicts, so that it can be fully expressed and even exposed, so that readers or viewers can receive profound education from laughter. Liu Shanqi, the chief of general affairs before the arrival of the new director, is such a rare negative image. It not only has the bureaucratic style of ignoring state property and people's lives, but also has the vulgar thought of flattery of small civil servants in the old society, which is bound to be resisted by the progressive forces around it and hit a wall everywhere. He also often covers up his dirty soul with grand words, which makes people feel that this is a ridiculous and sad role. The play highlights his "misunderstanding" with the new director. He is completely different and effectively enhances the irony. As the character Zhu Ling said, "You are a decadent bourgeois ideology. You don't care if the dormitory leaks rain, nor do you care if the cement is wet. You only have eyes for superiors. In order to climb up, you are busy with curtains for the director and buying sofas all day! " Speak quickly and hit the nail on the head.

How to create good positive characters is also an important topic of satirical comedy. Although positive characters are not required to be in the center of stage activities, people should feel a kind of overall enthusiasm and development trend of "restraining evil and promoting good". Director Zhang, Lao Li and before the arrival of the new director can leave a deep impression on people. As a grass-roots leading cadre, Director Zhang is smart and amiable, and has maintained and carried forward the style of keeping in touch with the masses and working hard during the revolutionary war years. He cares about state property and workers' lives, not his office, sofa and spring bed. He said to Liu Shanqi: I am used to sitting on a hard bench. You didn't mean to give me rickets! "That shows that he insisted on this style of thinking, and it is a meaningful irony of some unhealthy trends in real life. As soon as this character appeared in the play, he was in an advantageous position to dominate the overall situation of contradictions, and a sense of integrity suddenly overwhelmed the bad style. Lao Li, a worker, and Zhu Ling, a clerk, are experienced, calm, enthusiastic and frank, and both dare to resist unhealthy trends, and they are also positive figures with personality.

"Before the arrival of a new director" has accumulated rich experience for the creation of satirical comedies in the socialist era, and has a pioneering role and a connecting link in the history of contemporary drama in China.