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2011年3月18日，永远定格在周贤珍的脑海里。这天下午，在美丽的西子湖畔，浙江省戏剧家协会隆重举行著名表演艺术家周贤珍《似我非我》剧影专集首发式。周贤珍亢奋、激动、感恩。她齐耳短发，脸颊上透着红晕，神采奕奕，风釆依旧，宛如当年。她感慨万千地说：“我多么希望时光能倒流，我再创造几个新角色，为共建和谐社会作贡献，那该多好呀!”可见她多么依恋走过60年的舞台呀!
人生欢乐来自理想的追求
《似我非我》是周贤珍60年艰苦耕耘的艺术结晶，是她艺术追求、拼搏、突破、超越的历史记录，也是她奉献給社会的一份感恩答卷。60年来，周贤珍在舞台、荧屏和银幕上创造了100多个艺术形象，从苏联姑娘桑尼亚到知识分子丁洁琼，从风尘女子陈白露到华贵雍容的王夫人，都給观众留下了深刻而难忘的印象。她先后获得话剧荣誉奖、电视剧贡献奖、儿童戏剧编剧奖、飞天提名奖等诸多荣誉。正如中国戏剧家协会副主席茅威涛所说：“周贤珍老师是一位德艺双馨的有突出贡献的表演艺术家，一生耕耘，硕果累累，为中国话剧事业作出了杰出贡献，她60年的艺术生涯是中国话剧发展历史的缩影，留給我们颇多的精神激励和文化感召。”
60年艺术生涯，周贤珍有太多的感慨，犹如钱江水滔滔不绝。周贤珍从小酷爱戏文，在抗战时期逃难的艰苦日子里，还常常跑到祠堂前面广场去看高甲戏，《张文祥刺马》中紧张的刺马场面至今还记忆犹新。在台中女子中学读书时，有一次看了大陆去演的话剧《万世师表》，感到好新鲜、好奇妙，于是就和同学们排演起陈白尘先生的《结婚进行曲》。奇怪的是很怕背课文的她，竟然背台词很利索，且记得牢。她很亢奋，第一次感受到演戏比看戏更兴奋、更愉悦。从此，在她心田里播下了演戏的种子。1948年秋，她随父亲从台湾回到了杭州。在建国中学读书时，组织同学扭秧歌、办夜校，是引人注目的活跃分子。杭州解放不久，周贤珍走进了杭州市青年团干部学校，学习结业后被分配到浙江文工团“越剧队”，后来阴差阳错地把她借调到“话剧队”，主演大型话剧《曙光照耀着莫斯科》的女主角桑尼亚。初出茅庐的周贤珍，既兴奋、激动、神秘、好奇，又战战兢兢、忐忑不安，唯恐演不好砸了锅。为了创造好桑尼亚的人物形象，周贤珍读小说。她常常揣摩桑尼亚这个角色，甚至骑自行车去菜场买菜，也一路背台词一路练笑声，连钱包忘在柜台上、鲜肉掉在回家路上都浑然不知，整天沉浸在创造角色的世界里。几个月的艰辛和汗水，终于浇灌出话剧舞台上的第一朵奇葩。《曙光照耀着莫斯科》的成功演出，使周贤珍一夜走红，与话剧结下了60年的情缘。
上世纪50年代，是话剧的“黄金时代”，周贤珍先后创造了曹禺先生《日出》中的陈白露，《孔雀胆》里的阿盖公主等性格迥异的重要角色。直到1980年时任中国戏剧家协会主席的曹禺先生在上海观看《日出》演出后，上台握着周贤珍的手，深情地说：“我已二十年没看此剧，你们演得真切感人，演得真好啊!”是啊，周贤珍一生陶醉于人物的塑造，着力研究同类人物的不同性格特征和行为举止，创造出一个个鲜明生动的人物形象。周贤珍正是从把握同类人物不同性格创造出剧作家描写的“这一个”。正如她所说：“把自己隐藏起来，让各种不同性格的人物在自己身上外化出来，从而使同台人意外，叫观众惊喜，这是多么有趣而令人神往的创造啊!”这正是她孜孜不倦的艺术追求，也是她艺术成就斐然的秘诀所在。
艺术生涯的第二个春天
“文革”风雨过后，周贤珍又回到了“舞台”。然而时光不能倒流，年近半百的她，能有艺术生涯的第二个春天吗？不服输的周贤珍又坚定地前行，毅然决然地主演《于无声处》中的梅林，接着又扮演《第二次握手》中的丁洁琼。这些艺术形象，走进了千万观众的心里，又一次名声大震。上世纪70年代，她又主动请缨，出演《天涯断肠人》中的两个主角钟离秀兰与林菊仙。因她中学时代曾在台湾生活，故两岸分隔的情景演得尤为真切。香港《文汇报》率先报道，引起了全国的轰动。该剧连演百场，是话剧史上罕见的。为了创造好角色，她甚至可以玩命地干。在拍摄电视连续剧《杨家将》中，她扮演萧太后，当两军交战，战鼓隆隆，杀声四起时，她骑的战马也不再观战了，拼命地往杨家将营里冲，皇冠披风全飞了。张导演吓出了一身冷汗，看到她还在马背上，这才松了口气：“周老师，你真行呀!”周贤珍风趣地说：“别看我年已花甲，玩命是向张导学习的。”20年后，周贤珍乐呵呵地告诉记者，陕西电视台选她演萧太后，既是偶然，也是戏缘。她到黄土高原是第一次，骑高头大马是第一次，拍摄时，寒风刺骨，飞沙走石，弄得眼泪直淌的艰苦拍摄是第一次，也是她艺术生涯中刻骨铭心的一次。出演电视连续剧《红楼梦》中的王夫人，是周贤珍艺术生涯的一次最珍贵的实践和最美好的回忆。为了演好王夫人，她多次研读小说《红楼梦》，多次聆听红学专家的讲课，反复琢磨这个既有女儿王妃和儿子宝玉，谁也不能攀比的王夫人。巧合的是，周贤珍正好也有一儿一女，尽管身份不同，但母爱和亲情是相通的。看到宝玉被打，她痛彻心扉，不由联想到自己儿子一人在家无人照顾，只能把钥匙套在脖子上独自生活，便心酸难耐，潸然泪下。元妃省亲，母女相会，更勾起她思念女儿远嫁日本后的多次离合伤情。于是，她演得很投入，很执着，很有气质，出色地扮演了既是一位吃斋、念佛，聊天、打牌，面带笑容的贵夫人，又是一位打金钏、斥晴雯、赶芳官的声色俱厉、威里带泼的多重性格的王夫人形象。谈到《红楼梦》，周贤珍不无感慨地说：“演出《红楼梦》的过程是我不断学习提高，探索突破的过程，它給了我最丰厚的知识，是我艺术生涯中的一次‘最高奖赏’。”
创造是生活着的价值
时光飞逝。周贤珍快到离休的年龄，应该安分守己了，然而，她却作出了令同龄人意外的抉择：筹划组建儿童剧团。顿时，话剧团像炸开的油锅。她四处拉赞助、筹资金，整天在忧愁交加中度日。家人见她日渐消瘦的脸庞，劝她“回头是岸”。她却坚定地说：“开弓没有回头箭，就是豁出老命也要把儿童剧团搞成。”她继续四处求人，“磕头拜菩萨”，终于感动了“上帝和神仙”，在杭州工艺鞋厂和社会各界的支持下，浙江儿童艺术剧团诞生了，她也成了当之无愧的团长。
耕耘结出了硕果，使周贤珍欣喜若狂。她和剧作家的先生顾天高都沉浸在儿童戏剧创作的世界里，她的家也成了创作沙龙，外星人、死亡谷、千果树……都进入了美丽的童话世界。《明天飞》大型科幻儿童剧演出的那一天，整个剧场掌声、笑声、欢呼声一浪高过一浪，孩子们疯了，老师们笑了，已经被冷落多年的话剧舞台又一次奏响了欢乐的乐曲。
儿童剧像雨后春笋般活跃起来，浙江儿童艺术剧团也茁壮成长了，境外巡演和对外交流也与日俱增，多次与日本蒲公英儿童剧团交流演出。她率团先后两次到新加坡交流演出，两次到台湾宝岛巡演。最使她难忘的是，相隔半个世纪之后，有幸又一次踏进了台中“女中”的校门，乡间的俚语，清新的海风，还有那天真可爱的孩子们，又把她带进了天真烂漫的学生时代，使她更坚定了“为儿童戏剧奉献一辈子”的信念。
采访结束时，我问周老今后的打算，她笑哈哈地说：颐养天年是上辈人的幸福观。她不习惯过安宁的日子，去年已近80高龄的她，在《我们是一家人》里扮演一个直率、开朗、慈爱又严厉的老太太，受到导演、制片人的赞许。今后，只要有剧组邀请，她会毫不犹豫去参加拍摄，无论角色大小，都有创造的欢乐，生活的意义。这位勤奋耕耘的表演艺术家爽朗地说：“我要活到老、学到老、创造到老。”
Sixty Years in Modern Drama
By Pan Rongkun
March 18, 2011 was a big day for 79-year-old Zhou Xianzhen, a modern drama artist based in Hangzhou. That afternoon, Zhejiang Theater Performers Association held a special ceremony in Hangzhou to launch a collection of photos that portray the best moments of the artist’s sixty-year acting career on the stage. Zhou was excited, saying how she wished she could go back to the past so that she could have created a few more characters.
Entitled “Like Me, Unlike Me”, the 152-page album shows more than 130 photos. The album displays the beauty and ideal in her performance and her excellence and grace in interpreting more than 100 characters over the past 60 years. Over the past six decades, Zhou has interpreted on the stage and on the silver screens and television the roles that lived in ancient times and modern times and at home and abroad. In the 1950s and 1960s, she mainly appeared on the stage, starring in various plays. From the 1980s up to 2010, she appeared in more than ten movies and twenty television series. Her performance as Madam Wang in “The Dream of the Red Chamber”, a television blockbuster adaptation from the namesake classic novel of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), was a proud and gratifying landmark of her career.
For her unique contributions, Zhou Xianzhen has won numerous accolades. Mao Weitao, a Zhejiang-based Yueju Opera master and Vice Chairman of China Theater Performers Association, commented at the launching ceremony: “A master of art and virtue, Zhou Xianzhen has dedicated her life to performance art and made outstanding contributions to the drama undertakings of China. In a sense, her 60-year career epitomizes the development of Chinese modern drama, giving us a valuable spiritual legacy and encouragement.”
Zhou Xianzhen was born in 1932. Her passion for drama started when she was in middle school and had chances to watch dramas. In a school drama she was chosen to be the lead woman. To her amazement, she learned all the lines with an ease which was absent when she tried to memorize things in textbooks. The success of the play catapulted her to the school glory. She experienced thrill onstage in acting as someone else and finding her heartstring resonate with strange sentiments and fate of the character she personated.
In 1948 the 16-year-old Zhou came back from Taiwan to Hangzhou and entered Jianguo Middle School where she was highly active in school’s drama events. Shortly after the city’s liberation in May 1949, she took a training course at the Hangzhou Youth League cadre school. After graduation from the school, she was assigned to the Yueju Opera group of Zhejiang Cultural Work Troupe. However, she was transferred from the Yueju Opera section to the Drama group to appear as the lead woman in “Moscow in Morning Sunlight”, a Soviet Union modern drama to be staged in celebration of the founding of the diplomatic relations between Soviet Union and China.
For a few months, she made herself totally lost in the character. In order to look and speak like the character, she watched Soviet films and read Soviet novels. She was so dedicated that she made some jokes. On the way to and from the vegetable market one day, for example, she was so busy speaking the lines and laughing like the lead woman that she left her purse at a meat counter at the market and lost the pork on the way back home.
Her brilliant performance contributed a great deal to the success of the play. She found herself shot to provincial fame overnight, which marked the beginning of her 60-year career as a drama performer. She did not go back to the Yueju Opera.
The 1950s was the first golden age of modern drama in the history of New China. She appeared as the lead woman in various plays. Her performances amazed audience as she was able to interpret different personalities in different ways. She herself loved her performances too. “I put myself away and externalize different characterizations to amaze audience. How fascinating such creative experiences are!”
The ten-year Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) broke her career down. When the chaos came to an end, she was excited and felt grateful for the second chance. In her late forties, could she stage a dramatic comeback as amazing and convincing as she thought she could be?
Her capability of interpreting characters proved to be great. The roles she played were convincing. In “Heart-broken and Separated”, a modern drama staged in the late 1970s when the relations across the Taiwan Straits were beginning to thaw, she acted two leading roles. The play had more than 100 performances across China, a good record for a modern drama in those years.
She was fully dedicated as testified by her performance in shooting “Generals of the Yang Family”, a costume television series. She had never ridden a horse and she had never visited the Northwest and she had never experienced the cold windy days in the winter of Northwest. But she galloped on horseback in a cold windy day. The director feared she might fall off the horse and get injured. But she more than survived. Her performance on horseback amazed everyone.
She retired in 1992 from Zhejiang Drama Troupe. Many thought she would lead a leisured life from then on. But she plunged herself into the preparations for setting up the province’s first children’s
drama troupe. Many colleagues misunderstood her and many criticized the subgenre itself, believing it was a backward step in art. But she persisted. Her determination and sheer dedication moved “gods”, in her words. The Zhejiang Children’s Art Troupe came into being and she served as its first director.
Under her guidance, the troupe successfully staged plays one after another. The young audiences applauded the drama shows that appealed to them. Her colleagues were convinced by the thrilled responses of the young. Her colleagues had not seen the flourishing of the drama stage for a long while.
The troupe’s reputation and business have grown rapidly and steadily. It has staged performances overseas. The troupe has visited both Taiwan and Singapore twice and engaged in an exchange program with a Japan’s children drama troupe. The success of her troupe has further consolidated her determination to dedicate herself to children’s dramas.
And she is ready to perform more if chances come her way. In 2010, she appeared as a lovely granny in a television series entitled “We the Family”. She says she will not hesitate to accept more offers. “Live to learn and create” are her motto for her golden years.
人生欢乐来自理想的追求
《似我非我》是周贤珍60年艰苦耕耘的艺术结晶，是她艺术追求、拼搏、突破、超越的历史记录，也是她奉献給社会的一份感恩答卷。60年来，周贤珍在舞台、荧屏和银幕上创造了100多个艺术形象，从苏联姑娘桑尼亚到知识分子丁洁琼，从风尘女子陈白露到华贵雍容的王夫人，都給观众留下了深刻而难忘的印象。她先后获得话剧荣誉奖、电视剧贡献奖、儿童戏剧编剧奖、飞天提名奖等诸多荣誉。正如中国戏剧家协会副主席茅威涛所说：“周贤珍老师是一位德艺双馨的有突出贡献的表演艺术家，一生耕耘，硕果累累，为中国话剧事业作出了杰出贡献，她60年的艺术生涯是中国话剧发展历史的缩影，留給我们颇多的精神激励和文化感召。”
60年艺术生涯，周贤珍有太多的感慨，犹如钱江水滔滔不绝。周贤珍从小酷爱戏文，在抗战时期逃难的艰苦日子里，还常常跑到祠堂前面广场去看高甲戏，《张文祥刺马》中紧张的刺马场面至今还记忆犹新。在台中女子中学读书时，有一次看了大陆去演的话剧《万世师表》，感到好新鲜、好奇妙，于是就和同学们排演起陈白尘先生的《结婚进行曲》。奇怪的是很怕背课文的她，竟然背台词很利索，且记得牢。她很亢奋，第一次感受到演戏比看戏更兴奋、更愉悦。从此，在她心田里播下了演戏的种子。1948年秋，她随父亲从台湾回到了杭州。在建国中学读书时，组织同学扭秧歌、办夜校，是引人注目的活跃分子。杭州解放不久，周贤珍走进了杭州市青年团干部学校，学习结业后被分配到浙江文工团“越剧队”，后来阴差阳错地把她借调到“话剧队”，主演大型话剧《曙光照耀着莫斯科》的女主角桑尼亚。初出茅庐的周贤珍，既兴奋、激动、神秘、好奇，又战战兢兢、忐忑不安，唯恐演不好砸了锅。为了创造好桑尼亚的人物形象，周贤珍读小说。她常常揣摩桑尼亚这个角色，甚至骑自行车去菜场买菜，也一路背台词一路练笑声，连钱包忘在柜台上、鲜肉掉在回家路上都浑然不知，整天沉浸在创造角色的世界里。几个月的艰辛和汗水，终于浇灌出话剧舞台上的第一朵奇葩。《曙光照耀着莫斯科》的成功演出，使周贤珍一夜走红，与话剧结下了60年的情缘。
上世纪50年代，是话剧的“黄金时代”，周贤珍先后创造了曹禺先生《日出》中的陈白露，《孔雀胆》里的阿盖公主等性格迥异的重要角色。直到1980年时任中国戏剧家协会主席的曹禺先生在上海观看《日出》演出后，上台握着周贤珍的手，深情地说：“我已二十年没看此剧，你们演得真切感人，演得真好啊!”是啊，周贤珍一生陶醉于人物的塑造，着力研究同类人物的不同性格特征和行为举止，创造出一个个鲜明生动的人物形象。周贤珍正是从把握同类人物不同性格创造出剧作家描写的“这一个”。正如她所说：“把自己隐藏起来，让各种不同性格的人物在自己身上外化出来，从而使同台人意外，叫观众惊喜，这是多么有趣而令人神往的创造啊!”这正是她孜孜不倦的艺术追求，也是她艺术成就斐然的秘诀所在。
艺术生涯的第二个春天
“文革”风雨过后，周贤珍又回到了“舞台”。然而时光不能倒流，年近半百的她，能有艺术生涯的第二个春天吗？不服输的周贤珍又坚定地前行，毅然决然地主演《于无声处》中的梅林，接着又扮演《第二次握手》中的丁洁琼。这些艺术形象，走进了千万观众的心里，又一次名声大震。上世纪70年代，她又主动请缨，出演《天涯断肠人》中的两个主角钟离秀兰与林菊仙。因她中学时代曾在台湾生活，故两岸分隔的情景演得尤为真切。香港《文汇报》率先报道，引起了全国的轰动。该剧连演百场，是话剧史上罕见的。为了创造好角色，她甚至可以玩命地干。在拍摄电视连续剧《杨家将》中，她扮演萧太后，当两军交战，战鼓隆隆，杀声四起时，她骑的战马也不再观战了，拼命地往杨家将营里冲，皇冠披风全飞了。张导演吓出了一身冷汗，看到她还在马背上，这才松了口气：“周老师，你真行呀!”周贤珍风趣地说：“别看我年已花甲，玩命是向张导学习的。”20年后，周贤珍乐呵呵地告诉记者，陕西电视台选她演萧太后，既是偶然，也是戏缘。她到黄土高原是第一次，骑高头大马是第一次，拍摄时，寒风刺骨，飞沙走石，弄得眼泪直淌的艰苦拍摄是第一次，也是她艺术生涯中刻骨铭心的一次。出演电视连续剧《红楼梦》中的王夫人，是周贤珍艺术生涯的一次最珍贵的实践和最美好的回忆。为了演好王夫人，她多次研读小说《红楼梦》，多次聆听红学专家的讲课，反复琢磨这个既有女儿王妃和儿子宝玉，谁也不能攀比的王夫人。巧合的是，周贤珍正好也有一儿一女，尽管身份不同，但母爱和亲情是相通的。看到宝玉被打，她痛彻心扉，不由联想到自己儿子一人在家无人照顾，只能把钥匙套在脖子上独自生活，便心酸难耐，潸然泪下。元妃省亲，母女相会，更勾起她思念女儿远嫁日本后的多次离合伤情。于是，她演得很投入，很执着，很有气质，出色地扮演了既是一位吃斋、念佛，聊天、打牌，面带笑容的贵夫人，又是一位打金钏、斥晴雯、赶芳官的声色俱厉、威里带泼的多重性格的王夫人形象。谈到《红楼梦》，周贤珍不无感慨地说：“演出《红楼梦》的过程是我不断学习提高，探索突破的过程，它給了我最丰厚的知识，是我艺术生涯中的一次‘最高奖赏’。”
创造是生活着的价值
时光飞逝。周贤珍快到离休的年龄，应该安分守己了，然而，她却作出了令同龄人意外的抉择：筹划组建儿童剧团。顿时，话剧团像炸开的油锅。她四处拉赞助、筹资金，整天在忧愁交加中度日。家人见她日渐消瘦的脸庞，劝她“回头是岸”。她却坚定地说：“开弓没有回头箭，就是豁出老命也要把儿童剧团搞成。”她继续四处求人，“磕头拜菩萨”，终于感动了“上帝和神仙”，在杭州工艺鞋厂和社会各界的支持下，浙江儿童艺术剧团诞生了，她也成了当之无愧的团长。
耕耘结出了硕果，使周贤珍欣喜若狂。她和剧作家的先生顾天高都沉浸在儿童戏剧创作的世界里，她的家也成了创作沙龙，外星人、死亡谷、千果树……都进入了美丽的童话世界。《明天飞》大型科幻儿童剧演出的那一天，整个剧场掌声、笑声、欢呼声一浪高过一浪，孩子们疯了，老师们笑了，已经被冷落多年的话剧舞台又一次奏响了欢乐的乐曲。
儿童剧像雨后春笋般活跃起来，浙江儿童艺术剧团也茁壮成长了，境外巡演和对外交流也与日俱增，多次与日本蒲公英儿童剧团交流演出。她率团先后两次到新加坡交流演出，两次到台湾宝岛巡演。最使她难忘的是，相隔半个世纪之后，有幸又一次踏进了台中“女中”的校门，乡间的俚语，清新的海风，还有那天真可爱的孩子们，又把她带进了天真烂漫的学生时代，使她更坚定了“为儿童戏剧奉献一辈子”的信念。
采访结束时，我问周老今后的打算，她笑哈哈地说：颐养天年是上辈人的幸福观。她不习惯过安宁的日子，去年已近80高龄的她，在《我们是一家人》里扮演一个直率、开朗、慈爱又严厉的老太太，受到导演、制片人的赞许。今后，只要有剧组邀请，她会毫不犹豫去参加拍摄，无论角色大小，都有创造的欢乐，生活的意义。这位勤奋耕耘的表演艺术家爽朗地说：“我要活到老、学到老、创造到老。”
Sixty Years in Modern Drama
By Pan Rongkun
March 18, 2011 was a big day for 79-year-old Zhou Xianzhen, a modern drama artist based in Hangzhou. That afternoon, Zhejiang Theater Performers Association held a special ceremony in Hangzhou to launch a collection of photos that portray the best moments of the artist’s sixty-year acting career on the stage. Zhou was excited, saying how she wished she could go back to the past so that she could have created a few more characters.
Entitled “Like Me, Unlike Me”, the 152-page album shows more than 130 photos. The album displays the beauty and ideal in her performance and her excellence and grace in interpreting more than 100 characters over the past 60 years. Over the past six decades, Zhou has interpreted on the stage and on the silver screens and television the roles that lived in ancient times and modern times and at home and abroad. In the 1950s and 1960s, she mainly appeared on the stage, starring in various plays. From the 1980s up to 2010, she appeared in more than ten movies and twenty television series. Her performance as Madam Wang in “The Dream of the Red Chamber”, a television blockbuster adaptation from the namesake classic novel of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), was a proud and gratifying landmark of her career.
For her unique contributions, Zhou Xianzhen has won numerous accolades. Mao Weitao, a Zhejiang-based Yueju Opera master and Vice Chairman of China Theater Performers Association, commented at the launching ceremony: “A master of art and virtue, Zhou Xianzhen has dedicated her life to performance art and made outstanding contributions to the drama undertakings of China. In a sense, her 60-year career epitomizes the development of Chinese modern drama, giving us a valuable spiritual legacy and encouragement.”
Zhou Xianzhen was born in 1932. Her passion for drama started when she was in middle school and had chances to watch dramas. In a school drama she was chosen to be the lead woman. To her amazement, she learned all the lines with an ease which was absent when she tried to memorize things in textbooks. The success of the play catapulted her to the school glory. She experienced thrill onstage in acting as someone else and finding her heartstring resonate with strange sentiments and fate of the character she personated.
In 1948 the 16-year-old Zhou came back from Taiwan to Hangzhou and entered Jianguo Middle School where she was highly active in school’s drama events. Shortly after the city’s liberation in May 1949, she took a training course at the Hangzhou Youth League cadre school. After graduation from the school, she was assigned to the Yueju Opera group of Zhejiang Cultural Work Troupe. However, she was transferred from the Yueju Opera section to the Drama group to appear as the lead woman in “Moscow in Morning Sunlight”, a Soviet Union modern drama to be staged in celebration of the founding of the diplomatic relations between Soviet Union and China.
For a few months, she made herself totally lost in the character. In order to look and speak like the character, she watched Soviet films and read Soviet novels. She was so dedicated that she made some jokes. On the way to and from the vegetable market one day, for example, she was so busy speaking the lines and laughing like the lead woman that she left her purse at a meat counter at the market and lost the pork on the way back home.
Her brilliant performance contributed a great deal to the success of the play. She found herself shot to provincial fame overnight, which marked the beginning of her 60-year career as a drama performer. She did not go back to the Yueju Opera.
The 1950s was the first golden age of modern drama in the history of New China. She appeared as the lead woman in various plays. Her performances amazed audience as she was able to interpret different personalities in different ways. She herself loved her performances too. “I put myself away and externalize different characterizations to amaze audience. How fascinating such creative experiences are!”
The ten-year Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) broke her career down. When the chaos came to an end, she was excited and felt grateful for the second chance. In her late forties, could she stage a dramatic comeback as amazing and convincing as she thought she could be?
Her capability of interpreting characters proved to be great. The roles she played were convincing. In “Heart-broken and Separated”, a modern drama staged in the late 1970s when the relations across the Taiwan Straits were beginning to thaw, she acted two leading roles. The play had more than 100 performances across China, a good record for a modern drama in those years.
She was fully dedicated as testified by her performance in shooting “Generals of the Yang Family”, a costume television series. She had never ridden a horse and she had never visited the Northwest and she had never experienced the cold windy days in the winter of Northwest. But she galloped on horseback in a cold windy day. The director feared she might fall off the horse and get injured. But she more than survived. Her performance on horseback amazed everyone.
She retired in 1992 from Zhejiang Drama Troupe. Many thought she would lead a leisured life from then on. But she plunged herself into the preparations for setting up the province’s first children’s
drama troupe. Many colleagues misunderstood her and many criticized the subgenre itself, believing it was a backward step in art. But she persisted. Her determination and sheer dedication moved “gods”, in her words. The Zhejiang Children’s Art Troupe came into being and she served as its first director.
Under her guidance, the troupe successfully staged plays one after another. The young audiences applauded the drama shows that appealed to them. Her colleagues were convinced by the thrilled responses of the young. Her colleagues had not seen the flourishing of the drama stage for a long while.
The troupe’s reputation and business have grown rapidly and steadily. It has staged performances overseas. The troupe has visited both Taiwan and Singapore twice and engaged in an exchange program with a Japan’s children drama troupe. The success of her troupe has further consolidated her determination to dedicate herself to children’s dramas.
And she is ready to perform more if chances come her way. In 2010, she appeared as a lovely granny in a television series entitled “We the Family”. She says she will not hesitate to accept more offers. “Live to learn and create” are her motto for her golden years.