Some negative comments that I have received informally.
Topic - Xiangju Troupe's Performance
- The scripts too old, too traditional, no break through, not refreshing enough and no new input in the performance.
- Not able to adapt and receive new ideas, not open enough and unable to attract more audience.
- Not interesting enough, performance not up to standard, tunes not nice and catchy and pitch too high.
- Always that few shows, music and actors don't co-ordinate, weak orchestra, performance style just not his/her cup of tea - too traditional??.
- actors not pretty enough...(Hahahahahahaha)
So what do you think?
My own thoughts;
In a troupe, there are pros and cons.
I agree that the troupe's scripts are old and some are more than decades old. We don't have a pool of talented writers to write for new scripts. The direction that the troupe is heading is definitely traditional xiangju opera and I don't think the management will open up to experimental opera to attract younger audience.
At this moment of time, I don't think so. The troupe has been in this 才子佳人theme for so long. The mindset is vastly different and perhaps not quite possible for bold changes.
Sadly, the market for Xiangju Opera isn't as large as Taiwan and China. There are so many lacking factors namely funds, talent, music etc. Due to these factors, the progress is slow though the troupe exists more than 2 decades.
Audience....Hmm... the troupe has her audience. I agree that most of them are not young. May I write in this way... Ironically, we have younger actors in the troupe than audience...(LOL)
Performance style - Personally I think the songs (most of them) are nice, it is just that we don't sing well enough. The songs may not be as catchy as Gezaixi tunes which I agree. However how well do we sing if we were given Gezaixi tunes? Do you think we will do better with the Gezaixi tunes?
I know some audience ever commented that if we were to sing gezaixi tunes, we surely spice up our performance. To certain extent, there is a possiblity.
Again, the same question, how well can we sing? How well can we coordinate with the musicians?
Here, we don't know.
In regards to actors not pretty enough.. I think it is rather personal... How do you define "pretty"?
Your "pretty" may be someone " not pretty enough".
The troupe isn't running a beauty contest. It is only an amatuer troupe. As long as any Tom, Dick or Harry wishes to join, we welcome with open arms.
It is not easy to come across a troupe blessed with Brainy Beauties with Talents. (LOL)
I know there are such troupes... but not certainly in our area.
In conclusion, the management is the key to what direction the troupe is heading.
At present, I am not concerned... I just want to be happy as I am and do what I like.
It is always a more joyful experience being an audience than an actress, don't you agree? (LOL)
Thursday, June 25, 2009
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6 comments:
Hi
My views on the feedback as requested....
(1) The scripts too old, too traditional, no break through, not refreshing enough and no new input in the performance.
** I think leader also like new scripts. But our troupe does not have enough $ to invest on new script and new directions. Hence have to keep doing the old ones
(2) Not able to adapt and receive new ideas, not open enough and unable to attract more audience.
** oh? audience has written and sent feedback to us on new ideas and we refused to consider? When? I dont recall seeing leh. What kind of new ideas have they suggested?
(3) Not interesting enough, performance not up to standard, tunes not nice and catchy and pitch too high.
** not interesting means what? is this the same as point (1) - ie our script too old?
** Guess many of us are busy with work and others and hence not enough practice thus leading to low standard.
** tunes: generally, china tunes are less popular with audience as compared to taiwan tunes. on top of that, most of us are against high pitch and hence making singing worst
- Always that few shows, music and actors don't co-ordinate, weak orchestra, performance style just not his/her cup of tea - too traditional??.
** always same show. too traditiona - same as point (1) no $ for new shows.
** music and actors lack practice hence leading to poor standard and coordination
- actors not pretty enough...
** Hard to find naturally beautiful actors. But can be invested. Just that our artistes are reluntant / lack financials to invest in nice costumes and hairpieces and wigs and hats.
xj
This is in response to XJ.. might not be totally accurate:
(1) Well it's not really the $ factor.. I believe there're lots of scripts which we can pull out from other genres and revamp, like what we did for dowry.. it's just a matter of time because we don't have the time to really do new shows, and that's quite a pity.
(2) I believe some people (audience) have got comments, but in front of us always say "not bad, not bad", so we think we're "okay", and therefore we appeared to others as unwilling to change? I dunno... I just feel that our audience in general never say anything beyond "not bad" lor!
(3) Not interesting enough... I think this is a problem with older scripts, because older scripts tend to focus more on "operatic" side like singing, but there're lots of flaws in which even professional troupes like xiamen fail to take note of in the past. As to "not up to standard", I don't quite know what that refers to exactly so can't comment.. but from my personal experience with working with drama actors in school, we seemed to focus more on getting our lines, songs and stage directions right, but we neglected our feeling and the link between the actor and the character.. this in turn could be due to the flaw in the initial script, because like 3 feng, there're lots of very strange parts which I personally find it so hard to act because it's so awkward that sometimes I just want to just throw in the towel lor.. think we need someone (xz maybe?) to help us analyse our roles and their relation to other roles and plot and not just blindly react to whatever our lines are..
$ is definitely a problem but like what AC has mentioned, we can always get scripts from other ways.
Audience tends to compare us with the TW opera troupes. You will be surprised to find creative and innovative young TW troupes out there headed by young people and most of them are highly qualified.
They are passionate and have their own perceptions and directions.
Perhaps people do not understand why our troupe of about 22 years doesn't seem to improve much as we seem to be always acting the same old scripts. Even a friend who used to watch our shows said that recently he isn't watching because he has already watched "billion" of times already.
I don't know how well you understand Chunfeng Tw Troupe and its performing style. Now in TW, they are progressing very fast and is very successful in attracting younger audiences. Even those who aren't watching GZX in the first place are attracted to their performances.
They are working and studying people just like us however they have the surrounding that we lack. They have teachers who are in TW Opera field and they themselves are able to compose scripts and music.
I can only say that our troupe's route is rather far from them. At least the troupe's management is not in favour of GZX.
A friend whom I recently met mentioned something that I totally agree with her.
She said that you need to have the skills , the foundation in order to act a traditional opera well.
I totally agree with this.
How well is our foundation? Our movements in relative are much better than the way we sing.
So what really cause the problem?
Too high the tunes is a problem.
China tunes are not as popular as TW tunes... Well I think maybe it our problem that we don't sing China tunes well and we don't really have that much of an opportunity to sing GZX tunes.
Again, management level is very important. If the management is not able to accept TW GZX, we can only stay where we are...
Is the mindset that is hard to change, isn't it?
Sometimes it is kind of sad to hear from someone whom you know just told you that Xiangju is not interesting and not as nice as Gezaixi.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of our troupe members prefer GZX than Xiangju.
Just that they are stuck in the troupe emotionally.
Hahahahahaha... I like GZX. I came across GZX first and Xiangju is a genre that I used years to cultivate feelings for it.
XZ mentioned something... She said that if we were to act GZX, we will never have the kind of feel that GZX actors have...Cos we have already implanted Xiangju elements in our performing style.
I think it is interesting yozz...To be able to sing GZX tunes and yet at the same time our movements remain nice and graceful.
Can't we go in this direction?
yeh... consider our young and qualified xu wen and BBQ for the troupe management!xj
I am trying to write scripts with "new" directorial sense... my original concept for the wedding show (before xz axe away more than 50% of my original text) is rather "experimental", but not in the same direction as Chunfeng, but I had thought of incorporating Brecht's dramatic technique which requires actors to act as actors taking on various roles in the script instead of actors trying to make audience believe that they are the characters in the script.. but then again I have no chance to direct, and even if I direct, I don't know if our audience can accept it..
I think xiangju is an opera genre in a very awkward position la.. either you go traditional or modern, you'll still upset fans of either xiangju or gzx lor...
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