Chapter 70 People's Art Theatre
That night, Lin Weimin came to Muxidi after a long absence.
Mr. Wan smiled and asked him, "But I haven't seen you for a long time. Have you forgotten about me, an old man?"
"How can that be possible? Mainly because I've been too busy lately."
Next, Lin Weimin briefly described to Mr. Wan his experience after graduating from the Institute of Literature and Art.
Hearing that there was no one left in Lin Weimin's hometown and even the old house had been sold, Mr. Wan couldn't help but sigh and said to Lin Weimin: "Come to our house more often when you have nothing to do in the future."
“Thank you, teacher!”
This time, Lin Weimin did not ask Mr. Wan to take the initiative to bring up the script of "The Intouchables".
"Is this... finished?" Mr. Wan looked a little surprised.
"Well, I've finished writing it. I brought it here today specifically for you to take a look at."
Mr. Wan stroked the script and joked, "Xiao Zhang told me before that you write fast and well, just like the last time you wrote "The Cliff"."
"Hehe, this is one of my few advantages." Lin Weimin said shamelessly.
Mr. Wan pointed at him and smiled, then started flipping through the script.
The study was silent, with only the occasional sipping of tea from Mr. Wan. It was rare for Lin Weimin to sit there properly.
After a while, Mr. Wan finally put down the script and looked up at Lin Weimin.
Lin Weimin asked with some trepidation: "Teacher, what do you think?"
He really put a lot of effort into the script of The Intouchables, at least more than his previous novels. The reason is, firstly, it was the request of his teacher Mr. Wan, and secondly, it was because the script was likely to be rehearsed at the People's Art Theatre, so he had to put a lot of effort into it.
Mr. Wan stared at Lin Weimin for a few seconds, then the expression on his face slowly relaxed and turned into a kind smile.
"There is no problem with the structure, the plot is smooth, and the characters are well-developed, but the lines are not refined enough."
Lin Weimin felt relieved after hearing this. He smiled and said, "I am just an elementary school student when it comes to scripts. I still need your advice."
"You, just say nice things."
Mr. Wan pointed at the script and said: "Good lines are not only thought up by the screenwriter, but also need good actors to polish them on stage."
"You have a point."
"The script is a good one, which shows that you put a lot of effort into it. Let's take it to the People's Art Theatre first and let everyone discuss it to see if there are any other problems. If it's finalized, I'll let you know."
If a play wants to be staged, having a script is just the beginning.
"OK."
Mr. Wan did not make Lin Weimin wait for long. A week later, Lin Weimin received a call from the People's Art Theatre in the editorial department, asking him to go to the theatre after work.
This was the first time that Lin Weimin walked into the back of the People's Art Theatre, even though he had watched many plays in the theatre before.
The young man who led him was called Lin Zhaohua. When Lin Weimin chatted with him, he learned that he graduated from the Performance Department of the Central Academy of Drama and was now an actor of the People's Art Theatre.
The building of the National Theatre of China is in Soviet style. On the side of the first floor are the dressing rooms and scenery workshop, and on the second floor at the back are the administrative agencies of the academy.
There were doors at equal distances on both sides of the corridor. The lights in the corridor were dim and there was a slight smell of toilet in the air. Lin Weimin also smelled the aroma of cooking, which should have come down from the upper floor.
"It smells strange." Lin Weimin said while sniffing his nose.
Lin Zhaohua said with a smile: "Some young actors in our theater live in the top floor, so when they cook at night, it's inevitable that there will be some smell."
Lin Zhaohua led Lin Weimin to the dean's office and left. Lin Weimin knocked on the door and heard a male voice with a strong Beijing accent coming from inside, "Come in!"
Pushing open the door, there is a small room, decorated in the solid wood style that is very common in this era, and the wooden floor can be seen to be very old.
Lin Weimin called out in surprise: "Manager Wang!"
Yi Shizhi laughed, stood up from behind his desk and walked over to shake hands with Lin Weimin. "Hello, Comrade Lin Weimin. I am Yi Shizhi."
Lin Weimin realized his mistake and said, "Hello, Teacher Yu."
"Sit down and talk." Yi Shizhi pulled Lin Weimin to sit on the sofa.
When talking about Yi Shizhi, people will definitely talk about Wang Lifa in "Tea House", but in fact he has been engaged in drama performance since before liberation, and he has played more than one classic role of "Wang Lifa" in his life.
Crazy Cheng in "Longxugou", Young Master Yu Yongze in "Song of Youth", Guifu in "Qiu Jin"...
If Mr. Wan represents the highest level of Chinese playwrights, then Shi Yizhi represents the highest level of Chinese drama actors.
Not only that, now in his fifties, Yi Shizhi is also the first vice president of the People's Art Theatre, and holds a lot of national and Yanjing city titles.
"I asked someone to make the call. A few days ago, Jiabao Gong gave me a notebook and asked me to organize some people to discuss it first. The discussion came to a conclusion yesterday, so I went to see Jiabao Gong, and he gave me your contact information."
After Yi Shizhi gave a brief explanation, Lin Weimin understood the whole story.
"Teacher Yu, does this mean that the People's Art Theatre has decided to use my script?"
Yi Shizhi said, "The academy has this intention now, but it depends on the result of the final rehearsal. I asked you to come here today mainly because I want to learn from you about the process of script creation."
Lin Weimin did not hesitate and described the script writing process to Yi Shizhi.
After listening to this, Yi Shizhi frowned slightly. Isn’t this process a bit too simple and smooth?
Lin Weimin gave him a shy smile and said, "You may not know that I don't have any other advantages except that I write quickly. At that time, my teacher asked me to write this story into a script. I happened to be unemployed at the time, so I wrote it."
So he didn't know what to say for a moment. If the screenwriters in his theater could be as efficient as Lin Weimin, the People's Art Theater would not be worried about the scripts now.
He smiled and said, "Well, young people are still more energetic."
"So do you have any requirements for the rehearsal of the script?"
"What do you mean?"
"For example, if you are an actor, you are a screenwriter and you must have an outline for the characters in the script. When choosing roles, our theater will give priority to your ideas."
Lin Weimin immediately thought of Chen Xiaoer’s face, but he hesitated. If this changed Chen Xiaoer’s life trajectory, it would not be a good thing.
"Is it okay if he is not an actor from the People's Art Theatre?"
Yi Shizhi was stunned for a moment, then said, "We at the People's Art Theatre have never had this precedent."
Waiter, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, it’s just that Dean Yu doesn’t agree!
When Shi Zhi saw Lin Weimin hesitating, he thought he was dissatisfied with being rejected by him.
"How about this. Our theater will first select the roles based on the character settings of the script. I'll ask you to come over and take a look later. If you think someone is unsuitable, we'll make adjustments."
Lin Weimin nodded and agreed with Shi Yizhi's idea.
(End of this chapter)
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