中国北方话剧四杰

Four Masters of Modern Drama in Northern China

天津在中国话剧发展历程中的重要地位,具有突破性、全局性的意义,无论从历史与现状看,都是如此,是20世纪上半叶北方地区话剧运动的中心城市之一。当年,从天津走出的话剧艺术家可以列出一长串名单,从李叔同、曾孝谷在日本东京组织的春柳社,到严修积极参与话剧的编演,更遑论张伯苓、张彭春及其具体指导和辛勤培育下的"南开新剧团",及青年时代周恩来、曹禺、黄佐临、焦菊隐、张平群、谢添等人热衷参与。尽管有的人后来或从政,或从教,或从艺,但始终对天津这块戏剧沃土心存感恩之情。周恩来总理不止一次对曹禺先生说:"要编写天津话剧史。"他认为,"写中国话剧史,不能忘记北方话剧发展的历史。"而北方话剧发展史中不能忘记的便是文中提到的四杰。

The city of Tianjin holds an important place in the development of China＇s modem drama. The breaking-through and overall values of Tianjin have earned it, considering both the historical and the present situation, a center of drama movement in Northern China in the first half of the 20^th century. Those that can be included in the long list of Tianjin drama artists are quite a few, like Li Shutong and Zeng Xiaogu from the Spring Willow Society, Yan Xiu who was active in the writing and acting of drama, Zhang Boling and Zhang Pengchun with the ＂Nankai New Troupe＂ that was under their guidance and teaching, and young Zhou Enlai, Cao Yu, Huang Zuolin, Jiao Juyin, Zhang Pingqun, and Xie Tian. Although some of them later entered the fields of politics, education, or art, they all held their gratitude to Tianjin. Premier Zhou Enlai told Mr. Cao Yu many times to ＂write the history of Tianjin opera＂. He believes that ＂the history of Chinese drama must include the history of the development of northern drama.＂ And those that must be included in the development of northern drama are the four masters mentioned in this article.