“现代戏曲”与戏曲的现代演变

“Modern Chinese Opera” and the Modern Evolution of Chinese Opera

现代戏曲的"现代"不是时间范畴,也不是题材选择,不应是现代思想的宣教工具,不应是现代科技手段的应用,而是具备现代性品格的戏曲创作与演出。新文化运动推动中国戏剧转型时试图用散文化的话剧取代韵文式的戏曲的努力未能成功,戏曲现代化的重心才转向对戏曲的改造。一个多世纪来,戏曲在艺术形态上发生的最重要的变化,就是它从广场和厅堂艺术转换为剧场艺术,由此促进了戏曲剧目的整体性倾向和精致化追求。这些改变或有现代性内涵,但只有在坚持戏曲化的前提下才具积极意义。而要确保现代戏曲仍是戏曲,对现代性的多元阐释是不可忽略的前提。

The "modern" in the term modern Chinese opera does not come into the domain of time. Modern Chinese opera does not only refer to operas created in modern time, and should not be a propaganda and education tool for modern thoughts. Actually, it is not only the application of modern scientific and technological means, but also the creation and performance of opera with the features of modernity. But the modernization of Chinese opera is not dramatization. The artistic form of Chinese opera is like a verse with strict rhyme. In the New Culture Movement, efforts have been made to replace Chinese opera with prose-style drama, but failed. Then, the reform of traditional operas has been launched instead. For more than a century, the most important change in the artistic form of Chinese opera is its transformation from the art of square and hall to the art of theatre, which leads to the tendency of integration and the pursuit of refinement of Chinese opera repertoires. However, these changes are of positive significance only because of the premise of insisting on the tradition of Chinese opera. In order to ensure that modern opera is still Chinese opera, the multiple interpretation of modernity is the premise that cannot be ignored.