The successful performance ofTeahousein 1957 by Beijing People'sArtTheaterwould be unimaginable without Jiao Juyin (1905-1975), the general director for the play. Jiao Juyin, the famous director, drama theorist and translator, was born inDecember 11th, 1905. When he was young, he had to work to support his study since his family was very poor. Jiao participated in founding thePekingDramaSpecializedSchoolin September 1931 and acted as the first president.
In 1950 Jiao directed Lao She'sDragon Beard Ditchfor the Beijing People'sArtTheater. With perfect stage characters, vividpersonalities and full-bodied life and local flavor, the play fully exhibited the charm of modernistic stage art. In the later plays directed by him, Jiao stressed a great deal on going deep into life.For him, in addition to "psychological experience", true-to-life acting is also indispensable to his dramatic performance. Only in this way can the performance of modern drama become more attractive and the characters' feelings, psychology, personalities and stage activities be unified organically.
Starting from theDragon Beard Ditchin 1956, Jiao Juyin had explored the way of nationalizing dramatic performance. With a deep understanding and a good command of the Stanislavski method, he had made great efforts at the same time to employ the quintessential parts of traditional Chinese drama in performing modern drama, aiming to achieve a combination of traditional Chinese drama and modern western drama. A supporter of "psychological experience" and "truthful representation of life", he expended much time and energy in seeking a poetic realm of drama and treating reality with a high degree of artistic condensation. When directingTiger-Shaped Tallyhe made an experiment and gained some experience. And this experiment culminated in his directing of theTeahouse.
Such a poetic treatment constitutes the guiding principle of Jiao Juyin's directing art. Through directingTeahouse,Jiao Juyin gradually formed a Chinese school of acting.
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