The innovation and transformation of French drama

From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, France set off a popular drama movement in the context of the cultural popularization of social democracy and mass education, and thereby emerging the pioneers of many theory and practice of drama innovation. As a French writer and theater, Jacques Kobo and its practical process of finding "new audiences" with the "son of Kobo" had a profound impact on French popular drama and became an important milestone in the history of the history of modern French drama. In today's 21st century, Cobo's former residence has become a French drama education and research base through the integration of "industry -university -research", which provides a reference and inspiration for us to explore the methods and paths of drama training "new audiences".

The concept of drama innovation of the old pigeon nest theater and Kobo

French drama has formed a commercialized and industrialized assembly line production model after the 18th century business and capital. Its literary and artistic breaks have caused concerns of intellectuals. They call for a deep relationship between French literature and drama. In 1913, Jacques Cobo, a pioneer, was an important landmark of the old pigeon nest theater that symbolizes the left bank of the Seine River, which symbolizes culture and art. Jacques Kobe is a writer, director, actor, and the chief of theater group, and the founder of the Paris Pigeon Nest Theater. On Kobo's drama road, he struggled to reconstruct the break between the drama and culture, and did his best to fight against all the major business drama. The old pigeon nest theater aims to rebuild French drama through the stage space, director, drama, and actor performance, and establish a new relationship with the public. Kobo tried to find the idea of ​​"new audiences" and created a very inspiring path in the history of French popular drama and drama.

In order to realize this new ideal, as early as September 1913, Kobo published the article "The Innovation of the Drama: the Lao Ge Nest Theater" in the New French Magazine, and proposed that he and Paris's commercial drama are different. Organization. As we all know, the Paris is divided into the left and right bank by the Seine River, inherently inherently "the left bank, the right bank of the right bank", because the left bank is located in many cultural and educational institutions, such as the University of Sorbon, the French Academy in Latin, and the right bank is located on the right bank. The 18th century symbolizes money consumption, such as Lafayette Department Store, Paris Opera House, etc. It is self -evident that the identity logo of the old pigeon nest theater was selected on the left bank. Its goal was to compete with the current commercial drama at that time. Maintain operations without profitability.

In the original operating plan of the Laoge Nest Theater, many cultural promotion plans that still seem to be advanced today, such as the member system that is equivalent to the widely popular members today. In terms of maintaining the artistic standards and innovations of drama works, the theater adopts the "alternate performance" model, that is, at least three works per week to maintain the level of the repertoire, so as not to rely on the success of a single work and fall into business into business Drama. However, at this time, the target audience group tried to find the "minority" audience among educated writers, artists, and foreign intellectuals in the Latin region. Essence

Due to the outbreak of the First World War, the theater was closed one year after the opening of the theater, until the old pigeon nest theater opened again in 1920. Although the performance of the Laoge Nest Theater continued to succeed, these progress was not enough to make up for the operating and operation of the theater, and the number of subscribers was not enough to fill the long -term loss of the theater. In September 1924, Kobo decided to temporarily close the theater and gathered several actors to go to Burgundy to launch drama experiments. Although the old pigeon nest theater failed to realize its utopian ideal, in the 1950s, its advanced operating mode was re -adopted by the founder of the Avinion Drama Festival in France. Bo and his companions have also left unique imprints in the history of French popular drama.

From the "elite" to the "mass" change road

After the old pigeon nest theater was closed, Kobo and his followers came to Burgundy away from Paris. This is not only famous for its rich wines, but also because of the golden beauty of the mountains in the autumn. Essence They settled down in a small village in Burgundy, Pieran-Wheels, and it eventually became the place where Kobe's former residence was. It is precisely because it is far from the capital Paris and has contact with the French countryside, so that the goal of finding "new audiences" can be experimented in a more pure environment, and eventually the drama experiments of Kobo are closely related to the history of French popular drama. Together.

The troupe has carried out nearly "mysterious" drama experiments under the environmental conditions of the outliekeal and extremely scarce economic conditions. They are looking for purity in performance, action, improvisation, mask, dance, and music. The purpose is to connect with nature and get rid of the disadvantages of commercial drama. Cobo established a nearly "ascetic monk" life for this troupe. His strict requirements are consistent with the aesthetics of the "blank open -air stage" and oppose all the decorativeism of the star system that appears on performances and actors. The practice of the troupe lasted for more than 4 years until the theater company disbanded. Their footprints gradually spread from Burgundy's vineyards and villages to Bona and Chalong. Later, they also reached the border between Brussels and Geneva. Their biggest achievements were to enable the entire area to enjoy high -quality drama works.

Cobo and the companions known as the "son of Kobo" in the drama practice of Burgundy let Kobo's companions find "new audiences", which is exactly a group of "popular audiences", that is, farmers who grow grapes audience. However, for Kobo, the performance of his young drama troupe is just a certain "experiment", and the audience just helps actors to get rid of the "test" of Paris business drama routines. Although this difference caused a huge conflict with his students and his students, in the follow -up years of the French popular drama, their thinking on "new audiences" became a key factor: Kubo's students, such as Jean Daus Tig, Michelle San-Danny, and other "son of Kobo" actually became the pioneer of the provincialization movement of the post-war French drama. In fact, when Kobo's consensus failed to find the "niche, elite" audience, his concept has clearly changed from the 1930s. Kobo's call echoed in the practice of Jean Vall in the 1950s. Through the reform of the Villa's Reform of the Avinion Drama Festival and the National Volkswagen Theater, he can see his concept of the pioneers of the French Popular Drama. That is to facing the extensive popular audience as possible, it also marks the historical peak of the French 20th century popular drama movement. The significance of cultivating the "new audience"

Kobo founded the Lao Ge Nest Theater in 1913 and became the source of modern French drama innovation. To this day, in the Burgundy Pieran-Veethez, in this small village where Kobe and his companions were stationed in 1925, the old pigeon nest theater was founded 100 years later, and the former residence of Kobo's former residence in 2013 From October, it has been re -opened to the public and opened a new history of Kobo's research. Since the establishment of the first seminar of the Kobo former residence in 2013, the former residence of Kobo has gathered in the combination of "industry -university -research" to bring together experts, scholars, drama writers, artists, actors, and actors, and also Villagers who live in Peran-Veellez. Through regularly organized academic forums, drama workshops, and practical bases, the spirit of cultivating "new audiences" continues. For example, every year in the fall, Kobo's former residence regularly holds a three -day academic seminar forum and the training activities gathered in the drama colleges. The National Theater Higher Drama Art Academy, Lyon National Higher Drama Academy, Forlang Academy of Drama and other teachers and students in French drama. The guests invited by the Drama Symposium include authoritative experts and artists in the field of French drama research. The main goal is to cultivate young drama workers and drama lovers through close conversation and discussions to form a deep psychological spirit, inherit the drama Contemporary mission of research and practice.

The scientific research and educational activities of Kobo's former residence reflect a series of predicament and challenges facing French drama today, that is, the aging problems of the audience's main group and the urgent needs of cultivating young forces. This is because France has trained a stable audience group as a cultural popularization method since the "Popular Education" movement in the 1930s. Drama culture has become the challenge and priority facing French drama today.

It can be seen that how to find and cultivate "new audiences" is a problem that needs to be solved in the development of French drama, which is of great significance to enhance the influence of French drama on the world drama stage.

(This article was funded by the 2020 post -doctoral international exchange plan)

(Author Unit: School of Literature, Renmin University of China)

Source: China Social Science Network-Journal of Social Sciences of China

Author: Lu Nan

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