In the limelight
▶ Chinese stage director Meng Jinghui receives award for contributions to Russian cultural heritage
In recognition of his contributions to Russian culture, Chinese stage director Meng Jinghui was awarded the Pushkin Medal by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister for Social Policy, Labor, Health and Pension Provision Tatyana Golikova at the Russian Embassy in Beijing on Tuesday.
The award, named in honor of Russian author and poet Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, is a national award given to Russians and foreign citizens who have contributed to the study and preservation of Russia’s cultural heritage.
Considered by many to be China’s most avant-garde stage director, Meng is best known for his hit drama Rhinoceros in Love. One of China’s most successful plays, it has been staged across China more than 2,500 times since its debut in 1999. Moreover, his Chinese stage adaptations of Russian literature works such as The Fatal Egg by Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov or plays like Bedbug by Russian poet and playwright Vladimir Mayakovsky have also earned him applause.
By directing works of famed Russian playwrights and inviting Russian troupes to perform in China, Meng has helped audiences and critics in China learn more about both classic and modern Russian dramas, Golikov said at the award ceremony.
“I am really happy and surprised to receive this award, as I don’t think I have done much, but I have a lot of thoughts and I am planning to do more,” the 53-year-old director told the Global Times before the ceremony.
“The next Russian stage drama adaptation that I want to do is Anna Karenina,” Meng noted.
Aside from inviting Russian troupes to the annual Wuzhen Theatre Festival, for which Meng is artistic director, the director said he is also thinking about bringing more Chinese plays to Russia.
“One of the Chinese plays that I want to bring to Russia is the new edition of Tea House [written by renowned Chinese writer Lao She] that I am directing,” said Meng, laughing, adding the play has become one of his favorite Chinese dramas.
When asked about how to better introduce modern Chinese plays to the world, Meng noted that a bigger priority should be educating Chinese theater audiences more about the medium.
In China, stage drama audiences are still limited to a relatively small group of fans compared with movies and TV dramas even though audience numbers have been growing in recent years thanks to more film adaptations of modern plays.
“Modern Chinese plays will become more mature when audiences have higher expectations concerning performances,” Meng told the Global Times, stressing that education about drama and aesthetics is important to foster public interest toward the theater.
In this respect, Meng suggested that Chinese theater promoters should learn from Russia, as the nation enjoys a long tradition of theater appreciation and creation.
A graduate of the Central Academy of Drama, China’s top school in the performing arts, Meng said he and his creations have been deeply influenced by Russian literary figures such as Pushkin, Mayakovsky and Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev.
He also noted that Russian dramas have had a huge influence on Chinese plays, especially in the 1950s, and that their impact can still be felt today.
“Before the emergence of ‘model dramas’ [staged during the Cultural Revolution], Chinese theater talents learned quite a lot from the then Soviet Union. Many Chinese performing arts schools such as the Central Academy of Drama still use Russian performance systems such as the system created by Konstantin Stanislavsky,” Meng said.