勤奮耕耘的表演藝術家周賢珍

2011年3月18日，永遠定格在周賢珍的腦海里。這天下午，在美麗的西子湖畔，浙江省戲劇家協會隆重舉行著名表演藝術家周賢珍《似我非我》劇影專集首發式。周賢珍亢奮、激動、感恩。她齊耳短發，臉頰上透著紅暈，神采奕奕，風釆依舊，宛如當年。她感慨萬千地說：“我多么希望時光能倒流，我再創造幾個新角色，為共建和諧社會作貢獻，那該多好呀!”可見她多么依戀走過60年的舞臺呀!

人生歡樂來自理想的追求

《似我非我》是周賢珍60年艱苦耕耘的藝術結晶，是她藝術追求、拼搏、突破、超越的歷史記錄，也是她奉獻給社會的一份感恩答卷。60年來，周賢珍在舞臺、熒屏和銀幕上創造了100多個藝術形象，從蘇聯姑娘桑尼亞到知識分子丁潔瓊，從風塵女子陳白露到華貴雍容的王夫人，都給觀眾留下了深刻而難忘的印象。她先后獲得話劇榮譽獎、電視劇貢獻獎、兒童戲劇編劇獎、飛天提名獎等諸多榮譽。正如中國戲劇家協會副主席茅威濤所說：“周賢珍老師是一位德藝雙馨的有突出貢獻的表演藝術家，一生耕耘，碩果累累，為中國話劇事業作出了杰出貢獻，她60年的藝術生涯是中國話劇發展歷史的縮影，留給我們頗多的精神激勵和文化感召。”

60年藝術生涯，周賢珍有太多的感慨，猶如錢江水滔滔不絕。周賢珍從小酷愛戲文，在抗戰時期逃難的艱苦日子里，還常常跑到祠堂前面廣場去看高甲戲，《張文祥刺馬》中緊張的刺馬場面至今還記憶猶新。在臺中女子中學讀書時，有一次看了大陸去演的話劇《萬世師表》，感到好新鮮、好奇妙，于是就和同學們排演起陳白塵先生的《結婚進行曲》。奇怪的是很怕背課文的她，竟然背臺詞很利索，且記得牢。她很亢奮，第一次感受到演戲比看戲更興奮、更愉悅。從此，在她心田里播下了演戲的種子。1948年秋，她隨父親從臺灣回到了杭州。在建國中學讀書時，組織同學扭秧歌、辦夜校，是引人注目的活躍分子。杭州解放不久，周賢珍走進了杭州市青年團干部學校，學習結業后被分配到浙江文工團“越劇隊”，后來陰差陽錯地把她借調到“話劇隊”，主演大型話劇《曙光照耀著莫斯科》的女主角桑尼亞。初出茅廬的周賢珍，既興奮、激動、神秘、好奇，又戰戰兢兢、忐忑不安，唯恐演不好砸了鍋。為了創造好桑尼亞的人物形象，周賢珍讀小說。她常常揣摩桑尼亞這個角色，甚至騎自行車去菜場買菜，也一路背臺詞一路練笑聲，連錢包忘在柜臺上、鮮肉掉在回家路上都渾然不知，整天沉浸在創造角色的世界里。幾個月的艱辛和汗水，終于澆灌出話劇舞臺上的第一朵奇葩。《曙光照耀著莫斯科》的成功演出，使周賢珍一夜走紅，與話劇結下了60年的情緣。

上世紀50年代，是話劇的“黃金時代”，周賢珍先后創造了曹禺先生《日出》中的陳白露，《孔雀膽》里的阿蓋公主等性格迥異的重要角色。直到1980年時任中國戲劇家協會主席的曹禺先生在上海觀看《日出》演出后，上臺握著周賢珍的手，深情地說：“我已二十年沒看此劇，你們演得真切感人，演得真好啊!”是啊，周賢珍一生陶醉于人物的塑造，著力研究同類人物的不同性格特征和行為舉止，創造出一個個鮮明生動的人物形象。周賢珍正是從把握同類人物不同性格創造出劇作家描寫的“這一個”。正如她所說：“把自己隱藏起來，讓各種不同性格的人物在自己身上外化出來，從而使同臺人意外，叫觀眾驚喜，這是多么有趣而令人神往的創造啊!”這正是她孜孜不倦的藝術追求，也是她藝術成就斐然的秘訣所在。

藝術生涯的第二個春天

“文革”風雨過后，周賢珍又回到了“舞臺”。然而時光不能倒流，年近半百的她，能有藝術生涯的第二個春天嗎？不服輸的周賢珍又堅定地前行，毅然決然地主演《于無聲處》中的梅林，接著又扮演《第二次握手》中的丁潔瓊。這些藝術形象，走進了千萬觀眾的心里，又一次名聲大震。上世紀70年代，她又主動請纓，出演《天涯斷腸人》中的兩個主角鐘離秀蘭與林菊仙。因她中學時代曾在臺灣生活，故兩岸分隔的情景演得尤為真切。香港《文匯報》率先報道，引起了全國的轟動。該劇連演百場，是話劇史上罕見的。為了創造好角色，她甚至可以玩命地干。在拍攝電視連續劇《楊家將》中，她扮演蕭太后，當兩軍交戰，戰鼓隆隆，殺聲四起時，她騎的戰馬也不再觀戰了，拼命地往楊家將營里沖，皇冠披風全飛了。張導演嚇出了一身冷汗，看到她還在馬背上，這才松了口氣：“周老師，你真行呀!”周賢珍風趣地說：“別看我年已花甲，玩命是向張導學習的。”20年后，周賢珍樂呵呵地告訴記者，陜西電視臺選她演蕭太后，既是偶然，也是戲緣。她到黃土高原是第一次，騎高頭大馬是第一次，拍攝時，寒風刺骨，飛沙走石，弄得眼淚直淌的艱苦拍攝是第一次，也是她藝術生涯中刻骨銘心的一次。出演電視連續劇《紅樓夢》中的王夫人，是周賢珍藝術生涯的一次最珍貴的實踐和最美好的回憶。為了演好王夫人，她多次研讀小說《紅樓夢》，多次聆聽紅學專家的講課，反復琢磨這個既有女兒王妃和兒子寶玉，誰也不能攀比的王夫人。巧合的是，周賢珍正好也有一兒一女，盡管身份不同，但母愛和親情是相通的。看到寶玉被打，她痛徹心扉，不由聯想到自己兒子一人在家無人照顧，只能把鑰匙套在脖子上獨自生活，便心酸難耐，潸然淚下。元妃省親，母女相會，更勾起她思念女兒遠嫁日本后的多次離合傷情。于是，她演得很投入，很執著，很有氣質，出色地扮演了既是一位吃齋、念佛，聊天、打牌，面帶笑容的貴夫人，又是一位打金釧、斥晴雯、趕芳官的聲色俱厲、威里帶潑的多重性格的王夫人形象。談到《紅樓夢》，周賢珍不無感慨地說：“演出《紅樓夢》的過程是我不斷學習提高，探索突破的過程，它給了我最豐厚的知識，是我藝術生涯中的一次‘最高獎賞’。”

創造是生活著的價值

時光飛逝。周賢珍快到離休的年齡，應該安分守己了，然而，她卻作出了令同齡人意外的抉擇：籌劃組建兒童劇團。頓時，話劇團像炸開的油鍋。她四處拉贊助、籌資金，整天在憂愁交加中度日。家人見她日漸消瘦的臉龐，勸她“回頭是岸”。她卻堅定地說：“開弓沒有回頭箭，就是豁出老命也要把兒童劇團搞成。”她繼續四處求人，“磕頭拜菩薩”，終于感動了“上帝和神仙”，在杭州工藝鞋廠和社會各界的支持下，浙江兒童藝術劇團誕生了，她也成了當之無愧的團長。

耕耘結出了碩果，使周賢珍欣喜若狂。她和劇作家的先生顧天高都沉浸在兒童戲劇創作的世界里，她的家也成了創作沙龍，外星人、死亡谷、千果樹……都進入了美麗的童話世界。《明天飛》大型科幻兒童劇演出的那一天，整個劇場掌聲、笑聲、歡呼聲一浪高過一浪，孩子們瘋了，老師們笑了，已經被冷落多年的話劇舞臺又一次奏響了歡樂的樂曲。

兒童劇像雨后春筍般活躍起來，浙江兒童藝術劇團也茁壯成長了，境外巡演和對外交流也與日俱增，多次與日本蒲公英兒童劇團交流演出。她率團先后兩次到新加坡交流演出，兩次到臺灣寶島巡演。最使她難忘的是，相隔半個世紀之后，有幸又一次踏進了臺中“女中”的校門，鄉間的俚語，清新的海風，還有那天真可愛的孩子們，又把她帶進了天真爛漫的學生時代，使她更堅定了“為兒童戲劇奉獻一輩子”的信念。

采訪結束時，我問周老今后的打算，她笑哈哈地說：頤養天年是上輩人的幸福觀。她不習慣過安寧的日子，去年已近80高齡的她，在《我們是一家人》里扮演一個直率、開朗、慈愛又嚴厲的老太太，受到導演、制片人的贊許。今后，只要有劇組邀請，她會毫不猶豫去參加拍攝，無論角色大小，都有創造的歡樂，生活的意義。這位勤奮耕耘的表演藝術家爽朗地說：“我要活到老、學到老、創造到老。”

Sixty Years #8195;#8195;#8195;#8195;in Modern Drama

By Pan Rongkun

March 18， 2011 was a big day for 79-year-old Zhou Xianzhen， a modern drama artist based in Hangzhou. That afternoon， Zhejiang Theater Performers Association held a special ceremony in Hangzhou to launch a collection of photos that portray the best moments of the artist’s sixty-year acting career on the stage. Zhou was excited， saying how she wished she could go back to the past so that she could have created a few more characters.

Entitled “Like Me， Unlike Me”， the 152-page album shows more than 130 photos. The album displays the beauty and ideal in her performance and her excellence and grace in interpreting more than 100 characters over the past 60 years. Over the past six decades， Zhou has interpreted on the stage and on the silver screens and television the roles that lived in ancient times and modern times and at home and abroad. In the 1950s and 1960s， she mainly appeared on the stage， starring in various plays. From the 1980s up to 2010， she appeared in more than ten movies and twenty television series. Her performance as Madam Wang in “The Dream of the Red Chamber”， a television blockbuster adaptation from the namesake classic novel of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)， was a proud and gratifying landmark of her career.

For her unique contributions， Zhou Xianzhen has won numerous accolades. Mao Weitao， a Zhejiang-based Yueju Opera master and Vice Chairman of China Theater Performers Association， commented at the launching ceremony: “A master of art and virtue， Zhou Xianzhen has dedicated her life to performance art and made outstanding contributions to the drama undertakings of China. In a sense， her 60-year career epitomizes the development of Chinese modern drama， giving us a valuable spiritual legacy and encouragement.”

Zhou Xianzhen was born in 1932. Her passion for drama started when she was in middle school and had chances to watch dramas. In a school drama she was chosen to be the lead woman. To her amazement， she learned all the lines with an ease which was absent when she tried to memorize things in textbooks. The success of the play catapulted her to the school glory. She experienced thrill onstage in acting as someone else and finding her heartstring resonate with strange sentiments and fate of the character she personated.

In 1948 the 16-year-old Zhou came back from Taiwan to Hangzhou and entered Jianguo Middle School where she was highly active in school’s drama events. Shortly after the city’s liberation in May 1949， she took a training course at the Hangzhou Youth League cadre school. After graduation from the school， she was assigned to the Yueju Opera group of Zhejiang Cultural Work Troupe. However， she was transferred from the Yueju Opera section to the Drama group to appear as the lead woman in “Moscow in Morning Sunlight”， a Soviet Union modern drama to be staged in celebration of the founding of the diplomatic relations between Soviet Union and China.

For a few months， she made herself totally lost in the character. In order to look and speak like the character， she watched Soviet films and read Soviet novels. She was so dedicated that she made some jokes. On the way to and from the vegetable market one day， for example， she was so busy speaking the lines and laughing like the lead woman that she left her purse at a meat counter at the market and lost the pork on the way back home.

Her brilliant performance contributed a great deal to the success of the play. She found herself shot to provincial fame overnight， which marked the beginning of her 60-year career as a drama performer. She did not go back to the Yueju Opera.

The 1950s was the first golden age of modern drama in the history of New China. She appeared as the lead woman in various plays. Her performances amazed audience as she was able to interpret different personalities in different ways. She herself loved her performances too. “I put myself away and externalize different characterizations to amaze audience. How fascinating such creative experiences are!”

The ten-year Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) broke her career down. When the chaos came to an end， she was excited and felt grateful for the second chance. In her late forties， could she stage a dramatic comeback as amazing and convincing as she thought she could be?

Her capability of interpreting characters proved to be great. The roles she played were convincing. In “Heart-broken and Separated”， a modern drama staged in the late 1970s when the relations across the Taiwan Straits were beginning to thaw， she acted two leading roles. The play had more than 100 performances across China， a good record for a modern drama in those years.

She was fully dedicated as testified by her performance in shooting “Generals of the Yang Family”， a costume television series. She had never ridden a horse and she had never visited the Northwest and she had never experienced the cold windy days in the winter of Northwest. But she galloped on horseback in a cold windy day. The director feared she might fall off the horse and get injured. But she more than survived. Her performance on horseback amazed everyone.

She retired in 1992 from Zhejiang Drama Troupe. Many thought she would lead a leisured life from then on. But she plunged herself into the preparations for setting up the province’s first children’s

drama troupe. Many colleagues misunderstood her and many criticized the subgenre itself， believing it was a backward step in art. But she persisted. Her determination and sheer dedication moved “gods”， in her words. The Zhejiang Children’s Art Troupe came into being and she served as its first director.

Under her guidance， the troupe successfully staged plays one after another. The young audiences applauded the drama shows that appealed to them. Her colleagues were convinced by the thrilled responses of the young. Her colleagues had not seen the flourishing of the drama stage for a long while.

The troupe’s reputation and business have grown rapidly and steadily. It has staged performances overseas. The troupe has visited both Taiwan and Singapore twice and engaged in an exchange program with a Japan’s children drama troupe. The success of her troupe has further consolidated her determination to dedicate herself to children’s dramas.

And she is ready to perform more if chances come her way. In 2010， she appeared as a lovely granny in a television series entitled “We the Family”. She says she will not hesitate to accept more offers. “Live to learn and create” are her motto for her golden years.