谈“戏”爱说罗怀臻

无缘和罗怀臻相识，真正知道他的大名是2003年10月在杭州东坡剧院观摩宁波甬剧《典妻》那个晚上。数年之后，又一次目睹了他的戏艺活动：那是国家财政首批用于抢救昆曲艺术的1000万基金首次启用，由浙江昆剧团承办的全国昆剧编剧培训班在杭开班，上海艺术创作中心著名编剧罗怀臻应邀前来讲课。他西湖论剧，慷慨陈词，就“戏剧文学精神的回归”为话题，在杭州整整论说了两天……。

其人如戏

罗怀臻原名罗淮赠，出生于江苏淮阴。四岁那年他被父亲正式过继给了异乡的伯父，从江苏淮阴寄居到了河南许昌。

13岁，正逢锣鼓喧天、万岁震耳的那个年代。但他远离闹世，默默地走进邻居家的书斋博览群书，其中对他影响最深的是雨果的《九三年》、钱彩的《说岳全传》和曹禺的《雷雨》三本书。

到了70年代，他考入淮阴县淮剧团当演员。天赋聪慧，平时喜欢抄抄写写，剧团的流动生涯正好让他施展才华，成为团内一个义务代客写信的“笔师”。那些老人还记得，他的那支生花妙笔，常使团内同事的家庭争吵因他的代写之信而平息，邻里纠纷闹事因他的这封信而冰消雪化，更让人赞叹的是经他润色的情书，更是弹无虚发，动人心弦。

罗怀臻代客写信写多了，一不小心便踏进了写剧本的门槛。初生牛犊不怕虎，激情满怀的他倒也成功了两三部。后来他上“电大”，再考入“上戏”。毕业那年他创作的那本《古优传奇》，是他迈向戏剧创作成功的关键一步。此后，又陆续写了《真假驸马》《风月秦淮》等。在历史剧创作的长河中，他似乎永远没有题材枯竭的时候。从第一部发表的京剧剧本《古优传奇》到轰动全国剧坛的淮剧《金龙与蜉游》，使他的创作水准达到颠峰。一霎时罗怀臻成了梨园内外翘指品谈的人物，在当时的上海滩更有“说戏必谈罗怀臻”之风。

《典妻》幕后

在去年第七届中国艺术节上，宁波甬剧《典妻》荣获文华大奖。出于好奇，许多人都想了解罗怀臻和《典妻》幕后的故事。

罗怀臻人缘蛮好，人在上海但和宁波常有交往，宁波甬剧团里有他的不少知音同道。每当他的戏名扬南北，甬剧的朋友总想能得到关照，于是罗怀臻决意为甬剧打造一戏。罗怀臻创作极为严谨，深知剧种与土壤、演员与舞台的关系，若离开上述二说，剧本便会失去生机。后来他从作家柔石小说《为奴隶的母亲》得到创作灵感，况且柔石本人也是宁波籍作家，在小说中运用了不少宁波的地方语言。以宁波甬剧来表现宁波人过去的一段生活，这是“天人合一”，这是最为恰当的一个题材了，于是他决定以此题材为宁波甬剧团写个剧本。

2001年5月，宁波市文化局、宁波市甬剧团邀请罗怀臻来宁波，双方议定将柔石的小说《为奴隶的母亲》改编为甬剧《典妻》。

8月，罗怀臻赴柔石故乡宁海采风；10月讨论通过《典妻》剧本初稿，并商定约请以曹其敬为导演的主创班子进入二度创作。为了更原汁原味的体现乡土气息，演员们远离城市，隐入深山体验生活，力争较好地在《典妻》中保全甬剧的“戏魂”，这个“戏魂”是其它任何剧种不可替代的。

2002年9月，甬剧《典妻》在宁海剧院举行纪念柔石诞辰100周年演出；11月《典妻》入选上海第四届上海国际艺术节。《典妻》在上海大放异彩，上座爆满，好评如潮，那赞美的言语丝毫不弱于参加艺术节的任何一个戏剧品种，各家媒体的评价几乎众口一词：“小剧种，大转型”!上海多少年来原本是宁波甬剧的市场，这一次《典妻》又在上海为宁波打出了一张崭新的名片。时隔几十年，甬剧又一次在上海扬眉吐气了!

《典妻》成了罗怀臻戏剧文学创作路上竖起的一个里程碑。2004年7月1日，中国戏曲学会在宁波为甬剧《典妻》颁发被誉为全国戏曲最高专家奖的“中国戏曲学会奖”。

“永不消失”

正值罗怀臻风头正健之时，商海大潮奔涌而来。这一股热风也向着罗怀臻的窗口吹来，有人要和他组建一个影视公司，也有人想高薪聘他去当传媒公司的老总……。那时的他已届不惑之年，他会不会在这商潮的诱惑下而迷失自己的目标呢?在这十字路口，一个历史人物班昭对他迎面走来，他与班昭进行了“思想碰撞”，再次激发了他的创作冲动。罗怀臻从班昭身上看到了一种“文人操守”的品质内涵，通过《班昭》的创作，看到了中国知识分子的心境，于是他铁了心，永不放弃他那如梦如痴的追求。昆剧《班昭》首演于2001年，新戏一面世就以其精良的制作 、深邃的意境、华美的服饰、精湛的演技征服了观众，荣获了第14届中国曹禺戏剧奖剧本奖。

可能是痴迷，更因为是热爱，这位已至天命之年的当代著名剧作家，有句话让人回味了好几天：“中国的戏曲，他契合了中国人的审美需要，只要中国人在，戏曲就永远不会消失……。”

在这“永不消失”之中，罗怀臻树起了自己的“丰碑”：近20年中他创作完成的戏曲作品多达20部，如淮剧《金龙与蜉蝣》《西楚霸王》；京剧《西施归越》《宝莲灯》；越剧《真假驸马》《梅龙镇》《李清照》；昆剧《班昭》《一片桃花红》；汉剧《柳如是》；黄梅戏《孔雀东南飞》《长恨歌》；甬剧《典妻》等等。

纵观中国近年来戏剧文学创作之路，罗怀臻走得最宽、最远、最长、最好，他博采众家，独树其峰。

A Playwright"s Endeavors

By A Pan, Bao Chen

It was not until October 2003 that we first came to know the name of Luo Huaizhen, an eminent playwright with the Shanghai Center of Creative Arts when we watched the Pawned Wife, a Ningbo Opera debuted at Dongpo Opera House in Hangzhou. We first saw him in 2005. The state government has set up a foundation to help the Kunqu Opera come back. The first 10 million was activated in 2005. Luo came to Hangzhou to address the topic of bringing back the spirit of the Chinese dramatic literature at a forum where playwrights from all over the country were supposed to find ways for the renaissance of the Chinese theatrical tradition. Luo"s lecture lasted a good two days.

Luo was not born to become a playwright. When the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) broke loose, he was 13 years old. The youngster buried himself in the library of a neighbor. Years later, he recalls that he was impressed by only three books of all the books he read during that time: 93 by Victor Hugo, The Life of General Yue Fei by Qian Cai and Thunderstorm by Cao Yu.

He entered a county opera troupe as an actor in the 1970s. A talented writer, he found his writing service was much needed. He wrote letters for his colleagues to smooth troubled marriages. He wrote letters to solve disputes between neighbors. And he polished love letters for colleagues and these letters worked magically. One thing led to another. He began to write plays. The first two or three were quite a success. Then he eolled himself into a TV university and then began to receive the four-year professional training at Shanghai Theatrical Academy. A Legend of an Ancient Actor, a play he wrote in the year of his graduation, marked his first step into the professional playwriting. He specialized in historical plays. And he never ran out of ideas. He became the most conspicuous playwright in the circle and people talked about him when they talked about Chinese theater.

The story that the Pawned Wife won the top award at the 7th China Arts Festival in 2004 says a lot about Luo Huaizhen"s talent. Many of his friends in the circle of Ningbo Opera had long since urged the playwright to produce a play for Ningbo Opera. Luo read a short story by Rou Shi, about the wife of a poor family who was pawned out to a landlord and later gave birth to a son to the landlord. The writer was from Ningbo and used some Ningbo dialect in his narration. Luo believed that a story written by an author of Ningbo origin was ideal for a Ningbo Opera play.

In May 2001, he went to Ningbo and talked with the Ningbo Culture Bureau and the Ningbo Opera Troup about the adaptation of the story into a play. They clinched an agreement. In August, the playwright did a field study at Rou Shi"s hometown in Ninghai County. In October 2001, Luo came up with the script. Then a director organized a work group to flesh it out for the stage performance. Artists stationed themselves in a remote mountainous area and concentrated on keeping the original flavor of the local opera.

The play debuted in Ninghai Opera House in memory of the 100th anniversary of Rou Shi"s birth in September 2002. In November the play was staged in November during the Shanghai International Arts Festival. It was a roaring success. Shanghai used to have a large base of fans of Ningbo Opera. The Pawned Wife brought back the reputation of Ningbo Opera after several decades. This play also serves as a landmark in Luo Huaizhen"s creative playwriting career. On July 1st 2004, the Chinese Dramatists" Association awarded its highest honor to the play in Ningbo.

When Luo Huaizhen became well known in playwriting, offers for lucrative posts flooded in to him. Someone wanted to partner with him to set up a movie and television company. Someone offered him attractive money to run a media company. In his 40s, Luo considered these alternatives for his future. Then he wrote a historical play about Ban Zhao, a scholar-turned government official who worked as an envoy in China"s Western Regions in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C-220 A.D.). In this character, Luo saw something he could learn: a scholar must never betray his moral principle. For him, the moral principle was that he was going to write plays for the country"s local operas. He wrote Ban Zhao. The play won the 14th Cao Yu Award for the best script in 2001.

For nearly 20 years, Luo Huaizhen has written more than 20 plays. No other Chinese theater playwright in modern times has written more and better than Luo. Luo is the best theater playwright in China today.

(Translated by David)

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