On December 20, a fierce competition was held in Kezhen auditorium——“Panoramic Life” Drama and Sketch Final Contest. It is a significant and traditional section of the Foreign Language, Culture& Art Festival.
Traditionally, students choose some classical plays or some other plays that are presently popular. Plays that contestants usually chose include Thunderstorm, A Dream of Red Mansions, Journey to the West, Romance in the Rain. During the process, students bring their talents into full play.
Nevertheless, since last year a farcical play called The Monkey King Thrice Beats the Skeleton Demon, which was based on Journey to the West, won the first prize, nearly two-thirds of teams played a farce in the preliminary round and half of contestants in the final contest. Class Sino-U.S 091 who placed first last year became the champion again this year.
Actually, these farcical plays commonly combine the story of the serious play with the modern factors. Take the example of the works Sino-U.S 091, White Vengeance, Liu Bang came onto the stage with two bodyguards in Western-style costumes. And the negotiation between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu was held like a news conference. Some advertising slogans, popular words and even Korean words were added to the play. The music they played as a background was usually not well-matched so that it could make the audience burst into laughter. In contrast, the serious-plays seemed a bit boring to a certain extent.
Although, the winner was declared, the audiences had an intensive debate on the result. Some felt the champion should be The Phantom of The Opera, a serious-play performed by English 094. They conclude that people just get temporary pleasure from farcical plays, and only enjoying the serious-play can improve oneself in spirit. In addition, farcical plays have some negative effects on peoples life: distorting history and spreading uncultivated languages.
The controversy between farcical and serious plays does not come to an end. Which type of play do you think should be the winner?