The fantasy drama "Twenty Thousand Miles Under the Sea" was adapted from the novel of the same name written by the French science fiction master Jules Verne in 1869. With only six actors, with their superb acting skills, show every bit of life in the underwater world in the small submarine space, bringing the audience into an era 156 years ago full of the interweaving of the old and the old, full of contradictions and exploration. This year, the Suez Canal was officially opened to navigation, the first transcontinental railway in the United States was completed, and Mendeleev published the first periodic table of elements... This year, it is still 30 years before the world's first truly practical submarine was launched.

Cold, unknown, mysterious, heavy or resistant? When we stand at a new historical node, facing a profound literary masterpiece like "Twenty Thousand Miles Under the Sea", what style is adapted and adapted is a question from people of this era about the original work and a review of contemporary adapters. It is gratifying that artists and creators from China and France work together to integrate Chinese and French art philosophy and aesthetic ideas, giving the "Nautilus" a new comedy core, breaking people's traditional understanding of the original work "Twenty Thousand Miles Under the Sea".

The story begins with a minute-long darkness. When Professor Aronas and his partners Consell and Ned board the Nautilus, the familiar comic color dilutes the uneasiness and tension contained in the darkness and lays the comedy tone of the whole show.

In the play, we can clearly see the Chinese humor and French amusement flowing between the professor trio and Captain Nemo's trio. The composition of the professor trio is based on a classic and universal fixed role architecture. Professors represent leaders, and often such roles have a sense of rationality, authority or mission, and are responsible for setting goals and strategies. Ned represents actors, and such roles usually take on specific tasks with force, skill or execution as the core. Professor’s student Consell serves as a reconciler, providing elements of emotional support and humor. Captain Nemo and his companions are directly derived from the classic settings of the master and the servant in traditional French classic comedy. This setting generally contrasts with the master through the servant's ugly appearance, imitation, weird performances and scheming personality, thereby further highlighting the master's heroic, pure virtue or contradictory, complex and profound character.

This modern and equal relationship between character and character relationship between character and character relationship between character and character, forms a strong contrast. The two pairs of classic comedy groups contribute humor across the past and present and beyond the region in the whole play. The classic repetition techniques in comedy performances are applied to the extreme. The lines in the English clip are cleverly integrated into Shanghai dialects such as "Ao Sao Xikai" and "How can you mean it" and other Shanghai dialects. The rich clown's body performance promotes the development of the plot and adds a sense of comicality. The use of various comedy elements naturally transforms the original heavy work into a perfect French light comedy, which not only creates a brand new experience of humor and gives the entire play a unique charm in artistic expression, but more importantly, this contrast of character relationships cleverly reflects the separation and deviation between Captain Nemo and modern society.

This has to mention an interesting phenomenon. In the context of the times depicted in the original work, Captain Nemo represented the most advanced productivity of that era in the historical period they lived. It symbolizes an existence beyond the times, is a perfect combination of technology and wisdom, and is also a symbol of endless exploration of the unknown world, representing the forefront of technology and exploration. While the ignorant human beings were still fighting the sea monsters in a meaningless struggle, Captain Nemo, like a prophet, had already seen the greed and stupidity of human beings, and finally disappeared like an immortal in the vast land of birth.

However, to modern audiences, these plots seem a bit outdated. Modern audiences will instead feel that professors and others are more like modern civilized people who have entered a paradise that was isolated from the world 156 years ago. Their arrival broke the isolated tranquility carefully maintained by Captain Nemo, bringing the troubles and noise from the outside world into this originally pure and flawless underwater world. Whether it is the relationship between master and servant, complex dining etiquette, barbaric underwater savages, absurd treatment methods, etc., it seems to be the comedic way adopted by the creators, but all of them show that Captain Nemo and his companions have become abandoned by the times and society. He seemed to use his wisdom and technology to build an isolated kingdom on the seabed, trying to get rid of the constraints and restrictions of society. However, what is hidden behind this struggle is a deep helplessness and sorrow. Everything he has is nothing more than a struggle against society's loneliness and pride. In the end, Captain Nemo had to face his own failure alone... This complex emotional conflict makes Captain Nemo's image more three-dimensional and vivid. In him, we see the sorrow and struggle of a genius abandoned by the times, and also the freedom and bondage of a lonely and proud soul in the underwater world. This transition from glory to edge is the profoundness of joy and sorrow in this adapted version of the work, a different reversal from the original work, and a unique feature of creators who have spanned a century of years of thinking about text.

This drama uses the black light drama technology from the Czech Republic in the stage presentation of marine life. In 1958, the birth of the Black Light Drama caused a sensation all over the world and became popular all over the world. Even today, nearly 70 years later, it still seems very special. In the 1990s, "The Imagination of Spring" created by the Shanghai Puppet Theater Troupe adopted this technology. The puppet show "The Little Match Girl" and "The Daughter of the Sea" created later have received extremely high artistic evaluations. From the technical point of view, the methods adopted by Black Light Drama are not difficult to decipher. The difficulty comes from the actors' performance on the one hand, and from the laying of lights and precise cooperation with the actors, so that wonderful disappearance techniques, flying techniques and wonderful visual images can be performed in full view of the public.

The black light show in this drama is wonderful in lighting treatment. Outside the glass reflecting the actor's shadow, the figure of the marine creature looming in the darkness instantly brings the audience into a mysterious and dreamy underwater world. This unique light and shadow effect not only enhances the visual impact of the play, but also cleverly utilizes the contrast between light and shadow to create an atmosphere that is both real and surreal. When the lights are focused on the actors, every movement of their actions is particularly vivid, and when the lights dim, the marine creatures hidden in the dark seem to slowly swim in front of the audience, making people feel curious and imaginative about this unknown field.

In contrast, the use of the occasion is not much. Compared with the common black light dramas, it can be seen that there is no greater investment in production power. But the reason why my use has received good reviews is that it complements the plot and is just right, especially the cooperation between the actors outside the glass windows and indoors is a masterpiece, reflecting the director's ingenuity and exquisite grasp of details. Through this clever use of puppet shows, it not only brings visual freshness to the audience, but also plays the finishing touch in the dramatic expression, making the comedy atmosphere and dramatic levels of the entire drama richer and three-dimensional. It can be said that the perfect integration of puppet shows and performance undoubtedly adds a lot of artistic charm to the play.

At the end of the performance, as the pre-set lights light up early, the secrets hidden in the darkness were clearly visible: an actor in black struggled to hold another actor in black, and the latter was flying on the stage with a seagull puppet in his hands. In an instant, the combination of comedy effect and black light drama reached a perfect peak, completing a hearty confrontation. This dramatic turn also gave the audience an unforgettable experience.

Of course, there are still topics worth in-depth discussion in this play, such as the retention of the original literary value and the selection of key plots, and the three-dimensional space for character creation. However, in any case, the works allow us to witness the fusion of literary works in 1869 and the 1958 black light drama form, and at the same time allow us to appreciate the wonderful sparks bursting from the intersection of tradition and modernity, Chinese and French, drama and drama art form.

(The author Yin Wuwei is the director and associate professor of puppet major of Shanghai Theatre Academy)

[Editor in charge: Tang Wei]