FINE ART Uses Light and Shadow to Reflect the Spiritual Integrity of a Literary Giant in the Newly Created Lu Opera Wu Jingzi
Lights shine brilliantly, Lu opera melodies linger, the spirit of the ancients is passed down from generation to generation. On September 4, the newly created Lu opera Wu Jingzi, produced by the Hefei Lu Opera Theatre, was brilliantly staged at the Opera Hall of the Hefei Grand Theatre, bringing more than a thousand audience members a theatrical feast that combined the charm of Anhui, humanistic depth, and contemporary novelty. The entire performance integrated traditional Lu opera vocal styles, refined stage aesthetics, and a profound humanistic core, immersively recreating the tumultuous life of Anhui literary giant Wu Jingzi.
Unlike the performance mode of traditional opera, the newly created Lu opera Wu Jingzi takes "Half a life as a spendthrift, half a life as a true scholar" as its core thread, focusing on Wu Jingzi's life transformation after he took charge of the household at the age of 23 and his family fortunes declined. It delicately portrays his growth from a free-spirited worldly literatus, through the ups and downs of life and half a lifetime of wandering, to finally seeing through the ways of the world and putting pen to paper to create the timeless classic The Scholars. The rich, authentic Jianghuai vocal style is melodious and lingering, while the brand-new stage design and modern narrative techniques break the inherent limitations of traditional opera, allowing young audiences to easily understand the story of the sage and empathize with the spirit of the literati.
In this theatrical feast interwoven with Anhui charm and humanity, multiple professional lighting fixtures from FINE ART used precise light and shadow to paint a richly layered visual scroll for Wu Jingzi's tumultuous life. The FINE 1700LH BSWF four-in-one framing light served as the mainstay. Its multifunctional design integrates beam, wash, gobo, and framing functions. With an effective range of up to 100 meters and outstanding light quality with Ra and R9 both greater than 95, it accurately reproduced the understated elegance of Qing dynasty costumes and the varied expressions of the scholars. A full framing system rotatable ±90° produces sharp, distortion-free cut edges. In Wu Jingzi's transformation from free-spirited indulgence to quiet introspection, it precisely framed every moment of fateful turning point, creating a sharp contrast between the flamboyance of the "spendthrift" and the integrity of the "true scholar" in crisp light and shadow. Its patented cooling system achieves noise below 45dB at full power, protecting the theatre with extreme silence and allowing every melodious note of Lu opera to reach the heart with clarity.
The FINE 1400 WASH PERF wash and framing moving head light is equipped with a 1400W lamp, a luminous flux of up to 47,000 lm, and color rendering indices of Ra > 95 and R9 > 90. Its unique optical design produces a soft, full light spot. Combined with the main and secondary reflector design and intelligent fan control, it renders Wu Jingzi's wandering years after his family's decline as both desolate and poetic. The misty rain of Jianghuai, the dimming lights of Qinhuai, and the solitary lamp shadow in his study all unfold slowly in its soft yet efficient light and color.
The FINE 4037 WASH PLUS high-power LED moving head wash light, with its all-new optical design, balances uniform color mixing and soft effects. Its wide 4° to 60° zoom range effortlessly meets diverse lighting needs from literati monologues to market crowd scenes. Its smooth, delicate dimming and flicker-free start-up at low brightness perfectly match the rigorous lighting requirements of Lu opera, rendering the worldly manners of the scholars with remarkable vividness.
The FINE 6010 BATTEN IP all-weather moving head bar effect light features 10 x 60W RGBW four-in-one light sources, with a light output exceeding 6,000 lm. Within a zoom range of 3° to 45°, the beam is powerful at the narrowest angle and color mixing is excellent at wide angles. With agile light bars, it outlines a sense of rhythm in the flow of time and space on stage, just as Wu Jingzi's half-lifetime wandering footprints extend through light and shadow. The FINE 150FT color professional footlight uses an R, G, B, L four-color system to mix white light with color temperatures from 2500K to 10,000K, with Ra and R9 both above 90. Its asymmetric reflector with dual-row independent light control provides delicate, even coverage that illuminates the performers' faces, revealing every trace of compassion and open-mindedness after Wu Jingzi sees through the ways of the world. As the lingering resonance of Lu opera echoes under the opera house dome, FINE ART uses light as a brush, not only illuminating Wu Jingzi's spiritual transformation from a worldly literatus to a literary giant, but also reflecting the literati spirit of facing the ups and downs and holding fast to one's original heart in traditional Chinese culture.
It is reported that the production will be staged at the Shangyin Opera House on October 21, appearing on the main stage of the 25th Shanghai International Arts Festival. This performance in Shanghai will deepen the theatrical and cultural dialogue between Shanghai and Anhui, break down regional cultural barriers, and use theatre as a medium to showcase Hefei's profound theatrical heritage to the whole country and the world. It will inject a vivid Hefei accent into the coordinated cultural development of the Yangtze River Delta, allowing the new charm of Lu opera and the spirit of the people of Anhui to step out of Anhui and resonate across the country.
