Shizhi passed away after years’paralysation in bed, flying into the Heaven of shining stars of artists. Maybe he was freed from it, but we were with great sadness to have lost a unique and truly gifted artist. In real life, he only recognized himself as “actor”or“actor Yu Shizhi”,the namecard.
His performance grew tremendously in popularity beginning with“Dragon Beard Ditch”,in my early life,I became a“fan”. I was surprised having the honor to cooperate with him. In 1977, Beijing People’s Art Theatre favoured my creation of movie script “A Fervent Heart” and decided to rehearse this drama by their artists, and I shared the unforgettable time with Yu Shizhi then.
I firstly watched his play at the rehearsal studio. He stepped on the stage with a walking stick which I hadn’t mentioned in my script, more precisely like the specific character of Ding Wenzhong. But he didn’t utter the lines exactly I wrote, but just the main points. Of course, sometimes he followed, such as,“three drunk jujubes, a cup of warm tea”and precisely retrieved the vivid Ding Wenzhong before us also by using a walking stick. But why didn’t he say the lines I wrote? What appeared to me as apprehension, however, Director Mei Qian whispered to me, “that is Yu Shizhi’s habit - not too observant of lines, but to look for character’s feeling. How about it? Vivid?” As expected, at lunch time, he told me ,“Don’t worry, I have to repeat the lines after pondering the character. Have I played Ding Wenzhong vividly?” I said, “more vividly than I expected, but absent of doctor feeling of traditional Chinese medicine.” He patted on my shoulder, laughed. I was moved by his modest and gentle attitude to a drama apprentice like me. Later, from the character Ding Wenzhong he played ,I could always find that he was a great art teacher and doctor of Chinese medicine.
Yu Shizhi was willing to respect the art and audience as part of his life. When he gave performance in “Will You Kindly Step Into The Jar?”, I sat in the front row in the theatre, wacthing that he tried hard to step on a slope on the stage,just like a youth when he was an aged actor. I was nervous and worried about if he would fall. His performance in “Gin Game” at Beijing People’s Art Theatre, in which he played with fellow actress the elderly sister Zhu Lin, always moved me. A friend sitting nearby whispered to me,“only the two masters can play the key roles in such drama. The chances to watch such plays are rare.” I remembered we almost choked then. Although he said he didn’t know declamation,I was pleased with his superior skills of vibrant voice blended with true emotions. When he uttered “On Mother Worship”and “If He Is Still Alive”written by himself, that was the best declamation I had hearded. He played Master Wang in “The Tea House” and Rickshaw Husband Lao Ma in “The Rickshaw Boy”, any skill of his sound makeup could be teaching material for the performance department of the academy of drama. But he still said he didn’t know declamation. Maybe he opposed the so called resonant declamation without true emotions.
He was considerably critical with playwriting, I must read my script out firstly to him. The script must be adapted to be put on the stage. In addition to it, he intended to clearly identify every character’s birthplace hobby of food clothes spoken language etc. Later, we had more cooperation. But it turned out to be quite wrong for me to be reluctant because of scruples of being afraid of the officer bothering him or being self-contained, I missed a lot of chances to learn from him. Shizhi, I was the beneficiary of your education, I was the beneficiary of your support when I just began my art career, I was the beneficiary of your creative job in“Loyalty Spectrum”, I was the beneficiary of support of the artists from Beijing People’s Art Theatre. For these, I was productive in art in my mid-life. I hoped I would continue down the path that you showed me, I would continue down the path whatever with a walking stick whatever by creep, because your eyes were shining in front of me.
