This suspense drama received a rating of 8.1 on Douban, and Mao Zijun devoted himself to the stage novel | The Murder Incident at the Corridor Pavilion | Stage
"The Disappearing She," "The Long Season," and "Who Is He..." This year can be called a year of suspense works. The battlefield of high scoring suspense dramas is not only on the screen, but also on the stage of the drama. On July 28th and 29th, the stage play "The Murder Case at the Corridor Pavilion" will be performed three times in a row at the Shanghai Meiqi Grand Theater, marking the first stop of the national tour. This year, the drama is led by actor Mao Zijun, who is familiar to audiences for TV dramas such as "Palace Lock Heart Jade", "Tang Dynasty Glory", and "Qingyun Zhi".
Adapting literary works into stage plays is not uncommon. As artist Liu Xiaolingtong once said, "Adaptation is not random, and joking is not nonsense." The effectiveness of adaptation still needs to be tested by both the original author and the fans.
The stage version of "The Murder at the Cloister Pavilion" reproduces the character settings in Keigo Higashino's original novel, using "masks" as important props and symbols to depict the transformation of characters between different identities. Director Zhao Miao and screenwriter Tang Xiawa deconstructed and arranged the 100000 word novel, writing 34 scenes and a script of around 50000 words, exploring human nature and emotions with a compact rhythm and exquisite stage style.
Zhao Miao used a lot of body language to drive the plot, showcase the hidden lines and inner monologues of the characters in "The Killing Incident at the Corridor Pavilion". "Each scene was designed at a level of 3-5 minutes, with an event occurring every 5 minutes in 34 scenes. The suspense was set at a fast pace to advance the plot, and symbolic metaphors were used to lay the groundwork for details, satisfying the audience's curiosity."
In the novel "The Murder at the Cloister Pavilion", the mountain inn called "The Cloister Pavilion" is composed of five buildings: Ju, Lu, Ye, He, and Honkan. It is named after the connecting corridors between them and is an authentic Japanese scene. In Cao Lu's design of stage design, the main stage in the drama is composed of four movable boxes, which can not only represent corridor passages but also serve as indoor scenes, providing a visual experience of a secret room for the entire stage space while satisfying flexible and versatile functionality. In the novel, scenes such as explosions, fires, and snowfall that can only be imagined through text are concretized through lighting and dance design.
With the transformation of stage beauty in different spaces, the audience feels the helplessness of Zhilizi's love and injury, the determination to seek revenge for love... The plot twists and turns repeatedly, including the true and false Erlang, Hongmei tearing off her mask, the old woman revealing her true identity, Zhilizi learning that her lover is the murderer, and they all perish together, revealing the final answer to the confusing event.
Through various channels such as novels and the internet, the audience may already know who the killer of "The Murder at the Corridor Pavilion" is, and how can the stage play create new ideas? The crew stated that it is not important who the killer is, but rather to leave the audience with their thoughts. The Murder in the Corridor Pavilion has all the characteristics of a suspenseful drama, with complex characters, detailed preparation, unexpected twists, brain burning logic, and rapid advancement of various elements, making viewers unable to stop and unable to catch up. Since its premiere in 2019, the drama has achieved a Douban rating of 8.1.
