Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama Written by Shin-yi Lee [PDF]

Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama 台灣現代戲劇概論 Written by Shin-yi Lee

李欣怡 編著

Contents Introduction

1

I.

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Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s a. The Japanese Occupation Era and Kominka Theatre b. The Taiwan Restoration

II.

Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s

38

a. “National Anti-Communism and Anti-Russia Movement” b. The Influence from Mass Media c. The Experimental Theatre Movement (The Little Theatre) III.

Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s

64

a. The Collision of the Traditional and Modern Theatres b. The Adaptation of the Western Works and Arts c. The Localization Movement Conclusion

85

Exercise: Playacting

89

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts

94

References

132

Introduction Drama has always been an art of teamwork: a form requiring the participation of the viewer, the performer, the playwright, the producer, and many other backstage staffs. Drama is also a form reflecting these participants’ idea of art; each one of these people may wield a strong influence onto the development of drama. Viewers may demand for a certain form of entertainment, or the producer would like to take an approach of popularization aiming at appealing to all, which would definitely influence the presentation of an art form. In other words, if the authorities hold a severe control over drama and theatre, by all means the art has to serve none but the political correctness. As we look back to the history of Taiwanese drama—both the traditional and the modern one, we would surprisingly find that drama has always been an art whose development is highly concerned and even accorded with political circumstances. Both the Japanese colonial government since 1895 and

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

Koumintang (KMT) Administration since 1949 wielded a strong control over art, and political concerns may be one of the major issues that Taiwanese drama tries to convey. According to Kuang-sheng Shih’s (石光 生) observation, two major types of drama have been derived based on the interference or control of the political authorities: The development of Taiwanese drama—both the traditional and the modern—is closely

related to the development of the

political regime. Theatrical works that are

slanted towards the

powerful class could be found in different periods of political eras. There are the two major types: (1) those who have no political concerns involved, or propaganda that are fit for the political correctness, and (2) plays as “the political critiques” which are constantly suppressed or censored by the authorities at the time (Shih 23). 1

1 My translation. The original text is as follows: 台灣戲劇史—無論是傳統或現代—

的發展，是緊隨著政治實體的更迭而起伏的。不同的政治時期通常會出現依附 當局的劇本，包括無涉政治的作品與符合「政治正確」的宣傳劇，以及被執政 當局打壓查緝的「政治批判劇」這兩類。 Introduction

2

Of both types of drama, we could easily detect which one would dominate the realm of art. The works that are slanted towards the powerful class or serve as a political propaganda would by all means become the mainstream, since they fit for the political correctness and might gain the support from the authorities. However, the one who criticizes the authorities would be marginalized or even prohibited. Moreover, the artist might be even sent to prison for producing the plays that offend the powerful class. This is the reason why I believe it is necessary for readers to understand the political and social context of Taiwan, while we learn about the development of Taiwanese modern drama, since the political policies play an extremely important role in shaping Taiwanese drama the way it is now. Due to the limitation of time and space, I will focus my discussion on modern drama only, and put great emphasis on the development and evolution of the modern theatrical arts. This brief introduction to Taiwanese modern drama is divided into three parts as the main body,

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

apart from the introduction and the conclusion. Each part will cover the analysis of the political and social background of a certain period and the key features of drama at that time. The first unit will cover the development of modern drama from the 1920s to the 1940s, the initial stage for Taiwanese modern drama. This period is a transition from the colonial suppression to democratic autonomy for Taiwan; therefore, we find many artists either served for the Japanese authorities and the KMT government, or devoted themselves into social and political revolutionary movements. The major themes of dramatic works at this time were social reforms and political resistance to either colonialism or communism. The second unit will focus on the period from the 1950s to the 1980s, the era after KMT has taken the full reign of Taiwan, and Taiwan Strait has since then become a borderline for a communist continent and a democratic island. I will further divide this unit into three minor sections: (1) The “National Anti-Communism and Anti-Russia Movement,” (2) The

Introduction

4

Influence from Mass Media, and (3) The Experimental Theatre Movement (The Little Theatre Movement). The first two decades of this period were regarded as the Anti-Communism and Anti-Russia Era (反共抗俄時 期); therefore, drama was treated mainly as the political propaganda to convey the political interest of the authorities, which is quite similar to drama during the Japanese Occupation Era. However, with the rapid development of mass media and increase of people’s knowledge about theatre after the 60s and 70s (meanwhile many overseas students returned from the U.S. or Europe who brought back the latest knowledge to Taiwan), more and more artists would like to explore all kinds of possibilities of drama and voice for all walks of life. In addition, many west theories of theatre and drama have been introduced to Taiwan, which helps shape Taiwanese drama to become more artistic and expressive than that in

the

past. In the 80s, Taiwan gradually became open and

progressive socially and politically, and the KMT government liberated the political system and provided subsidies for artists and performing

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

troupes. Once the political control became loose, art grew out to be freer and more creative, and many artists sought for a stage to express themselves. Therefore, many experimental theatres or stages were established and appealed to different audiences; this is the flourishing phase of the Little Theatre Movement. The last unit will cover the introduction to Taiwanese modern drama after the 1990s. At this phase, Taiwan has grown to be more liberal both politically and socially, so Taiwanese modern drama also becomes more diverse and divergent. I will divide this unit into three sections based on different themes of drama at this time: (1) The Collision of the Traditional and Modern Theatre, (2) The Adaptation of The Western Works and Arts, and (3) The Localization Movement. At this phase, more and more foreign works and theatrical theories have been introduced to Taiwan, while some traditional arts began to lose their audiences and found it difficult to pass the arts down to the younger generations. Therefore, some artists sought to reform the traditional art and adapted the

Introduction

6

arts to the changing trends. What’s more, some other artists adapted well-known works from the West, such as Shakespearean plays, and hoped to appeal to more audiences with the fame of the works. This would be the quickest way for the audience to appreciate theatrical classics from the West and also help the performing troupes to gain social recognition. However, many artists still would like to revive the theatre and produce real Taiwanese art. The usage of language would be the major concern for artists to consider while producing the work of art.

Under the reign of

the dictatorial KMT government before the 1990s, the Taiwanese language, the mother tongue of most Taiwanese people, was prohibited from being used in mass media, schools and official gatherings. Since the martial law was lifted, the performance in Taiwanese or Hakka soon flourished, and the act of Taiwanese-speaking was then esteemed as the key feature of the localization movement. After examining the social and political context of Taiwan, we would understand better about the development of Taiwanese modern drama.

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

Indeed, political policies are not the only element to determine the art form, although the political condition and drama are closely related. By sketching out the social and political background of Taiwan, hopefully, I could give a concrete picture about how Taiwanese modern drama evolves and develops, and furthermore, my readers could learn to appreciate this art and support it with their heart.

Introduction

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Unit One Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s

a. The Japanese Occupation Era and the Kominka Theatre i. New Drama or Shingeki Traditionally, Chinese and Taiwanese dramas are a theatrical form that brings together music, dance, song-singing, acting, mime, spectacular makeup, conventionalized characters, and dramatic story-telling. In other words, a traditional Chinese or Taiwanese drama could be seen as a variety show, and the performers have to acquire various performing skills, such as singing, dancing, and martial-art-performing. It was seldom for Chinese and Taiwanese people to see a spoken drama, a performance composed of a series of dialogues, before the twentieth century. By the end of the nineteenth century, many overseas students who returned from Japan and some other Western countries brought back home not only the

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

latest knowledge of technology and science, but also the revolutionary ways of performing.

Actually, at this time, Japan was already

westernized in many ways. During the Meiji Restoration (明治維新) in the 1860s, Japan underwent a series of social and political reforms. Many western plays and the realistic theatre were also introduced to the Japanese, and contrary to the traditional theatre, the modern theatrical forms were called “Shingeki” or New Drama (新劇). New Drama put great emphasis on the dialogues among characters and representing the daily life of common people in the realistic way. In 1906, Chinese students, such as Shu-tong Li (李叔同/1880-1942) and Xiao-gu Zeng (曾 孝谷/1873-1937), formed an acting community, “Chun Liu She” (春柳 社), in Tokyo and adapted many western plays, including La Dame aux camélias (1852). This performance was the first Chinese production in the form of the western realistic theatre, without song-singing and the accompaniment of gongs, cymbals and drums. Later on, these Chinese students returned home and continued their productions of New Drama,

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10

and their works amazed and inspired many young artists to attempt to reform the traditional drama. Therefore, Chun Liu She could be regarded as the milestone to pave the way for the Chinese modern drama. The development of New Drama in Taiwan started in 1909. The Japanese Occupation Era began in 1895, and since then, the colonial government sought for various ways to reform and convert Taiwanese people to become the “imperial subjects.” Movies and New Drama were then brought to Taiwan as a tool for the purpose of political brain-washing to “educate” Taiwanese

people.

Toyojiro

Takamatsu (高松豐次郎

/1872-1952) was invited to Taiwan for displaying Japanese films and established “The Training Company for Taiwanese New Drama” (台灣正 劇訓練所) in Taipei to cultivate new actors and actresses for New Drama. In 1910, the company started to tour around Taiwan and introduced New Drama, a realist performance in dialogue, to Taiwanese people, which marks the outset of New Drama in Taiwan. “ The Training Company for Taiwanese New Drama” was a success

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

and inspired many locals, since New Drama appealed to the common life of all people. However, it was until the 1920s when New Drama in Taiwan truly flourished and overwhelmed the intellectuals. In 1919, the First World War ended, and many Taiwanese intellectuals and artists were eager to assert their own racial and cultural identity and regain the cultural dominance from the Japanese colonial government. Some Taiwanese intellectuals, including Shian-tang Lin (林獻堂/1881-1956), Wei-shuei Jiang (蔣渭水/1891-1931), and Pei-huo Tsai (蔡培火/1889-1983), founded “The Taiwanese Cultural Association” (台灣文化協會) in 1921 nominally aiming at bettering the Taiwanese culture, but actually resisting the political oppression from Japan and evoking the cultural identity and awareness of Taiwanese people. In 1923, “Ding Shin She” (鼎新社) was established by Taiwanese anarchists, Kan Chen (陳崁), Tian-chi Chou (周 天啟), Tu Hsieh (謝塗) and Sung-mao Yang (楊松茂) in Changhua aiming at resisting the Japanese colonial government and criticizing the politics, and then further advocating social and political reforms. Ding Shin She

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12

then became the first political acting troupe engaged in anti-government movements and protesting against the ruling of the Japanese in public at that time. 2 During the 1930s, New Drama stepped into a new phase. Dramatists could no longer be satisfied to present a “spoken drama,” but long to explore the art deeper. New Drama being produced before the 1930s could be divided into two major types: (1) “Wen Hua Jiu” (文化劇 /cultivation plays): the plays as the political propaganda promoting people’s national consciousness and (2) “New Drama” (新劇): the plays aiming at pursuing creative and innovative artistic performance. Ding Shin She was the lead in producing Wen Hua Jiu; meanwhile, Wei-shian Chang (張維賢/1905-1977), who went to Japan twice to learn the latest

2 After The Taiwanese Cultural Association (1921) and Ding Shin She (1923) were founded,

there were still many acting troupes emerging, such as “Shin Guang Yan Jiu Yan Jiou Hui” (星光演劇研究會/1924), “Yan Feng Ching Nian Yan Jiun Tuan” (炎峰青年演劇團/1924), “Hsinchu Shin Guang She” (新竹新光社/1926), “Keelung Ming Yun Shin Jiu Tuan” (基 隆民運新劇團/1927), “Li Ming Yan Jiu Yan Jiou She” (黎明演劇研究社/1927), “Taiwan Yan Jiu Yan Jiou Sou” (台灣演劇研究所/1930), “Kosei Theatre Society” (厚生演劇社 /1943), and “Min Feng Yan Jiu She” (民烽演劇社/1946), etc. Most of the founders of these troupes were overseas students who were educated in Japan and China, and came back with the ambition to refine the Taiwanese traditional art and improve the Taiwanese society. Therefore, the plays being produced at this time were always with a strong socialist and political ideal.

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

skill in producing New Drama, was regarded as the lead of New Drama in Taiwan. He led “Shin Guang Yan Jiu Yan Jiou Hui” (星光演劇研究會 /1924) and “Min Feng Yan Jiu Yan Jiou Sou” (民烽演劇研究所/1930) to create new plays.

Chang refined the scripts, added scenes and acts,

applied light and sound effects, and realistic props and backdrops. His plays were a great success in many places, and pushed New Drama unto a higher artistic standard. According to Su-shang Lu (呂訴上/1915-1970), the author of The History of Taiwanese Movies and Drama (台灣電影戲劇 史), Chang began the real art of New Drama in Taiwan after 1930 (qtd. in Ma 148).

3

3 The original text is as follows: 台灣的新劇，嚴格地說起來是以席上的張維賢先生從

日本的築地小劇場回台後才開始。 Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s

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ii. Melodrama as the Pervasive Theatrical Form The genre performed mostly at this time was “melodrama.” Melodrama was a compound word from “melody” and “drama.” It was a form that was popular and well-received in the nineteenth century. A melodrama usually begins with a serious action, involving with crime and malicious plans of the villains, but eventually ends happily, when the good triumph.

According to Oscar G. Brockett and Robert J. Ball, the

definition of melodrama is, A form of drama, especially associated with the nineteenth century, based on a clear distinction between good and evil. Typically a virtuous protagonist seeks to overcome seemingly insurmountable threat created

by a villain. Suspense is

created and increased until the last moment, when the unmasking and punishing of the villain rescue and reward the protagonist.

Melodrama

often

incorporates

elaborate

spectacle and originally used music to create mood and to

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

underscore emotional responses (433). Based on this definition, we could conclude that melodrama depicts a world where good and evil are sharply distinguished, so when the good person suffers or the evildoer’s plan succeeds, the audience could always sympathize with the good and feel eager to see the evildoer being punished. This type of drama appeals to the audience’s sense of justice and morality. Even though the play begins with a tragic action, all audiences would be assured eventually that the good will conquer all and receive their reward happily, while the evil will be punished and end tragically. The plot is easy for all walks of life to understand, and the characters are not too complicated (normally, the characters are flat ones), which could be one of the reasons why melodrama became the most popular form in Taiwan in the early twentieth century. Kuang-sheng Shih thinks there are three reasons to explain why melodrama was popular: (1) melodrama was the first theatrical form that has been introduced to Taiwan, (2) melodrama was much loved and

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16

enjoyed by the Taiwanese audience at that time, and (3) melodrama was easy to be performed onstage. (1)

Melodrama was the first theatrical form that has been introduced to Taiwan: In the early 1920s, Wei-shian Chang, the lead of Taiwanese modern drama, participated in the production of melodrama in Japan. Later on, Chang shared his experiences with other Taiwanese

dramatists and

produced melodrama in Taiwan. At this time, many European and Russian plays had already been introduced to China, and many social realist plays were produced to reflect the social conditions aiming at reforming the society; however, Taiwan was colonized by Japan then, and the access for Taiwanese dramatists to European classics was strictly limited. Many Taiwanese intellectuals were only allowed to go to Japan for further study. Taiwanese dramatis did not have many opportunities to learn from

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

western theatre, but simply conveyed Japanese theatre to Taiwan. Therefore, Taiwanese modern theatre favored melodrama more, while Chinese modern theatre worked more on social realist plays. (2)

Melodrama was much loved and enjoyed by the Taiwanese audience at that time: The early 20s and 30s were the initial stage for Taiwanese theatre. The dramatists were still learning how to produce a good play, and the audiences were also learning how to enjoy a play and be a good spectator. The themes or the plots that were too complicated or philosophical were in a great difficulty in finding an understanding audience. Wei-shian Chang used to reflect in his memoir about his friend’s experience in watching The Cherry Orchard in Tokyo in 1934. His friend (Jing-quan Wang, 王井泉, a member of “Shin Guang Yan Jiu Yan Jiou Hui”) honestly reported to him that he could not understand

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18

the play (qtd. in Shih 46). The Cherry Orchard is a classic written by

the

Russian

playwright,

Anton Chekhov

(1860-1904), which has already been much discussed and performed in China and Japan. Yet, if the theatrical artist like Wong and Chang could not understand The Cherry Orchard, how could the common populace understand the play? Therefore, it is easy for us to imagine the themes relating to family issues, morality, and social problems would be much easier for the audience to understand and grasp.

Moreover,

Taiwanese

were

under

colonial

oppression; thus, a play that reflected social injustice or how the good triumphs the evil would always win the audience’s heart. I think the audience, by watching this kind of play, could find consolation and stress-relief in mind while being under strict control of the Japanese censorship. (3) Melodrama was easy to be performed onstage: Technically,

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

the “easiness” of performing melodrama is with a double meaning. First, without complicated character designs and plots, melodrama is quite accessible to all, including both the actors and the audience. Actors and audiences were very familiar with this form, and enjoyed it a lot, because this theatrical form provided not only a well-made action, but also music and dance. Thus, melodrama served to give both a serious action and entertainment as well. Second, melodrama was easy to pass the political censorship of the Japanese colonial government. At this time, the Japanese colonial government feared that a performance involving many local elements, such as folk music, folk dance, and the Taiwanese language, might evoke Taiwanese people’s national and cultural awareness toward Taiwan; thus, every local folk art had been banned or forced to convert to the Japanese style. Therefore, if any acting troupe would like

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20

to apply a license or permit to perform openly, the safest way for the troupe was to accord with “the political correctness,” or to present a “non-political” play, and melodrama which deals with morality and family issues was always the priority for all dramatists. From the above-mentioned, we can have a clear picture about why melodrama has been a pervasive theatrical form for the early Taiwanese modern theatre. On one hand, both the dramatists and the audiences were just like a toddler who began to learn how to appreciate the beauty of drama and shape the art in the Taiwanese way, and melodrama is the easiest form to commence; on the other hand, the colonial government also played an important role in deciding and encouraging the development of melodrama.

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

iii. The Kominka Theatre In 1937, with the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, 4 the Japanese colonial government commenced the Kominka movement in Taiwan. It is believed that the slogan “Kominka” was first proposed by Seizo Kobayashi (小林躋造/1877-1962), the 17th Governor-General of Taiwan in 1936.

As the war began to grow tense, the colonial

government decided to implement a series of social educational and reforming movement during the 1930s in Taiwan. In fact, the Kominka movement started in 1937 as a political and social campaign, aiming to transform Taiwanese people into loyal subjects to the Japanese Emperor. The colonial government improved the rural economy and daily sanitation, provided incentives for people to use the Japanese language and customs, and spread the cult of the Japanese Emperor and the Shinto religion. In

4 The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty, China, and Meiji

Japan from 1894-1895, primarily over control of Korea. The war is commonly known as the War of Jiawu (甲午戰爭) in China. Within several months, Qing Dynasty lost the war, and singed the Treaty of Shimonoseki (馬關條約) in 1985 with Japan. Based on the treaty, China has to recognize the total independence of Korea and ceded the Liaotong Peninsula, Taiwan, and the Penghu islands to Japan. This is the beginning of Japan’s colonization in Taiwan. Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s

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other words, the government tried to overthrow the Taiwanese lifestyle, and transplanted the Japanese lifestyle directly from Japan. From the 1940s onward, the colonial government further encouraged the subjects to change their surnames in order to “intensify Japanese spiritual selfpossession.” Changing one’s surname means to deny who he or she originally is, and his or her family and culture. The movement of changing one’s surname is actually a political brain-washing movement. Thus, by increasing Taiwanese people’s awareness of Japanese spiritual self-possession, the Han and Taiwanese culture was completely removed and abolished. Moreover, use of the Japanese language became the major criteria by which a Taiwanese was judged to have been thoroughly Kominka. Many folk arts in Taiwan were thus made outlawed, since they were performed in Taiwanese and accompanied with Taiwanese music, such as the Taiwanese opera or the puppet shows. Taiwanese people’s cultural and national identity had been totally repressed by the colonial authority.

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

The influence of the Kominka Movement on theatre is as follows: (1) the folk arts and theatre were banned, which forced the traditional theatrical arts to transform themselves in order to survive. Many Taiwanese theatrical arts were closely related to religious festivals and ceremonies, and they were mostly performed outdoors. The colonial government feared that once the populace gathered in public, they might regain their sense of togetherness and identity. Therefore, most of all outdoor performance and religious festivals were banned or forced to adapt to the Japanese styles. Many Taiwanese opera troupes were then forced to change the way they performed and followed New Drama as their model. Moreover, many troupes performed in Japanese and wore Kimonos for performing costume in order to pass the strict censorship. The aesthetic essence of the traditional arts have then been distorted and ruined. What the audience had was only the Kominka doctrine. In addition, (2) the numbers of the troupes of New Drama were diminished and Komin plays became the main stream. As the censorship

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for theatre performing grew tense, many acting troupes failed to obtain the license or permit to perform in public. Therefore, these troupes were forced to transform their ways of performing or even to disband themselves. For instance, before the Kominka movement, there were more than 300 troupes of Taiwanese opera.

Yet, there were only

twenty-five troupes left before 1942. In order to survive, the troupes sometimes had to cooperate with Japanese performers and produced Komin plays to display their loyalty to the Emperor. The spirit to resist political oppression and demand for social reforms in New Drama had then been lost and converted theatre to merely a tool to serve the state apparatus. Su-shang Lu used to comment on Komin plays that although the quantity of theatrical productions increased during the Kominka movement, “Taiwanese spectators were indifferent to these plays because their plays lacked contents. Moreover, the actors’ performances were ordinary and they were not well-trained” (qtd. in Chen 70). During the 1940s, the spirit to resist the colonial oppression in New

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

Drama had faded away, which was replaced with the spirit of Japanese militarism. In order to wipe out the national consciousness of Taiwanese people,

the

Japanese colonial authorities encouraged the form of

“Kominka Engeki” (國民演劇/the Kominka theatre) to propagandize the political correctness and urge the Taiwanese youths to sacrifice themselves to prove their loyalty and support the policy of Southern Expansion (南進 政策). As a matter of fact, Kominka Engeki was not an art in its essence, but a political campaign. “At the beginning of 1941, there were about 1,660 Youth Drama groups (青年團) in Taiwan. What the authorities expected from them was that, in the near future, by supporting Youth Drama groups, one out of ten groups was able to act and tour in their hometown.” (qtd. in Shih 29). In 1941, the Kominhokokai (皇民奉公 會/the Public Service Association of Imperial Subjects) was founded and merged with the Kominka Movement. The main goal for the Kominhokokai was to help imperial subjects establish an extreme patriotic loyalty in their public life.

The Kominhokokai constructed “the

Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s

26

Taiwanese Drama Association” (台灣演劇協會) in 1942.

The

association incorporated all Taiwanese performance groups, and edited and collected the Komin plays as samples for everyone. The script collections are Ching Nian Yan Jiu Jiau Ben Ji (《青年演劇腳本集》), Yi Neng Ji Komina Jiu Jiao Ben Ji (《藝能祭皇民化劇腳本集》), and so on. By then, New Drama had completely been the advocate of the Japanese colonization. However, New Drama was not so hopeless even under the Kominka movement. Some dramatists attempted to challenge the rules set by the Kominhokokai. Tuan-qiu Lin (林摶秋/1920-1998) and other Taiwanese artists founded “Kosei Theatre Society” (厚生演劇社) in 1943. Lin, who just returned from Japan, was actually an official drama director of the Taiwanese Drama Association. He and his fellow artists produced some successful New Drama and merged the art with Taiwanese cultural elements, including language and music. There were some well-known and popular plays: Terrestrial Heat (《地熱》), Tsung Shan Shang Kan

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

Dau De Jie Shr Deng Huo (《從山上看到的街市燈火》), The Castrated Rooster (《閹雞》), and Hotel Takadogo (《高砂館》). Of all the plays they produced, the most famous one was The Castrated Rooster (《閹雞》) in 1943. The Castrated Rooster was adapted from the novel with the same title of Wen-huan Chang (張文環/1909-1978). The setting of the play is in the South of Taiwan. The protagonists, San-gui Zheng (鄭三桂) and Qing-biao Lin (林清標), scheme to take over each other’s property out of greed. They even sacrifice their children’s marriage to secure their plan. However, San-gui Zheng does not succeed, which leads to the miserable life and sad marriage of his son, A-yong (阿勇) and Yue-li (月里), the daughter of Qing-biao Lin. There is a wooden carved castrated rooster in the play symbolizing the infertile Zheng family. As the play begins, the rooster stands as a symbol of a glorious past for the Zheng family, but as San-gui’s scheme fails gradually, the rooster proves to be a sign for their hopeless life. By the end of the play, A-yong and Yue-li have nothing left but the wooden rooster, a symbol of their misery and hopelessness.

Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s

28

The Castrated Rooster did not propagandize any political conviction, and the sadness and the heavy feeling the play produced overwhelmed the audiences, and helped them relate to their own misery and unhappiness under the reign of the Japanese colonization. In fact, the misery and unhappiness of the characters were not due to the cruelty of the Japanese colonial government or any political oppression, but the dark side of humanity: greed and snobbishness. Therefore, the “castrated rooster” may not be able to symbolize or even equal to the “castrated Taiwanese,” who were disabled by the Japanese and lost their hope for life. The “castrated rooster” would be only adequate to symbolize the falling of a once-glorious family, and the play was a typical melodrama: the villain outsmarted the good, the good suffered, but the good did not lose their hope completely, and they still held a fragile and vain hope in the time of uncertainty. In addition, Taiwanese folk music accompanied the play when the good persons found strength and energy to face the future, which also

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touched and inspired the Taiwanese audiences at that time. Kuang-sheng Shih thinks there are some major reasons to explain the success of The Castrated Rooster. First, the music of the play was touching, and evoked Taiwanese audiences’ sympathy for the characters.

Quan-sheng Lu (呂

泉生/1916-2008), the famous music composer, composed Taiwanese ballads, such as Liou Yue Tain Shuei (《六月田水》) and Diu Diu Tong Zi (《丟丟銅仔》), to accompany the play. At this time, Taiwanese music was prohibited and banned from being performed in public, so the audiences rarely heard such local folk music in the Kominka theatre. Therefore, it is easy to imagine how much these songs were loved and appreciated by these audiences who craved eagerly for their own art and culture! However, Lu’s music vexed the authorities, for they believed Lu tried to restore people's national consciousness with his musical works. He was taken to the police station the next day after The Castrated Rooster was performed, and his songs were banned. Second, The Castrated Rooster was popular because it displayed

Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s

30

innovative stage effects. Teiji Takita (瀧田貞治/1910-1946), the scholar of Taihoku Teikoku Daigaku (台北帝國大學/National Taiwan University in the present days), commented that The Castrated Rooster gave an “advancing” theatrical performance, which he believed was the highest level in Taiwan. Before he produced The Castrated Rooster in Taiwan, Lin learned directing and writing plays in Tokyo, Japan, so he was able to introduce the latest theatrical knowledge to Taiwanese theatre. There are two short excerpts attached at the end of the book, and students could read them to have a better idea of the play. “Taichung Geinou Hokotai” (台中藝能奉公隊), founded in 1943 by Kuei Yang (楊逵/1905-1985) and so on, was also important in challenging the rules set by the Kominka movement just like Kosei Theatre Society. Taichung Geinou Hokotai adapted the play, Roar, China! (《怒吼吧，中 國！》) of the Russian playwright, Sergei M. Tretyakov (1892-1939). This work was viewed with the left-wing tendency in criticizing British and American imperialism and depicting how brave Chinese people were

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

in fighting against the cruelty and sin of imperialism, which helped Taichung Geinou Hokotai to evade the strict censorship and won support from the authorities and Japanese intellectuals.

However, the play

actually conveyed the message of anti-war and anti-Japanese attitudes to the audiences.

Yang’s resistance to the Japanese colonial government

was veiled by people’s, especially the Japanese’s, protest and aversion against the imperialism in the play, which secured his life and also won great applause from all walks of life. Being physically and artistically threatened by the

Kominka

movement, Taiwanese dramatists strived so hard to express themselves and produced their works to achieve the aesthetic standard of fine art. Although the political oppression distorted or even devastated the development of Taiwanese modern drama, many drama precursors still fought bravely and revolted against the Japanese colonial government with their “pens.”

Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s

32

b. The Taiwan Restoration In 1945, the Japanese surrendered, and Taiwan was restored to China, which is called “The Taiwan Restoration.” From 1945 to 1947, before the outbreak of the 228 Event, Taiwanese intellectuals and artists experienced the true freedom of speech in creating and producing works of art for a short period of time. Actually, this period was also the last years before the 1990s for all Taiwanese to enjoy drama done in the full Taiwanese language and free from any political bond. As the Japanese colonial government retreated from Taiwan, the control and censorship on the press and art were also lifted. Taiwanese artists did not have to follow the political code of the Kominka theatre; therefore, many dramatists became active again in the field of theatre, for they finally had the opportunity to create in their own mother tongue and present the issues and stories that they really cared for onstage. In fact, in 1945 as the Japanese retreated, the KMT government came to take over, and its political theatrical military department also came to “demonstrate” what

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

the popular New Drama in China was. Unfortunately, the performance was in Mandarin Chinese and only a few of Taiwanese could understand what the performers were talking about. Yet, at this time, the KMT government had not commenced its political oppression on Taiwan, and the government did want to train Taiwanese artists to use Mandarin and write Chinese characters, connecting the two cultures from both ends of Taiwan Strait together; however, the 228 Event halted the sprouting Taiwanese theatre and deepened the cultural gap between China and Taiwan. Of all the local dramatists who strived to produce works of art before 1947, the best-known and most influential was Fei-wo Song (宋非我 /1916-1992), who constructed “Sheng-Feng Playact Research Institute” (聖烽演劇研究會) in 1946. Song directed the one-act tragedy, The Wall (Bi/《壁》) and the three-act comedy, Luo Han Fu Hui (《羅漢赴會》) in Taipei in 1946, which won a great applause from the audiences. Both plays were performed in Taiwanese and followed the conventions of

Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s

34

Taiwanese New Drama: the form of melodrama, exaggerative ways for performing, and appealing plots aiming at exposing the social injustice and class conflicts. The Wall particularly drew the attention of the crowd, for it presented vividly the sharp contrast between the rich and the poor onstage. As the play began, the audience could see there was a wall standing in the center of the stage, separating the space into two different worlds: one was shiny and luxurious, while the other was bleak and dim. Thus, the audience could easily ense the contrast and realize the target the play aimed to criticize. The plot of the play is not complicated: on one side of the wall, a wealthy squanderer, Jin-li Chen (陳金利), schemes to take back the adjacent house to be his storehouse, for he needs more space to hoard up tons of goods and food. A poor laborer, Qi-shi Xu (許乞食), who rents the house next to Chen, is sick in bed and unable to work to pay the rent. However, Chen pays no sympathy to Xu’s family and orders them to move out as soon as possible. Finally, Xu hopelessly poisons his mother and son, and then commits suicide, while Chen’s house is ablaze

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

with shiny lights and cheering laughter. The wall thus functions as the strongest metaphor indicating the gap that lies between the corrupt upper class and the low needy class. The corrupt class and the needy are actually living side by side, sharing the same space, and breathing the same air. Yet with a wall in between, the world is split, communication is blocked, and sympathy is blinded. The play criticizes the corruption of the rich and powerful class and reflects the injustice and cruelty of capitalism. As a matter of fact, it was the attack on bureaucracy and capitalism, and the Socialist tendency the play revealed that drew the attention of the police and the KMT government. Soon, the play was banned, for the play would “deepen the social class contradictions,” according to the police. As the 228 Event took place, Song fled to Mainland China. The playwright of The Wall, Guo-xian Jian (簡國賢 /1913-1954), was arrested and judged as a Communist. He was executed by shooting at the time of White Terror. Plenty of Taiwanese intellectuals and dramatists were afflicted by the

Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s

36

228 Event: some were arrested and even killed; some just remained silent and gave up their enthusiasm for drama and acting. Since the 1920s, New Drama had sprouted and strived on this island to express the voice of the people and resist the political suppression. However, the Kominka movement and the 228 Event suffocated the development of New Drama, and forced New Drama to serve the political correctness.

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Unit Two Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s a. “National Anti-Communism and Anti-Russia Movement” Since the beginning of the development of New Drama or Taiwanese modern drama, the political power has always been involved in it greatly and influenced the way it was presented. Even after the Japanese colonial government retreated from Taiwan and the KMT government “restored” the island from being colonized, the political influence was still strong and controlled the whole creativity industry. After the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945, the Civil War between the KMT government and the Communist Party then broke out. As the KMT government failed to gain the upper hand in the battle, the control and censorship on Taiwan grew severer and harsher simultaneously, for the government needed Taiwan as a base to fight against the Communist Party, so it

Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s

38

needed Taiwanese people’s full support for this war. Meanwhile, the government also feared that Taiwanese people lost their trust in their new ruler and ganged against this new government. Therefore, no doubt or challenge to this new political power was ever allowed, and one of the first things the government did was to manipulate the creativity industry. In 1946, the KMT government proclaimed “The Regulations to Manage Acting Troupes in Taiwan” (台灣省劇團管理規則), and requested those who would like to perform in public should follow these regulations and apply before acting; otherwise, none could have the permit to perform. Based on the regulations, every acting troupe should register and apply for a license to act. Whenever the troupe would like to perform, it should apply for a permit from the government before performing. Moreover, while applying for a permit, the troupe should submit to the authorities the script, the title of the play, the name of the playwright, and the time and place for the troupe to perform. If the troupe did not follow these regulations, it would be disbanded, and the owner would be taken into

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

custody for less than seven days, or fined for less than fifty dollars as punishment (Jiao Tong 38). For every Taiwanese dramatist or theatrical artist, the meaning of “The Regulations to Manage Acting Troupes in Taiwan” was a denial of the existence of freedom of speech in Taiwan. Application for the permit to act rightfully shows that the government tried to control and restrain people’s creativity and freedom to express themselves; moreover, the government further forced all art forms to serve the political correctness. Therefore, it is understandable that the Taiwanese society would grow rigid and deadlocked as the censorship became harsher and all creativity was murdered. In addition, a society without freedom of speech would never be vigorous and productive. All arts, including literature, theatre, and music,

were

frustrated

and

thwarted.

After the Second

Sino-Japanese War, the Taiwanese artists thought it would be the end of the political oppression on arts. To their dismay, the new government was even stricter in controlling their ideas. Anyone who would like to reflect

Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s

40

truthfully what the

KMT government did to people might be put

into jail, fined, or even killed. Some then chose to flee away from this island, and some just remained silent for the rest of their life. In Feb. 28, 1947, the conflict between the Taiwanese people and the newcome political

regime officially

broke out. 5

Yi Chen (陳儀), the

Governor-General at that time, solved the conflict with hegemony and forceful military power. Many Taiwanese intellectuals were imprisoned or executed simply for voicing for the locals or protesting against the defected laws; thus, the society was full of fear, mistrust and terror. On the Taiwanese cultural map, the 228 Event caused a huge cultural fault that has been so hard for many Taiwanese people to step over and make peace 5 The beginning of the 228 Event is as follows: On Feb. 27, 1947, some government

agents ignited the public’s rage when they accidentally shot and killed an innocent passerby while beating a female vendor who was peddling unlicensed cigarettes. Then many people protested in public the next day, demanding that the government hand over the agents who were responsible for the shooting and beating. The protesters were shot or arrested by the military officials, and this event caused great casualties. Later on, the officials ordered a massacre around the island to arrest the mob and suppressed any revolting voice and dispute. This event devastated the Taiwanese intellectual circles, for most of the artists or intellectuals were arrested or executed, and then the racial hatred between the Taiwanese people and the newcome groups has been deepened ever since. The further details of the 228 Event will not be listed and discussed in this textbook, since the book will focus on the development of Taiwanese modern drama only. For anyone who is not familiar with the history of the 228 Event or would like to know more about this event, please consult the official website of “Memorial Foundation of 228”: http://www.228.org.tw/

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

with the others, especially those who came to Taiwan along with the KMT military. On one hand, the KMT government subdued the revolting ideas; on the other hand, it also encouraged the playwrights or dramatists to create works as political propaganda. In 1949, the martial law was proclaimed, which lasted for more than 38 years, the longest record in the world. The KMT government found out that during the Civil War, many Chinese artists or writers tended to sympathize with the Communists or the Left Wing, and it feared that the history would repeat itself in Taiwan; therefore, it was a great necessity for the government to control the freedom of speech and directed the art to serve the political correctness. At this time, not only Taiwanese but also a great deal of Chinese intellectuals, who retreated with KMT, were murdered or imprisoned for being suspected as a Communist. The island was also severely stricken with the economic downturn, political instability, and the shadow of war. This is the moment that the government wanted to make sure that all people were

Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s

42

physically and mentally ready to fight against “the evil Communists and defend for the national glory.” In 1950, “The Committee of Chinese Literary Prize” (中華文藝獎金委員會) was established, subsidized by the KMT party as a non-official organization. The Committee encouraged the writers or artists to work on “inspiring people’s national and racial consciousness” (發揚國家民族意識) and “creating art with the idea of anti-Communism and anti-Russia” (蓄有反共抗俄之意義的文藝作品) with a high economic incentive. The winner could earn a great fortune and a job offer in the press or school, which was regarded as a quick way to earn fame, wealth, and security at the same time. In short, “the Committee of Chinese Literary Prize” prepared the island to walk toward the national “anti-Communism and anti-Russia” movement. “The Committee of Chinese Literary Prize” only functioned for seven years, because the literary works the committee chose lacked creativity and were so stereotypical that were hard to win the public’s recognition. The theme of “anti-Communism and anti-Russia” in all literary works

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

aimed at enlightening people about the cruelty of Communism and Russia, but failed to interest people with artistic techniques and creativity. The contents were similar as if promoting the political slogans. Moreover, in fact, during the 50s, Taiwanese people were not quite familiar with the historical context of communism in Mainland China and its relation to Russia (remember, Taiwan was colonized by Japan as communism sprouted in China then), so it might be questionable that the Taiwanese audiences were really inspired by these literary works to understand what communism was. So the national “anti-Communism and anti-Russia” movement was sure to fail at the very beginning, despite the strong support from the authorities. However, it is certainly not fair to judge this committee did not contribute to the development of Taiwanese modern drama. During the 50s, the government subsidized the playwrights to work on the plays related to “anti-Communism and anti-Russia” movement, and about 3,000 scripts were composed and granted with subsidy to be performed in public.

Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s

44

Numerous theatre artists, dramatists, performers, and stage designers devoted themselves to producing modern drama at that time without worrying about their life, which helped provide with a great entertainment to Taiwanese audiences and paved the way for the coming experimental theatre during the 1960s.

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

b. The Influence from Mass Media Taiwanese modern drama flourished for the sake of the government policy during the 1950s, yet it encountered another huge challenge and even threat to its survival during the 1960s, and that was mass media. As Chun-mei Wang (王淳美) has put it, During the 1960s, the success of the film The Love Eterne (《梁 祝》) changed the entertainment structures in Taiwan. On the one hand, the development of Taiwanese cinema industry began to flourish. On the other hand, more and more audiences chose to go to the movies instead of theatres, which became a great threat to theatrical activities. Moreover, the rise of new mass media, TV programs,

also changed the

marketplace

entertainment in Taiwan. On 10 October 1962,

of

Taiwan

Television Enterprise was formally started by Sung Mei-ling (宋 美齡/1898-2003) who pushed the button, and such an event turned over a new leaf of Taiwanese TV history. Although the

Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s

46

development of TV industry was still in the germination stage, its popularization had a great impact on cinema industry with the economic growth and modernization in Taiwan….

Such

a

condition had the development of Taiwanese theatre go from bad to worse (qtd. in Chen 80-81). 6 The emergence of the cinema and TV industry greatly affected the survival of theatre. Many playwrights and performers left the theatre for mass media. Meanwhile, the anti-Communism plays no longer interested the audiences, and the demand of such plays declined greatly. The audiences did not want to go to the theatre; they preferred staying at home to watch TV or seeing the movies with appealing sound and visual effects. Gradually, many commercial indoor theatre houses became extinct and replaced by mass media. In the meantime, most performances supported by the official 6 The original text is as follows: 60年代，國片市場因《梁祝》的成功而產生結構

性的改變，造成國片票房的飛躍騰達，便相對吸走觀劇的人口，使劇場活動陷入 低迷。更有甚者，另有一新興媒體—電視的出現，使台灣娛樂市場發生重大的變 更。1962年10月10日台灣電視公司在蔣宋美齡按鈕下正式開播，打開台灣電視史 的扉頁。雖然電視事業尚在萌芽階段，然則隨著台灣的現代化與經濟成長，電視 日漸普及 … … 不僅直接衝撞到電影票房，更使戲劇發展奄奄一息。 47

Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

organizations, such as the military or Ministry of Education, propagandized the political correctness, and the language they used was Mandarin Chinese, which created a huge distance from the reality of Taiwanese people’s life. In order to stimulate the declining Taiwanese theatre, Man-guei Li (李曼瑰/1907-1975), who just finished her visit and survey on western theatre from Europe in 1960, decided to adopt the way to manage “the little theatre” in the West and established “31 Theatre Art Institution” (三一戲劇藝術研究社). The name “little theatre” originated in England in 1910, which means a small auditorium with less than 350 seats.

Since the space is limited, it would be easier to manage and

utilized by the acting troupe. Moreover, Li named the institution “31” (san-yi) which comes from the idea of the Trinity in Christianity and Aristotelian unities 7 in Greek theatre, suggesting that a good drama is a cooperation of playwrights, directors and performers, a harmony of vision, 7 The Aristotelian unties are also called the classical unities. They are (1) the unity

of action: a play should have one main action with no or few subplot. The second is the unity of place: a play should cover one physical space, and the stage should not represent more than one place. The last one is the unity of time: the action should take place no more than 24 hours (the time that the sun goes up and down). (See “Classical Unities,” Wikipedia, 13 August 2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_unities) Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s

48

audio effects and movement, and a combination of performers, the stage and the audience.

By having all these elements together, the dramatic art

could be a presentation of truth, goodness and beauty. Therefore, the name shows that what Li tried to develop was not a theatre that only echoed to the authorities.

She hoped to inspire the youth to appreciate

the beauty of the art, and develop their interest in modern drama. With the support from the China Youth Corps (CYC/救國團), Li started “the Little Theatre Movement” by encouraging

schools

and some

non-governmental organizations to participate or hold theatrical activities. A wave of the Little Theatre Movement now splashed on campus and pushed many youths to come forward to join the trend. There were many theatrical productions done by students clubs, graduation performances of many school departments of Foreign Languages and Literature, and annual performances of the Drama Departments. Many students were encouraged to devote themselves in theatre and producing creative and liberal forms of art. For instance, Kuo-hsiu Lee (李國修/1955—), the

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

founder of Ping Fong Acting Troupe (屏風表演班), was once a member of the student drama club at Shih Hsin Training School (世新新聞專科 學校, now it is Shih Hsin University), and he is now still active in theatre activities and trains many more youths to work on theatre and modern drama. Later on, apart from “31 Theatre Art Institution,” Man-guei Li further helped the establishment of “The Committee of Theatre Performance Appreciation” (話劇欣賞演出委員會) in 1962, and “The Chinese Theatre Art Center” (中國戲劇藝術中心) in 1967. Li also founded the Children Theatre Performance Committee in 1967, the Children Education Theatre in 1969, and held the World Theatre Exhibition (世界劇展) in 1967, and the Youth Theatre Exhibition (青年劇展) in 1968. Before her death in 1975, Lin had been very active in educating the youth to appreciate modern drama and planted the seed for the coming new generation. However, despite Li’s great effort in reviving modern drama, modern drama still found it difficult to compete with mass media. The first

Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s

50

reason is that Taiwanese modern drama was still manipulated by the government. Even though Li longed to create an art form appealing to truth, goodness, and beauty, the themes of her works were still related to “love our homes, love our country, and love our nationality” (Chen 82), which made modern drama so inaccessible for the most Taiwanese audiences. The second problem was the language. For anyone who would like to participate in the theatrical activities, he or she had to master Mandarin Chinese,

which

barred many Taiwanese from

joining performing in public or play-writing. In fact, the government did organize a Taiwanese acting troupe in 1951, aiming at performing in Taiwanese language.

However,

the

theme

was

still

about

anti-Communism and anti-Russia. Most dramatists were Chinese coming from Mainland China, instead of Taiwanese locals, which made it even harder to win the Taiwanese people’s recognition. The last reason to contribute to the falling of modern drama was that we did not have a performing space with modern equipment for regular performances. Li

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

proposed “the Little Theatre Movement” to compete with the pervasion of mass media by bringing theatre to every corner of schools

and

non-governmental organizations; however, without proper equipment and regular places for dramatists, mass media still took the upper hand.

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52

b. The Experimental Theatre Movement (The Little Theatre) In the 1960s, Man-guei Li led the trend to open up a new era for modern drama. In addition to Li’s great effort, there were also two important magazines contributing to the development of Taiwanese modern drama during the 1960s: Europe Magazine (《歐洲雜誌》) and Theatre Magazine (《劇場雜誌》); the former was founded by overseas Taiwanese students in France, and the latter, by the Taiwanese students who loved theatre and cinema. Both were founded in 1965. Europe introduced various European avant-garde theories and arts, including theatre and cinema, while Theatre introduced and even translated plays that were popular in America and Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. With the introduction from Theatre, Taiwanese audiences got to know the Theatre of the Absurd, the Theatre of Cruelty, and Environmental Theatre etc. Later, the members from Theatre even organized a performance and played Waiting for Godot, written by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), at

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

Gang Hsin Culture Hall (耕莘文教院) in Taipei in 1965. Reportedly, the performance was not quite successful and only one viewer stayed until the end of the play; however, it did shed a positive light to Taiwanese modern theatre at the dark age of White Terror and the martial law in the 1960s. This is the beginning for Taiwanese modern drama to have a different voice other than anti-Communism and anti-Russia, and to modernize the traditional melodrama. With the inspiration from Li and both magazines, many dramatists continued to experiment on new forms of drama. Following the trend of the Little Theatre Movement led by Li, many dramatists adopted the name but referred it to the experimental theatre and innovative theatrical activities. The Little Theatre has no longer been referred to a small size theatre with less than 350 seats; it became a genre, or even a synonym, referring to the experimental theatre. has been performed on the

Traditionally, the modern drama

Proscenium stage (鏡框式舞台).

The

audiences sit in front of the stage, watching the action taking place right

Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s

54

in front of their eyes. The other three sides of the stage are not open to the audiences. If we look from afar, the characters were like being framed within a mirror. However, in a little theatre, since the space is limited and the stage may be a simple platform without a Proscenium frame, the theatre is more like a “black box” than an auditorium. By breaking the conventional code of a performing space, the dramatists could experiment various ways of presenting the show and deal with the relationship between the viewers and performers through creative theatrical activities. Many dramatists, including Yi-wei Yau (姚一葦/1922-1997) , Mei-shiu Huang (黃美序/1928-), Sen Ma (馬森/1932-), and Shiau-feng Chang (張曉風/1941), at this time tried to revolt against the conventional New Drama that were manipulated by the authorities in the 1960s, and tried to create new forms of New Drama. Take Yi-wei Yau for example, he was the most active and productive dramatist at this period of time. He not only wrote realistic plays but also created works of modern and even post-modern styles.

55

Yau’s The Suitcase (《一口箱子》/1973) has been

Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

believed to express the spirit of the Theatre of the Absurd. The Suitcase presented stereotypical characters, instead of characters with distinct personality. The setting is simple: a country road, a slope, and a tree. Yau did not point out the exact appearance of these props and backdrops. The characters of the play were all out of employment, and chased by an unknown person. One of them died eventually. A sense of helplessness pervaded the whole play, showing that people could not do anything to deal with the rapid change of the modern world. Thus, by looking at the design of the play, the audience might easily relate this play to Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. These similarities between The Suitcase and Waiting for Godot, though vividly and obviously, showed Yau’s attempt in trying a new form to criticize the Taiwanese society. Many scholars believe that The Suitcase could be regarded as the beginning of the experimental theatre in Taiwan. Apart from The Suitcase, the most significant play that marked a new phase in Taiwanese modern drama was The New Match of He-zhu

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56

(《荷珠新配》/1980), performed by Lang Ling Theatre Workshop (蘭陵劇 坊). Lang Ling Theatre Workshop was first called Gang Hsin Experimental Theatre Troupe (耕莘實驗劇團/1976), and in 1977, the leader of the troupe, Shi-jie Jin (金士傑/1951-), turned to Jing-ji Wu (吳 靜吉/1939-) for the training of body movement and performing skills. Before returning to Taiwan in 1977, Wu used to participate in “La Mama Experimental Theatre Club” in New York; therefore, what Wu brought back to Taiwan was the non-mainstream and latest ways of performing in the West, including impromptu acting. Wu emphasized much on the psychological movements of performers, plus the body and verbal training. Within two years, these young performers founded Lang Ling Theatre Workshop and organized the performance of The New Match of He-zhu. Lang Ling Theatre Workshop was named after an ancient king in China in the sixth century, King Lang Ling (蘭陵王). was believed to be a fair-looking young man.

King Lang Ling

Whenever he went to war,

he feared that his beauty might not scare the enemy away, so he decided

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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

to put on a scary and ugly mask to veil his identity. Therefore, King Lang Ling has been esteemed as the origin of role-playing in China, for his mask exaggerated who he was and gave a dramatic effect in the battle field. By naming the troupe as “Lang Ling,” the members of the troupe showed a strong ambition to unearth resources and inspiration from tradition. Moreover, the title “Theatre Workshop” implies the troupe would like to create the theatre as a space for dialogue, having different experiments interact with each other. The first work the troupe presented was The New Match of He-zhu, a new adaptation of a Peking opera play, The Match of He-Zhu (《荷珠配》). The plot of the play deals with a prostitute girl who pretends to be a rich businessman’s long-lost daughter just to win his fortune, uncovering human greed and avarice in a comic way. There are many traditional elements from Peking opera, such as the simple props and stage design. Meanwhile, modern things could also be detected in the play, such as the trade mark of Mercedes Benz. The combination of these traditional and modern elements creates an ironic yet hilarious

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atmosphere. To many scholars, The New Match of He-zhu presented a brand-new theatrical experience, for it absorbed the advantages from tradition and the western performing art. The New Match of He-zhu has then esteemed as a great and representative step ahead of the Little Theatre Movement in the 1980s. The mainstream of New Drama in the 1970s and 1980s in Taiwan was still in the hand of the authorities, propagandizing the idea of antiCommunism and anti-Russia. However, the Little Theatre Movement had already overwhelmed the campus and some other non-governmental organizations. The desire to try new experiments, to fight against the hegemony of the national anti-Communism and anti-Russia movement, and, most important of all, to revolt against the long tradition of Chinese and Taiwanese drama, encompassed the whole island. For the next decade, tens of acting troupes were founded to produce New Drama, although many of them were amateurs. Most of the members were in their twenties and thirties, full of energy and will to learn new knowledge.

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These young dramatists and artists gave a new life and variety to the rigid political theatre, and once again, draw the attention of the audiences and led them back to the theatre. Moreover, these young dramatists became the main force of the commercial theatres after the 1990s. One thing worth noting is the establishment of the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA/文化建設委員會) in 1981, 8 which aimed at subsidizing acting troupes, designing plans, and holding art and cultural activities. CCA helped preserve cultural and historical heritages, and the given funds from CCA encouraged the acting troupes to produce fine and well-organized performances, which showed the government started to notice the importance of these cultural activities and the promotion of art. From 1985 onward, the little theatres mushroomed and the themes they presented varied much from one to another. Most of these little theatres were campus theatres composed of students and amateurs. For example, in 1986, Yung-ping Li (李永萍/1964-) and Nai-wei Xu (許乃威 8 The Council for Cultural Affairs has been promoted as Ministry of Culture (文化部)

at the cabinet level in 2012, aiming at designing cultural policies and administrating national museums and cultural centers. Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s

60

/1964-) founded Huan Shu Theatre (環墟劇場) 9 , aiming at exploring the new theatrical language: creative images, body movements, and revolting the narrative way of presenting a plot. They absorbed lots of western theories and explored new possibilities of modern drama. Furthermore, some troupes shifted their focus to social and political issues. They not only performed in the indoor theatre house, but also gave live performance in the street or public space. By holding student demonstrations, or joining labor and social movements in public, many troupes began to devote themselves in bettering the social and political conditions in Taiwan. For example, Jiu-lan Yei (葉菊蘭/1949-), the former mayor of Kaohsiung (2005-2006) of the Democratic Progressive Party, once founded “Yei Jiu-lan Theatre Troupe” (葉菊蘭劇團) to assert and advocate her idea of Taiwan Independence. Ruo-yu Liu

In 1987, U-Theatre (優劇團), founded by

(劉若瑀/1956-),

adopted

Jerzy Grotowski’s10 training

9 Huan Shu Theatre was disbanded because of financial difficulties in 1992. Yung-ping

Li and Nai-wei Xu later organized another theatre troupe, called “New Image Theatre Troupe” (新影像劇坊) in 1992. 10 Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999), a Polish theatrical artist, founded the Poor Theatre. The Poor Theatre poses as a vivid contrast to the rich theatre which is full of sound and 61

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methods and explored the “Oriental Spirit” through the usage of rituallike performances, music from the Noh theatre from Japan and the Hindu dance.

U-Theatre later established You Ren Shen Gu (優人神鼓) in

1988 to train performers by means of beating drums and meditation. Indeed, influenced by this wave of the Little Theatre Movement, many theatres were not actually “little”; on the contrary, some of them were quite “big” to be the most influential commercial theatres since the 1980s. In 1984, the director Sheng-chuan Lai (賴聲川/Stan Lai/1954-) founded the Performance Workshop Theatre (表演工作坊), and presented Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land (《暗戀桃花源》) in Taipei in 1986. This play has become one of the classic modern dramas since then. We will discuss one part of the play, and see how Lai interweaves two plots and has these two interact and even respond to each other. Later on in 1986, Kuo-hsiu Lee (李國修) founded the Ping Fong Acting Troupe (屏風

light effects. Grotowski believes the theatre presentation should concentrate on the essence of the theatre; that is to say, what really matters is the relationship between the performers and the audiences, the performance itself and the performers’ physical and mental conditions. Most important of all, the performers should be the core of the theatre.

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表演班), which has become the most active and productive acting troupe until now. Hsing-Kuo Wu (吳興國/1953-), also in 1986, constructed the Contemporary Legend Theatre (當代傳奇劇場), aiming at reforming the traditional Peking opera and merging the art with various western plays; in other words, Wu devotes himself in creating cross-cultural performances and opening up more space for dialogues among different cultures. In 1988, the Godot Theatre Company (果陀劇場), founded by Zhi-min Liang (梁志民/1965-), presented adaptations of western plays and introduced western classics—including musicals—to Taiwan. These troupes are still very active today, and could be seen as the representative theatres in Taiwan. With subsidies from the government or the business enterprisers, these troupes have already set up their own professional administrative systems and moved onto producing professional performances. By the end of the 1980s, Taiwanese modern drama has given a cross-cultural and international look, and freed the theatrical art from being the political propaganda to a liberal or even radical form of self-expression.

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Unit Three Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s In the 1980s, the Little Theatre Movement did inspire many young intellectuals and local dramatists to reform modern drama.

Various

avant-garde and revolutionary ideas and theatrical arts were introduced and affected Taiwanese artists and audiences. In the late 80s, the desire for full democracy and freedom of speech already became the collective will of the populace in Taiwan, and in 1987, the martial law, which lasted for more than 38 years, was finally lifted and came to a closure in Taiwan.11 From then on, people are free to organize political activities, including forming a party or a demonstration in public. They can publish papers and books, discuss political issues in public and are no longer judged in the martial court. All published works did not need to be

11 The areas that are close to Mainland China, such as Lienchiang County (連江縣),

Kinmen County (金門縣) and the Spartly Islands (the Nansha Islands/南沙群島), etc, were eventually free from the control of the martial law in 1991, for there were military bases on these islands. These areas were under the control of the martial law for more than 42 years. Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s

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supervised and censored by Taiwan Garrison Command (台灣警備總司 令部/1945-1992), a secret police organization, but under the protection of the Constitution as a freedom of speech. To lift the martial law and to disband Taiwan Garrison Command symbolize the end of the authoritarian reign of the KMT government and White Terror, which further contributes the cultural liberation and diversity in Taiwan’s society. Now the artists could enjoy greater freedom to create works of art without being manipulated by the political force. After the 1990s, the development of Taiwanese modern drama moved onto a new stage, a phase of pluralism and diversity. After the 1990s, many little theatres were established, along with student drama clubs. CCA continued to subsidize little theatres or communities theatres, and there were also drama contests held by the Ministry of Education or some non-official organizations. In addition, the government held various international theatre festivals or theatre exhibitions contributing the development of the contemporary Taiwanese

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drama. Acting troupes from the U.S., Beijing, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and other countries came to Taiwan and helped cultivate the local troupes’ global views and multicultural ideas. It is high time for Taiwanese theatrical artists to rethink the essence of theatre and what kinds of work they would like to produce. As for the following discussion, instead of giving the linear history of individual acting troupes and the development of modern drama, I would like to try a different approach to discuss Taiwanese modern drama after the 1990s.

In this part, I would focus

more on the different themes and goals of contemporary theatres try to convey and achieve, which is the unique feature of Taiwanese modern drama after the 1990s, and, I think, rightly reflects the various voices and concerns of our society.

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a. The Collision of the Traditional and Modern Theatres With the frequent interactions and cultural exchanges between Taiwan and other countries, the first huge step that many local troupes attempt is to reform the local and traditional drama. As I have mentioned earlier, when New Drama was developed, the political force converted this art form into political propaganda, advocating the political correctness. Especially under the influence of the Kominka movement, many folk arts were devaluated or even banned. Even though the KMT government encouraged the development of Chinese folk arts, including traditional drama and theatres, in the name of reviving the Chinese traditional culture, the theme of these works was mostly related to the national anti-Communism and anti-Russia movement.

Therefore,

many

audiences have lost their interest in traditional arts, and the influence of the traditional theatres declined greatly.

In 1980, The New Match of

He-chu opened up a new possibility for Taiwanese drama, which inspired the younger generation that it could be feasible to merge two different

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cultures together and further create a new breed of theatrical genre. In addition, many traditional art performers turned to produce commercial plays to cater to the public, and employed the western theories and techniques to present a performance. By doing so, the audiences may enjoy two or even more types of drama while watching only one play, and the collision between the modern and the traditional has become a hot focal point to draw people’s attention. Since the 1980s, Xiau-zhuang Guo (郭小莊/1951-) began to reform the traditional Peking opera, and she founded Ya Yin Xiao Ji (雅音小集 /1979-) who first attempted to create a drama composed of the elements from the traditional opera and modern drama: she rewrote plays, re-designed the costume and stage, and improved the quality of the light and sound effects. In 1988 and 1989, she went to Italy, Hong Kong and the U.S. for a performance tour, and won a great applause from overseas audiences. However, she ceases performing in public since 1994. Compared to Guo who aims at reforming and refining traditional Peking

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opera, Hsing-Kuo Wu (吳興國/1953-) introduces more elements from the West into the traditional theatrical arts. In 1986, Wu constructed the Contemporary Legend Theatre (當代傳奇劇場) and adapted a series of Greek and Shakespearean plays. Wu adapted Macbeth into The Kingdom of Desire (《慾望城國》/1986), then adapted Hamlet into War and Eternity (《王子復仇記》/1990), Medea (《樓蘭女》/1993), and Oresteia (《奧 瑞斯提亞》/1995). After 2000, Wu adapted King Lear (《李爾在此》 /2001), The Tempest (《暴風雨》/2004), and he also produced Waiting for Godot (《等待果陀》/2005) in the form of Peking opera. 12 From the list of the plays he produced or adapted, it is easy to detect Wu's ambition by borrowing theatrical elements from the western theatre he could give more life to the declining traditional theatre, and invite more possibilities in producing traditional arts. Apart from the Contemporary Legend Theatre, the Holo Taiwanese Opera Troupe (河洛歌子戲/1985-) also adapted western plays, such as A

12 For the detailed list of the plays, please see the website of The Contemporary Legend

Theatre: http://www.cyberstage.com.tw/troupe/troupe_page.asp?id=1114&ap=0

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Story of Love and Feud (《彼岸花》/2001) based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and The Imperial Envoy (《欽差大臣》/1996) based on the play with the same title of the Russia playwright, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (1809-1952).

Coincidentally, the Taiwan Bangzi Opera Troupe (台灣

豫劇團/2008) adapted Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice into Bond (《約束》/2009) and Measure for Measure into Measure, Measure (《量‧ 度》/2012). In 2011, Sunhope Taiwanese Opera Troupe (尚和歌仔戲劇 團/1995) adapted Shakespeare’s Othello into Eyes in Your Mind (《牟尼 之瞳》). There are still some other traditional troupes adapting foreign plays or legends, which are too many to be listed here. Obviously, the traditional opera troupes have taken the advantage of the adaptations of western classics and turned them into the selling points to catch people’s attention. These western classics somewhat become a cure to the box office and successfully incite people’s interest in theatre as a lure.

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b. The Adaptation of the Western Works and Arts Not only the traditional theatrical troupes take the advantages of western adaptations, but modern drama troupes also introduce various plays from foreign countries. Actually, the development of Taiwanese modern drama right began with adapting the foreign works.

At first,

the idea of New Drama was introduced by Japanese and Taiwanese oversea students. At that time, the most popular works were adaptations of Japanese melodramas or Japanese folk legends. Therefore, foreign adaptations have never been a new form to the Taiwanese audiences. Even after the 1960s, the pioneers of the Little Theatre Movement, such as Man-quei Lee, Yi-wei Yau, Stan Lai, Sen Ma, etc., devoted themselves in promoting modern drama after they finished their degree or learning overseas. These intellectuals and artists introduced foreign works and reshaped them to fit for the Taiwanese market. However, the situation turned different in the 1980s. During the Little Theatre Movement in the 1980s, many playwrights composed their own scripts and produced

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original plays to express their ideals and beliefs, which has become a theatrical mainstream at this time. Meanwhile, many avant-garde artists resisted the hegemonic center of the script, they thought the script dominated the presentation of a play, so they preferred to approach a performance in the way of collective improvisation. Brainstorming with other theatrical colleagues to create a play became the most accepted method among dramatists in the 1980s. The drawback from this collective improvisation fashion was that within two decades, we did not have many well-trained and professional playwrights to compose plays with good quality. Moreover, many theatres turned to appeal the audiences with star power; in other words, they invited celebrities or stars as the selling point to participate the production in order to increase the box office. Therefore, until the 1990s, not many plays were preserved and published, and those that really got the chance to be publicized and published did not incite much notice from the populace. Apart from resisting the hegemonic position of the script, many

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radical dramatists also stressed the importance of body language or one’s stream of consciousness. These acting texts could only be seen and heard, instead of being read. This situation may cause great difficulties to the coming generations when they need to study or do research on the theatres after the 1980s, and it is not easy for new playwrights or young artists to create their works, if they do not have models to consult to. Consequently, young artists once again turned to the western theatre, adapted western classics or reproduced foreign works. Therefore, after the 1990s, there have been many western adaptations in the market. Godot Theatre Company (果陀劇場), founded in 1988, began by presenting various western adaptations: Little Town of Tanshui (《淡水 小鎮》/1989) based on Our Town by Thornton Wilder (1897-1975), New Taming of the Shrew (《新馴悍記》/1994) based on Taming of the Shrew, Cyrano de Bergerac (《大鼻子情聖—西哈諾》/1995) based on Cyrano de Bergerac, the French musical, and so on. 13 The recent works include

13 For a detailed list of the plays, please see the website of Godot Theatre Company:

http://www.godot.org.tw/index.asp

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Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie (《最後十四堂星期二的課》/2011) based on the novel with the same title by Mitch Albom (1958-), Last of the Red Hot Lovers (《十七年之癢》/2010), originally written by Neil Simon (1927-), and Fools (《傻瓜村》/2009) also based on Neil Simon’s Fools. Apart from Godot Theatre Company, Greenray Theatre Company (綠 光劇團) also produces many western adaptations. Greenray, established in 1993, started its theatrical activities by producing original musicals in Chinese. After 2003, Greenray began to produce a series of “World Theatre” (世界劇場), and introduced more than ten works of the Pulitzer Prize or Tony Award winners. The recent works are Proof (《求證》 /2012), written by David Auburn (1970-), and Plaza Suite (《幸福大飯 店》/2009), written by Neil Simon. 14 Actually, there is at least one western classic adaptation every year on the theatre market, and sometimes there would be many more. This fact shows that adaptations are truly a hot selling point and the audiences love 14 For a detailed list of the play, please see the website of Greenray Theatre Company:

http://www.greenray.org.tw/main/index.php

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them.

Of course, on one hand, the adaptations or reproductions of

western classics do help Taiwanese troupes gain a global view and keep up with the trend of the world theatre. The dramatists could learn from the foreign works the techniques of playwriting, directing, and staging, and the audiences could watch the latest or most popular works of art without traveling long distance. Usually these adaptations could win good box office and support the expense of managing a theatre company. However, on the other hand, the original scripts find it even harder to win attention from the crowd and producers.

We cannot deny that adapting or

translating a foreign play would save much time than composing an original work; besides, these foreign works have gone through various tests from all over the world, and even won recognitions from important prizes. It would be much safer to present a play of a master than that of a nobody. Therefore, if we look back to the last two decades, modern theatres as well as traditional theatres both work on producing the adaptations, which by all means reduces the space for original and local

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theatrical works. Moreover, some troupes that produce adaptations of western classics are commercial theatres, so their market share would be larger than that of the little or community theatres, for they have more resources and marketing strategies to win the audiences over.

Thus,

many scholars and artists begin to worry about the loss of Taiwanese original works, and ask the government to encourage playwrights to compose the works that could really reflect the life and spirit of Taiwan.

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c. The Localization Movement During the Kominka Movement and the national anti-Communism and anti-Russia movement, the rulers were quite aware that in order to fully control the art business and convert people’s way of life to the way they desired, the first thing they should do was to change the language. Under the rule of the Japanese colonial government and the KMT government, Taiwanese, the language that most people use for hundreds of years, was banned in the official occasions, and sometimes the Taiwanese speakers even could be seen as not patriotic enough.

In the early

twentieth century, there were some dramatists creating works in Taiwanese, but it was not easy for them to gain the permit to perform in public. After 1949, the KMT government aimed at reforming Taiwan as a military base to fight against Communist China, and many officials retreated from Mainland and could hardly speak any Taiwanese. The language barrier between Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese did cause a lot of misunderstandings and conflicts. Many Taiwanese artists at that time

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mastered both Japanese and Taiwanese, but Taiwanese was not accepted as the official language to create their works of art, and Japanese speaking was even worse, which would be seen as an act of treason. After the 228 Event, many Taiwanese artists and intellectuals were silenced or executed for political reasons. For decades, we hardly saw a Taiwanese production in full Taiwanese language in the theatre. In addition, since Mandarin Chinese has been esteemed as the only official language, Taiwanese, as one of many Chinese dialects, was rarely used on TV and other mass media. I even remember when I was in my elementary and junior high school years (about the 1980s), I was fined because of speaking Taiwanese in public. With the strong suppression from political policies, Taiwanese language has almost been uprooted from Taiwanese people’s life. After the martial law was lifted in the 1990s, many dramatists began to use the language that was supposed to be the mother tongue of the island but now has been marginalized as a dialect to create works of art, and the theatre and mass media started to produce programs in Taiwanese.

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The act of speaking Taiwanese soon overwhelmed the island as a cultural revival movement. In 1996, Wei-ran Chi (紀蔚然/1954-) wrote the play Hei Ye Bai Zei (《黑夜白賊》/ first performed in 1996 by Ping Fong Acting Troupe) to present the family problems in a Taiwanese family. Chi wrote a family trilogy to discuss family issues, and Hei Ye Bai Zei, the first of the three, has been considered to be the best of the three, since it gives a vivid picture of a falling household: everyone pretends nothing happens and sugarcoats the truth that no one is happy in this family. What is worth noting is that the dialogues of the play are done in Taiwanese and Mandarin Chinese, which reflects the truth of the Taiwanese society. Moreover, a bit of English and Japanese are also used from time to time in the play to portray of multicultural fact in today’s Taiwan. Since 2001, Greenray Theatre Company has worked with the movie director, Nien-jen Wu (吳念真/1952-) to produce a series of the Human Condition Sequence (人間條件系列), aiming at sketching out Taiwanese domestic lives and the interrelationship between people in this fast

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changing world. The Human Condition Sequence are Hello Out There (《人間條件1—滿足心中缺憾的幸福快感》/2001), Those Men in Her Life (《人間條件2—她與她生命中的男人們》/2006), Midnight in Taipei (《人間條件3—台北上午零時》/2006), The Same Moonlight (《人間 條件4—一樣的月光》/2009) and Men are Born to be Travelers (《人間 條件5—男性本是漂泊心情》/2012). The plays focus on the low social class in Taiwan’s society, who strive so hard to earn a living, to maintain the harmony in a household, and to uncover the white lie or hurting memories of oneself in order to gain the peace of mind. Like what Chi does, Wu also presents a multi-lingual world onstage. Characters speak different languages to represent their backgrounds, and Taiwanese is mostly used. The Human Condition Sequence has moved thousands of audiences, for the plays appeal to their emotions and their collective memories on this island. What is worth mention is Tainaner Ensemble (台南人劇團/1987-). Tainaner Ensemble started as Hwa Deng Theatre Troupe (華燈劇團), the

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first local modern drama club in Tainan after 1949. Hwa Deng Theatre Troupe was more like a community theatre, composed of students and amateurs. As the club expanded and grew, the club started to produce larger-scale productions. In 1997, Hwa Deng Theatre Troupe moved to a more spacious place and renamed the troupe as Tainaner Ensemble. Having “Tainaner” as the name points out the goal of the troupe is to present the perspective from the south of Taiwan, since most troupes are from the north of Taiwan. “Localization” has always been one of the concerns for Tainaner Ensemble when the troupe tries to produce a project. For years, Tainaner Ensemble has presented many works in Taiwanese or Mandarin Chinese and created original scripts reflecting Taiwanese society and culture, such as K24 (2005) and Taiwanese Stand-up Comedy (《台語 相聲—世俗人生》/2001). Since 2001, Tainaner Ensemble has further adapted Greek and Shakespearean classics and performed them in Taiwanese, such as Antigone (《安蒂岡妮》/2001) and The Witch Sonata—Macbeth (《女巫

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奏鳴曲—馬克白詩篇》/2003 and 2007). It is interesting to note that the director Bo-shen Lu (呂柏伸/1968-) presents the play in full Taiwanese, while keeping the style of English blank verses. Therefore, he seemingly creates a new breed of Taiwanese language, which is foreign yet familiar to the Taiwanese audience. Some audiences may complain that apart from speaking Taiwanese, the plays he produces are not “Taiwanese” at all, but I think his attempt does open up more possibilities in using the language. Actually, most of the works that reflect the Taiwanese society or culture seem to focus on domestic issues, and the Taiwanese language seems to relate to only the low social class people who are marginalized or suppressed.

While considering how to localize a foreign text, Lu

abandons the works that only deal with family conflicts, but turns to the classics that are much known to the Taiwanese audiences. As for Lu, to present the Taiwanese language in the English verse form would be a way to explore the beauty of the language itself, and moreover, remind the audiences that how unfamiliar we are to this mother tongue. Lu creates a

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new theatre convention by mixing two different language codes, although the mixture of languages does cause a great difficulty for the audiences to understand his plays.

However, he breaks through the stereotypical

image that the Taiwanese language gives to the common populace, and brings to the audiences a brand-new audio experience in watching western plays. Based on what I have discussed, we can find that the usage of Taiwanese in theatre has been tagged as the revival of the Taiwanese culture. Many dramatists, when thinking of making their works local, turn to create or present their works in Taiwanese. It is true that Taiwanese has been suppressed for decades and now most youths in Taiwan do not speak the language fluently. However, if we keep tagging Taiwanese as a sign for localization, we would make the same error that the authorities used to make by centralizing only one language and disrespect the others. Taiwan is an island of immigrants and many different aboriginal tribes. Fortunately, the contemporary theatre gradually recognize this fact and

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more and more different languages and cultures are presented through the theatrical art forms, which, I think, would be a trend for the coming modern drama.

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Conclusion By studying the historical and political context of the development of Taiwanese modern drama, I wish the readers may understand how difficult it was when the theatre pioneers strived to maintain the freedom of speech through literary creations, and how important the theatre is by displaying the social and political conditions and offering great entertainment to us at the same time. From the 1920s to 1940s, this is the germination stage for Taiwanese modern drama, and the Taiwanese acting troupes took sources from Japanese plays or folk legends in order to evade strict censorship. Even along with censorship, we still have some fine works left for us to understand the influence of the theatre at this time; moreover, since a great deal of the resources were Japanese or Chinese folk tales, the beginning of the development of Taiwanese modern drama was actually an act of cultural exchanges, composed of Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese cultural elements.

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From the 1950s to 1980s, as the Japanese left and the KMT government took over Taiwan, the strict censorship did not go away and the political control was still harsh.

The development of Taiwanese

modern drama was mainly dominated by the government and the theatre was turned to serve the political correctness. The government sponsored many playwrights with great economic incentives and recruited many artists to advocate the national anti-Communism and anti-Russia movement. However, these works were rigid and doctrinaire, which hardly interested the audiences. In the 1960s, Man-guei Li reformed the theatre, and held the World Theatre Exhibition from 1967-1984 (Li passed away in 1975). This is the beginning of the Little Theatre Movement and many youths were inspired and encouraged to reform and refine the dull antiCommunism and anti-Russia theatre. Many western plays and theories were introduced and adapted, which opened up the Taiwanese’s eyes and broadened their horizon. Meanwhile, the demand for full democracy was even strong, and finally in 1987, the martial law was lifted, and since then,

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Taiwanese modern drama has gradually stepped onto the path of diversity and pluralism. After the 1990s, cultural exchanges between Taiwan and foreign countries have been much more frequent. Both the government and nonofficial organizations hold various international festivals and theatre exhibitions to increase interactions among different cultures. At this stage, the themes of the acting troupes in Taiwan vary from one to another, which creates the multi-lingual and multiphase phenomenon of Taiwanese modern drama. Meanwhile, the desire to maintain the local culture is also strong. Therefore, some troupes aim at preserving the local culture, refining the traditional art, and further creating a new genre with the mixture of both Taiwanese and foreign features. Recently, with the rapid development of cyber-media, more and more people prefer staying at the computer and linking to the whole world. Moreover, downloading video files or watching some other video materials online cost viewers less and less. Consequently, less and less

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people would like to go to the theatre and enjoy the art, which, compared to watching videos online, consumes more money and time. The modern drama troupes, once flourished, now need the support from the audiences. The subsidy from the government could not solve all the managing problems and box office. Hopefully, by understanding the development of Taiwanese modern drama, my readers could understand this art more and go into the theatre house to support modern drama.

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Exercise: Playacting By Marshall Cassady, The Book of Cuttings for Acting and Directing (1995: 3, 9, 12-13)

The Actor’s Job Directors deal with the overall interpretation and analysis of characters and their relationships, but they leave the subtleties to the actors. Although the director is responsible for the total production, the actor is more directly responsible for interpreting a specific character and determining how this character will be portrayed. Of course, the director has to agree with the interpretation. For example, an actor might decide that the character requires a broad acting style, whereas the director envisions a more subtle portrayal. If the director insists, the actor will have to adapt to this. Yet most good productions involve compromise and a willingness to try to see the other person’s point of view. 89

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Generally, actors determine much more specifically what their characters are like. It is up to them to fill out their roles, to make the characters believable within the framework of the play. Actors need to fill in the details of a character’s background, adding to the clues given in the script. No character is complete. But by examining the “given circumstances,” the actor can build a logical character, consistent in all respects with the information provided by the playwright. Some directors give the actors a great deal of latitude in interpreting character. Others work out every element of the production in great detail.

The Actor’s Analysis 1. What is the character’s background? What kind of education does he or she have? What sort of

family does he or she come from?

Where did the character grow up and later live? What has played the

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biggest part in shaping the character’s personality? 2. What are the character’s interests? What kind of work does the character do or want to do? Why?

How does he or she like to

spend free time? If the character has a house or apartment, how is it furnished? Why? 3. What character traits are evident? How does the character impress other people? Is he or she generally happy or unhappy? What are the most important aspects of his or her personality? What are the dominant traits? What kinds of friends does she or he have? 4. How does the character feel about others ? About self ? About the world in general?

On the basis of the answers, figure out how to portray the character from manner of speaking to type of walk and movement. Try to justify what you’ve decided on the basis of the background you’ve determined. Do not be limited only by the questions above. Try to think of any

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others that might help present a complete picture of the character in order to make the person come across as real and believable.

Actor’s Analysis

Play: _______________________________________________________ Playwright: __________________________________________________ Cutting: ____________________________________________________ My Character: _______________________________________________ My Character’s Background: A. Social B. Educational C. Geographic D. Family E. Major Influences F. Environment (Time and Place)

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Interests A. Jobs B. Hobbies C. Friends D. Other Activities Personality Traits: Relationship with Other Characters: Goals: Playwright’s Life and Influences on Writing the Play: Theme and Meaning of the Play: Brief Description of the Other Characters:

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Appendixes Text Reading: Excerpts from The Castrated Rooster (Yan Chi/閹雞) Director: Tuan-qin Lin (林摶秋) Music: Quan-sheng Lu (呂泉生) Artistic Design: San-lang Yang (楊三郎) Characters: San-gui (三桂): in his fifties, sells his pharmacy to Qing-biao in exchange for Qing-biao’s land and marries Qing-biao’s daughter, Yue-li, to his son, A-yong. He believes the rumor that the train station will be built on Qing-biao’s land, so he buys the land in advance and waits for the rise of the land’s price. A-yong (阿勇): son to San-gui; in his early twenties. Qing-biao (清標): in his late forties, wishes to become a Chinese medicine doctor. He accepts the bargain offered by San-gui by buying San-gui’s pharmacy with his own land and marrying his daughter to

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts

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San-gui’s son. Yue-li (月里): daughter to Qing-biao; in her late teens.

Act II, Scene 1 San-gui: Hasn’t Yue-li returned? A-yong: Where has Yue-li been? San-gui: She went back to her own family. A-yong: Ah! No wonder there is no response from her. When did she go out? San-gui: This morning. Your mother wanted her to take the red-turtle-cake that we offered to gods to share with her family. A-yong: It’s about time to return. What do you want from her? San-gui: Nothing. (Sit down.) A-yong, it seems my hope would fail. I don’t think the train station will be extended to the land I bought. A-yong: I think it will. For all these years, our village has become much prosperous. If the train station was built on a remote place, it

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would not be convenient for everyone. This is a common sense! San-gui: There are so many things that we can’t judge based on the common sense. Sometimes you wish to run ahead of the trends, but you turn out to be engulfed to the bottom of the sea, just like a weak wave……(Sigh). 15

Act II, Scene 3 Yue-li: Has Mr. Chen left? What’s up? A-yong: (Keep on weeping.) Yue-li: (Spot on the torn contract.) Is this the job contract? You fool! Useless! Would it have been better if you didn’t quit your job? A 21-year-old man could be qualified to be a school teacher, but look at you…(Walk away). (The oink of the sow and piggies can be heard inside the house.) (The folk ballads sung by the farmers who return from the farms 15 The original text of this part is as follows: 世界上有許多事是不能靠常識來判斷的，

心裡想跟著時代的潮流跑在前頭，結果卻如同海浪被捲入海底。

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96

gradually approach A-yong’s house.) Farmers: In June, water on the farm / How hot it is / Fish swim in the water / their tails wag in the water, too……16 A-yong: (Stop weeping, and listen to the farmers’ singing)

Ah! Why can’t I have a nice life just like them?



(Yue-li steps into the house with a big bucket full of pigs’ feed)

A-yong: Yue-li! I feel cold. Yue-li: Do you get malaria? I told you to wear a leaf hat when you need to work on the farm! You’d better rest earlier today! A-yong: It’s okay! (Fascinated by the ballads.) I will work very, very hard on the farm tomorrow, and I’ll beat every farmer in this land. Yue-li: Really? (Smile.) The sow has already given birth to some piggies. Then I will go get a job in the paper money factory. A-yong: That’s not necessary! You don’t have to work that hard. Yue-li: You look so pale. 16 The original text of this part is as follows: 六月田水/真是熱死人/水底魚兒游來游

去/魚尾搖來搖去……。

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A-yong: It is okay even if I do get malaria. Yue-li: But… A-yong: I will stand up, again! One has to change his destiny with his own hands, and I will change mine bravely! Yue-li: Yes, I’ll be very happy to see you being brave. Look at me, I am with tears. (Burst into happy tears.) (A-yong keeps on listening to the farmers’ singing captivatedly.)

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98

Exercepts from The Wall (《壁》/Bi) Director: Fei-wo Song (宋非我) Playwright: Guo-xian Jian (簡國賢)

Time: Spring, 1946 Place: A city in the North of Taiwan Characters: Jin-li Chen (陳金利/A rich businessman), Mrs. Chen, Clerk, Maid, Doctor, Monk Qi-shi Xu (許乞食/a laborer), Xu’s mother, Xu’s son (A-ren/阿仁) Setting: (a one-act play) A wall is placed in the center of the stage, separating the stage into two different conditions. On the left is the house of Jin-li Chen: there are numerous bags of rice and flour piling up by the wall, just like a small hill. The decoration of the house is richly delicate and luxurious, and many precious antiques are apparently displayed in an artful way just for

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showing off. On the right is the house of Qi-shi Xu: there is only one well-worn bed without a mosquito screen, and a table for placing the tablet of the deity and worshiping. The surrounding is dim and bleak.

(The play begins as Jin-li is counting money happily.)

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Mrs. Chen: (Sweetly.) So, Jin-li, since you have made such a great fortune, it’s time for you to buy me a new gold bracelet. Jin-li: A gold bracelet? Haven’t you got one already? Mrs. Chen: Not a pair! It looks so awkward and unbalanced not to wear a pair! Please buy me another one. Jin-li: Actually, it is fine to buy you a new one, but—you have to promise me one thing! Mrs. Chen: (Look serious.) Not again! Do you want me to promise you to take a new woman into the house?

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Jin-li: Brilliant! You’ve got me right away! Mrs. Chen: You are way too “energetic”! You men are always so frivolous! Once you earn some money, the next thing you think is to get laid on a woman. Jin-li: Let me ask you: if there are two soldiers in front of you, one is with a medal of honor, the other is not, then whom do you respect more? Mrs. Chen: Of course the one with a medal of honor, for he looks more dignified. Jin-li: (Cheerily.) Exactly! A rich man takes in a concubine is just like a soldier wearing a medal, to show his dignity. The reason for a rich man to have a concubine is to enhance his status, and only by that he could be proud and show off to the world. If the shiny decoration pinned on the soldier’s chest is called a medal of honor, then a concubine is surely the rich man’s “medal of honor”! Now I am a rich man alright. Why don’t you let me wear one medal to really match the definition of being rich?

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Jin-li: Stewed fish, fried pork, pork soup and fried rice! Again! Why do you keep cooking such greasy food for me, just to explode my stomach? Maid: Because my master only enjoys greasy food. Jin-li: Now if I see any greasy thing, I would puke right away! Last night, I went to three different restaurants and got too drunk, and then puked twice after that. Do you think I can eat anything like this in the morning? Maid: I am sorry! Jin-li: Just get me some pickles and porridge. Take the greasy fried rice to the chickens. Maid: You give such a nice food to the chickens? Jin-li: To the chieckens. Maid: My master, you really need to use you brain to think once a while. We laborers work all day long and just have sweet potato porridge

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 102

for food. Jin-li: I am an animal-lover! Maid: And despise human beings at the same time! Jin-li: Just do what I said to you. Maid: Fine! If you want to feed the chickens, I will feed them, as you wish! Doctor: Hello, Mr. Chen. Jin-li: Oh, Mr. Wu, you come at the right time! Doctor: What’s the matter with you? Jin-li: I’ve got bad appetite. Doctor: Oh, yeah? Please pull up your clothes and let me check your body. (Jin-li pulls up the clothes and shows his belly to Doctor. Doctor diagnoses and asks questions.) Doctor: This is “stomach dilation.” Jin-li: Stomach dilation?!

103 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

Doctor : Yes, it is due to having too much food and drink! So your stomach dilates, or explodes! When the food is digested, your stomach becomes loose.

It is a disease, a typical disease

commonly found on rich people. Ha, ha!

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(Jin-li and Doctor are drinking wine, toasting each other.) (While the side of Jin-li’s house grows dim, the side of Qi-shi’s house lightens.) (Qi-shi is lying in bed. The blind mother is leaning on the bed and busy weaving straw sandals.) Qi-shi: Mom, I’d like to drink some tea…(Cough). Mother: There is no tea leave—but we do have some water… Qi-shi: Water will do! (Mother pours some water.) Qi-shi: Mom, thank you! (Get up.) Mother: Do you feel better?

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 104

Qi-shi: I’ve still got cough, and fever. (Cough.) Mother: What should we do? I already sent for the doctor. Maybe he is on his way. Qi-shi: I don’t think the lung disease will get cured anyway. Mother: Don’t say that! As long as we believe in Buddha, we will be blessed. Qi-shi: Mom, I have been ill for more than four months. I am such a bad son to make you suffer in this way…… Mother: What are you talking about? You’re recovering. Promise me, once you get well this time, don’t overwork too much like what you did in the past. You worked every day and night, giving out all you have, until you completely ruined your health. Qi-shi: If I gave all I have and won understanding and respect in return from other people, I still could tolerate any pain and hardship. But look, now I am sick in bed, that bitch in my factory never comes to visit. (Cough.) When I could work, I could work 13 or 14 hours a

105 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

day, just like a laboring cow or horse. Now I can’t move anymore, I am dumped like a rotten paper. Eh! Humanity, humanity is as thin as a paper! Mother: Really, your boss, the factory owner is too unkind. But I believe Buddha could tell the right and wrong. If you work really hard, you sure will be blessed. Qi-shi: Mom, the blessing from Buddha is unreliable…(Cough.)… Mother: Don’t talk about nonsense! Qi-shi: Mom, you see, in this world, there are people working hard and sincerely, but never getting any good reward. And those who lie or trick others with evil ambition have a nice life and enjoy everything. The honest people are always abused and ill-treated! Mother: There is no such thing! If you truly believe in Buddha, things will… Qi-shi: Mom, Buddha is not real, don’t you get it? The honest people eat sweet

potatoes and soybean dregs. Those who cheat eat rice!

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 106

What an irony! (Cough.)… Mother: Don’t act like this! You can’t get too excited! You’d better sleep and get some quiet rest. (Mother helps Qi-shi lie down, and then resumes weaving the sandals. Meanwhile, Clerk who works for Jin-li comes in.) Clerk: Mr. Xu, How is your body? Do you feel better? Qi-shi: Oh, is it Mr. Lin from the next door? Thank you. I am still the same! (Cough.)…(Try to get up.) Clerk: Hey, you’d better lie down. Please don’t trouble yourself getting up. Qi-shi: All right! So be it! I am really sorry! Clerk: Well, it’s really hard to start. I come as my master commands… Qi-shi: About moving my home? Clerk: Yes. My master keeps pushing me, so here I am. He said he will take back your house to be his storehouse in every way he can. Qi-shi: Just like what you see, I am terribly ill. But if I were getting any

107 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

better, I would search for a new place and move right away. Please tell your master what I said.

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Qi-shi: Mom, please forgive me. Mother: About what? You worked so hard, although we couldn’t have a rich and happy life. It is all our destiny. Poverty is fine. One’s destiny could never be changed by any human power. I am already satisfied about my life. Qi-shi: Mom, did you mean it? Don’t you regret having such a useless child? Mother: I meant it! Qi-shi: Mom…(Wipe his tears.) (Qi-shi’s son walks in with the noodle-seller.) Seller: Here is your order. (Place rice and pork on the table.) Thank you. (Exit.) (Pause.)

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 108

Qi-shi: A-ren, would you please go to the shop again? We are out of soy sauce. Son: Sure, I’ll get some. (Exit.) (Qi-shi opens the drawer, takes out one package of medicine, and sprinkle it on three bowls of rice.) Qi-shi: Mom, please come closer. Let’s eat together. Mother: Thank you. (Come to the table.) (The clock strikes right.) (Pause.) (Son walks in with soy sauce.) Son: Father, here is soy sauce. Qi-shi: Eh, good boy. Now eat your meal. Son: It looks delicious! (Come to the table.) (Qi-shi’s son and Mother begin to eat.) Mother: A-ren, you should eat more pork. Son: No, I will save the pork for Grandma.

109 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

(Qi-shi tidies up the room. He feels uneasy.) Son: Father, please come and join us. Mother: The rice tastes good while it is still warm. Otherwise, it would ruin your health. Qi-shi: It’s okay. I’ll join you soon. (A-ren puts some pork in Grandma’s bowl.) Mother: A-ren, have you eaten pork? Son: Yes, a lot! (Pause.) Eh, Grandma, the rice tastes bitter. Mother: Mmm, really! It is bitter. (Pause.) Son: Father, my stomach aches! (Qi-shi holds A-ren.) Mother: What’s wrong, A-ren? Son: Grandma, it hurts! (Struggle.) Mother: Qi-shi, did you…? Qi-shi: Mom, forgive me!

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 110

Mother: Wake up, A-ren. Qi-shi: A-ren, your mother will pick you up right away. Eh, A-ren, please be patient. In the peaceful world over there, you will find the rice you love. There will be plenty, plenty, plenty of rice for you to eat. Son: Father……Grandma……(Die.) Mother: My stomach…stomach……(Fall on the ground.) Qi-shi: (Hold Mother.) Forgive me, mom. There is no way out other than this. In this wide world, there is no place for us. Look at this thin wall. It can not even shelter us from pouring rain and heavy storm. Mom, I know you are painful. But when you close your eyes, you’ll be rid of the cruel reality, away from its horrible torture. Forgive me, mom, I’ll be right behind you. (Mother dies. Qi-shi places the corpses in bed and tidies up. He stands still without knowing what to do. Finally, he comes close to the table and holds up his bowl of rice. Right at this moment, Jin-li’s house lightens up,

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and the music of waltz is heard. People dance to the music, and some are playing finger-guessing games. The stage shows a vivid contrast of a bright, rich world and a bleak and miserable one.) Qi-shi: (Hear the sound of vanity from next door. Stand up in fury, and turn over the table.) The sound of merriment. (Walk close to the wall in the center of the stage.) Wall! Wall! On the other side of you is rice piling up as high as a house. Luxury, that is like a paradise! But on this side of you is some poor guy who can’t afford to eat rice, living in a hell where no life will survive. Only by the separation of a wall things are so different! Oh, this wall is so thick, so tall…eh…I want to break this wall, but it’s a pity that my fist is weak and my arm is limp. Oh! Wall, wall! Why can’t I break this wall? Oh, wall, wall! (Shout!) (Qi-shi rushes to bump the wall hard, and the bleeds to death. At this moment, the moon light shines in, and spotlights on the corpse who dies tragically.

On the other side of the wall, the music is in its climax.

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 112

Some people are toasting, singing songs of love, and some are dancing crazily. This contrast continues for while before the curtain is drawn slowly.)

113 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

Excerpts from Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land (暗戀桃花源) By Stan Lai (賴聲川), Performance Workshop (表演工作坊)

Characters: Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land is actually a play relating two plays or two plays within a play, “Secret Love” and “Peach Blossom Land.” It is a multi-dramatic work, in which almost all characters have double identities (some have triple), and the reality and dramatic illusion intertwine together. The actors have to play the characters in either “Secret Love” or “Peach Blossom Land,” and the persons who play the characters at the same time. In other words, for example, the character “Bin-liu Jiang” is “Bin-Liu Jiang as a character” and “Bin-liu Jiang as an actor.” Therefore, when the play is not on, the reality is brought back onstage; the character is not the one in a play, but the one who plays the play.

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 114

“Secrect Love” Bin-liu Jiang (江濱柳)/the person who plays Bin-liu Jiang Zhi-fan Yun (雲之凡)/the person who plays Zhi-fan Yun Mrs. Jiang (江太太)/the person who plays Mrs. Jiang Nurse (護士)/the person who plays Nurse The director of “Secret Love” Lao Tao (老陶)/the person who plays Lao Tao Chun-hua (春花)/the person who plays Chun-hua, and the-lady-in-white Master Yuan

(袁老闆)/ the

person

who plays

the-man-in-white Shun-zhi Stranger Backstage Staffs Theatre Manager

Scene 10

115 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

Master Yuan, and

(The light lights up slowly. The left side of the stage is full of the props from Scene 6 of “Secret Love”: a bed, the stand for the intravenous drip, a small shelf, a wheelchair and a chair, etc. The right side of the stage is empty. Bin-liu Jiang at his old age now lies in bed, and listens attentively to the radio on the desk. The radio is now playing the old song from the 30s, “I am a Floating Duckweed” (我是浮萍一片), sung by Bai Kuang (白光).) The song from the radio: “I am a floating duckweed, drifting on the sea of life. At the quiet night I talked to the stars alone, walking and singing with the moon……” 17 (The white backdrop for “Secret Love” has been covered by the portrait of the peach blossom forest for “Peach Blossom Land.” Therefore, the slide show for “Secret Love” is projected directly and overlaps on the backdrop for “Peach Blossom Land,” which creates a bizarre effect.

17 My translation. The Original text is as follows: 我是浮萍一片，飄蕩在人生的大海。

我曾經獨自在幽靜的夜晚，與星兒相對談話，與月兒漫步歌唱…。 Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 116

The slide show for “Secret Love” is full of the city landscape of Taipei in the 80s: many vistas of the city, apartments, and tall buildings. Then the view of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital is presented. Later on many pictures of the interior halls of the hospital are seen. Eventually, the last slide is the X-ray of Bin-liu Jiang’s lungs, projecting directly on the portrait of the peach forest for “Peach Blossom Land.” This combination seems inappropriate and weird, but as the two pictures matches, a strange and subtle balance shows.) The song from the radio: “…the breeze and the water harmonize a beautiful melody. Ah, I am intoxicated by the quietness of the night. Ah, I am intoxicated by the quietness of the night.” 18 Nurse: Are you awake? (Hear the music.) Why do you listen to this song, again? How many times have I told you not to listen to this song? It always ruins your mood! Let’s turn it off. (Intend to

18 My translation. The original text is as follows: …輕風和流水奏出優美的旋律。啊！

我陶醉在這幽靜的夜晚，啊！我陶醉在這幽靜的夜晚。 117 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

turn off the radio.) Bin-liu Jiang: No! This song is beautiful. Nurse: What do you mean by “beautiful”? I never get what she sings, even though I have heard this song for thousand times. Bin-liu Jiang: (Feel sad and sentimental.) She is singing: there is a man……who has been through a lot in his life……then he remembers a night that he loves best. (Pause.) At that night, the moon was singing, the stars were talking, and the breeze and water harmonized a lovely melody……he thought he owned that night. Now he grows old. He realizes he is all alone (Desperately). What’s left for him is only memories…… Nurse: (Intend to stop him from feeling self-pity, and turn off the radio.) Look at you! You always act like this whenever you hear this song. (Reprimand.) You can’t get stuck on thinking only one thing all the time. You see, since the day you posted the notice on paper, it has been…(counting) five days! And you are still waiting for her?

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 118

Forget it! Since Miss Yun did not show up on the first day, it means she would never show up for good. What’s more, you don’t even know for sure if Miss Yun is still alive in this world. Why do you want to act like this? (Jiang feels defeated, lifts his head and gives Nurse a sad look. Nurse realizes she is too hard on him.) Nurse: (calm down.)

I am sorry.

I don’t mean what I said.

I

mean……if Miss Yun did come, things would get worse, because you would feel sadder, right? (Jiang is speechless.) Wouldn’t it be better that we have our life undisturbed and peaceful, just like what we have now? (Jiang is still speechless.) (Mrs. Jiang opens the door and walks in.) (Meanwhile, the staffs in white robe for “Peach Blossom Land” carry various fake boulders and step on the stage without paying any attention to the others. They begin to decorate the right half of the stage.) (Mrs. Jiang intends to say her lines, but while spotting those busy staffs

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for “Peach Blossom Land,” she feels uneasy.) Mrs. Jiang: (She says her lines of “Secret Love,” but keeps her eyes on the action of “Peach Blossom Land.”) What a hospital! You keep asking me to pay the bill. Could we patients (pat on Jiang) run off? (The staffs of “Peach Blossom Land” discuss in a low voice about how to arrange the props in a limited space.) Mrs. Jiang: I just went to pay the bill, but the teller told me they were going to close, and asked me to pay tomorrow. This is what I do everyday in this hospital….. (The person who plays Lao Tao paces slowly onstage to count the distance between each prop.) Mrs. Jiang: ……in this hospital, to go here and there… Lao-Tao-as-an-actor: (Direct the staffs) Come on! Mrs. Jiang: (To Nurse) Miss Wang, don’t get me wrong. I mean…… (The staff team

for

“Peach

Blossom

Land”

is

ready

to act.

The-lady-in-white sits on the fake boulder on the right; Lao Tao, who is

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 120

also in white, walks slowly in front of the rocks and looks at the imaginary river bank. Lao Tao looks peaceful. It is probably because he has lived in Peach Blossom Land for long enough to have his personality changed. He now wears the white robe, which makes him totally different from what he was in Wulin.) Mrs. Jiang: (Look at the team of “Peach Blossom Land.”) …What a weird hospital! Lao Tao: (He says his lines happily for “Peach Blossom Land” to the-lady-in-white.) What a nice place!... (Mrs. Jiang turns to see Jiang try to get his wheelchair, and she goes to help.) Mrs. Jiang: Just tell me if you want to get off the bed! (Help him get on the wheelchair with Nurse.) (Mrs. Jiang pushes the wheelchair forwards.) Bin-liu Jiang: (Feel impatient

about

wanted here. Please go home!

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Mrs. Jiang.)

You are not

Mrs. Jiang: Why do I have to go home? I want to stay here with you. (Mrs. Jiang says without lifting her head, and the wheelchair bumps into a boulder. The-lady-in-white is shocked, and jumps from where she sits.) Lao Tao: ……The fresh and sweet meadow! 19 Bin-liu Jiang: (To Mrs. Jiang.) (Point at the boulder.) What are you doing? Mrs. Jiang: (Suggest the space is too limited.) What can I do? (These two actors begin to argue, but then think about the pressure for having not enough time, so they start all over again. Bin-liu Jiang goes back to the bed, Mrs. Jiang goes out, and the mood is already disturbed. The-lady-in-white returns to sit on the boulder and get her mood restored.) Lao Tao: (Recite the line)…the colorful falling petals. 20 (Sigh.) Lady-in-white: (Tenderly.) Why did you sigh? Isn’t this a nice place for you? Lao Tao: (Feel frustrated about himself.) It is nice indeed, but I didn’t 19 My translation. The original text is as follows: 芳草鮮美。 20 My translation. The original text is as follows: 落英繽紛。

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 122

get what I truly wanted here. Nurse: (To Bin-liu Jiang.) Where will we start? Bin-liu Jiang: From turning off the radio. Lady-in-white: (To Lao Tao.) What’s wrong with you? You’ve been here for long, and I have never seen you unhappy like this! (The team for “Secret Love” resumes their position and gets ready to say their lines again. Now two teams—one on the right, one, left, and one in the front, one, back—are performing at the same time.) Nurse: (To Bin-liu Jiang.) Look at you! You always act like this whenever you hear this song. Lao Tao: (To Lady-in-white.) I miss my hometown. Nurse: (To Bin-liu Jiang.) You can’t get stuck on thinking only one thing all the time. Lady-in-white: (To Lao Tao.) You’ve been here for long. What’s good about going back? Nurse: (To Bin-liu Jiang.) You see, since the day you posted the notice

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on paper, it has been…(counting with her fingers)…… Lao Tao: (To Lady-in-white.) For how long? Nurse: (To Bin-liu Jiang.) Five days! Lady-in-white: (To Lao Tao.) It’s been a long time! (Nurse gives an uneasy look at Lao Tao and Lady-in-white.) Nurse: (To Bin-liu Jiang.) And you are still waiting for her?

Forget

it!... Lao Tao: (To Lady-in-white.) I am afraid she is still waiting for me. I’d like to know if she is willing to come here with me. Lady-in-white: (Think for Lao Tao) She may not want to come here. Nurse: (To Bin-liu Jiang.) Since Miss Yun did not show up on the first day, it means she would never show up for good. Lao Tao: (To Lady-in-white.) No, she will come! (The two teams are surprised at finding their lines matching each other.) (They continue.) Lady-in-white: (To Lao Tao.) She could have forgotten you!

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 124

Nurse: (To Bin-liu Jiang.) What’s more, you don’t even know for sure if Miss Yun is still alive in this world. Why do you want to act like this? Lao Tao: (To Lady-in-white.) How can you say that? Lady-in-white and Nurse: (Coincidentally) I am sorry……I don’t mean what I said! (The lines match each other perfectly, which surprises the actors. Lao-Tao-as-an-actor turns to look at Lady-in-white and Nurse in confusion, not knowing whom to answer.) (Nurse feels frustrated. Jiang tries to clam everybody down, and gets ready to restart.) (Man-in-white walks slowly onto the stage, and continues “Peach Blossom Land.”) Man-in-white: What did you mean? Lao Tao: Oh, my brother! Man-in-white: What were you talking about?

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Lady-in-white: He thought I said he is already “that,” and the truth is “that” would only happen, if he is already “that.” Man-in-white: (Understand.) Oh!...Please don’t go home!

You will

only disturb their life. (Nurse is pacified, and resumes her lines of “Secret Love.”) Nurse: (To Bin-liu Jiang.) If Miss Yun did come, things would get worse… Lao Tao: (To Man-in-white.) What do you mean by that? Nurse: (To Bin-liu Jiang.) Because you would feel sadder! Lao Tao: (To Nurse.) No! (Man-in-white slaps Lao Tao across his face.) Man-in-white: What are you talking about? (Lao Tao feels confused about what he should say. He shakes his head and looks at the staffs of “Secret Love.”) (Three actors for “Peach Blossom Land” resume their position, and discuss their lines quietly.)

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 126

Nurse: … Wouldn’t it be better that we have our life undisturbed and peaceful, just like what we have now? (Jiang is speechless.) (Mrs. Jiang walks in again, and continues what her lines about complaining the hospital.) Mrs. Jiang: What a hospital! You keep asking me to pay the bill. The patient lies right here. Could we run off? I just went to pay the bill, but the teller told me they were going to close, and asked me to pay again tomorrow. This is what I do everyday in this hospital, to go here and there. ( Realize she says things should not be said.) Miss Wang, don’t get me wrong! (Feel embarrassed.) I mean, this hospital, is so weird! (The staffs for “Peach Blossom Land” restart, and continue their acting on the right.) Lao Tao: I want to go back to take a look! (Jiang reaches to get the wheelchair. Mrs. Jiang and Nurse are busy

127 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

talking without noticing Jiang’s action.) Man-in-white: Don’t ever go back! What do you want to have by getting back? I think you are… you are… (Turn and see Jiang’s reaching for the wheelchair. He sees and says a slip of tongue.) You are not getting it! (Realize he says a wrong line, and slaps himself on his face.) Mrs. Jiang: (To Jiang.) Just tell me if you want to get off the bed! (Mrs. Jiang and Nurse help Jiang get on the wheelchair.) Lao Tao: (Go back to his lines.) What can I say? Man-in-white: (To Lao Tao.) There is nothing to say. You’d better not go back home! Bin-liu Jiang: (To Mrs. Jiang.) You are not wanted here.

Please go

home! Mrs. Jiang: I want to stay here with you! (Mrs. Jiang accidentally pushes the wheelchair to the center of the stage, moving in the direction to the middle of Lao Tao and Man-in-white.)

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 128

Man-in-white: (To Lao Tao, but peeks at Jiang on the wheelchair.) You’ll get in trouble if you go home. Don’t go back home! Bin-liu Jiang: (To Mrs. Jiang, but peeks at Lao Tao.) You, just go back home! Mrs. Jiang and Lao Tao: (Look at each other.) I… Man-in-white: (His tone turns fierce.) Don’t go back home! Bin-liu Jiang: (Mad at Man-in-white.) Go back home! Man-in-white: You are not allowed to go back! (Man-in-white and Bin-liu Jiang decide not to care about their plays. They use their lines to scold at each other, and the others do not know what to do.) Bin-liu Jiang: You go back home! Man-in-white: (Much angrier.) I warn you not to go home! Bin-liu Jiang: (Wave his hand. Be in a rage.) Go! Go! Go home! Man-in-white: I said don’t go back home!

(Connect to the line of

“Peach Blossom Land.”) Once you go back, you will never return

129 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

here! (The director of “Secret Love” walks in.) Director: (Shout.) Stop!!!! Master-Yuan-as-an-actor: (No longer Man-in-white. He becomes who he really is outside the play, mumbling helplessly to himself.) No more stop! (All stand in silence without moving.) Director: (Break the silence.) Master Yuan! Master-Yuan-as-an-actor: (Wince.) I am not Master Yuan. Director: (Try to calm himself down.) Mister Director, how much left do you need to rehearse? Master-Yuan-as-an-actor: (Try to calm down, too. Exhale and then point at Lao Tao.) He needs to go back to Wulin from Peach Blossom Land. That’s the only scene left! Director: (Consider right away.)

Okay!

We let you finish first!

Please be hurry!

Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 130

Nurse: (Loudly.) That easy? Director: Or what can we do?

＊

＊

＊

131 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

References: Cassady, Marshall. The Book of Cuttings for Acting & Directing. Lincolnwood: National Textbook Company, 1995. Chen, Jui-sung (陳瑞松).

Distorting or Transcending Shakespeare:

Shakespearean Adaptations in Taiwan (1986-2004) (《扭曲，或是超 越莎士比亞 ： 台灣莎劇改編之研究 1986-2004》 ).

Ph.

D

Dissertation. Chia-yi: National Chung Cheng University, 2011. Barranger, Milly S. Understanding Plays. 3rd ed. Boston: Pearson, 2004. Brockett, Oscar G. and Robert J. Ball. The Essential Theatre. 8th ed. Australia: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2004. Electronic Theatre Intermix in Taiwan, ETI (臺灣現代戲劇暨表演影音資 料庫). 25 July 2012. Online. http://eti-tw.com/ Encyclopedia of Taiwan (台灣大百科全書).

24 July 2012.

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http://taiwanpedia.culture.tw/web/index Jian, Guo-xian (簡國賢). “The Wall” (Bi/《壁》). Guo min wen xuan: xi

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ju juan I ( 《國民文選：戲劇卷I》 ). Qi-mei Wang (汪其楣) ed. Taipei: Yu Shan She (玉山社), 2004. 173-212. Jiao Tong (焦桐). Taiwan zhan hou chu ji de xi ju ( 《台灣戰後初期的戲 劇》). Taipei: Tai-Yuan Publishing Company (臺原出版社), 1994. Lai, Sheng-chuan (Stan Lai/賴聲川). “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” ( 《暗戀桃花源》 ). A Comprehensive Anthology

of

Contemporary Chinese Literature in Taiwan, 1970-1989, Drama Vol. 2 ( 《中華現代文學大系： 臺灣1970-1989 ，戲劇卷 貳》) . Guang-zhong Yu (余光中) ed. Taipei: Chiu Ko Publishing Co. (九 歌出版社), 2005. 355-467. Lin, Tuan-qin (林摶秋). “The Castrated Rooster” (Yan-ji/ 《閹雞》). Guo min wen xuan: xi ju juan 1 (《國民文選：戲劇卷1》). Qi-mei Wang ed. Taipei: Yu Shan She (玉山社), 2004. 93-136. Ma, Sen (馬森). Twice Impacts upon Chinese Modern Drama from the West (《中國現代戲劇的兩度西潮》). Taipei: Unitas Publishing Co. (聯合文學), 2006.

133 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama

Memorial

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228.

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http://www.228.org.tw/ Shih, Kuang-sheng (石光生).

Intercultural

Theatre: Diffusion and

Interpretation (《跨文化劇場：傳播與詮釋》). Taipei: Bookman (書 林出版有限公司), 2008.

References 134