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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.
9
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
8
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,
Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s
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
Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s
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
14
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
Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s
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
Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s
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,
19
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
Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s
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
22
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
Taiwanese Drama in the 1920s-1940s
24
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
27
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
29
Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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
31
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
33
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
35
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.
37
Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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
39
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/
41
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
43
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.
45
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
49
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.
Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s
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
Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s
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
Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s
58
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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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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
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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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.
Taiwanese Drama in the 1950s-1980s
62
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
64
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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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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.
Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s
66
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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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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
Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s
68
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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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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.
Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s
70
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
Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s
72
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
Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s
74
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.
Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s
76
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.
Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s
78
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
Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s
80
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
Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s
82
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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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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.
Taiwanese Drama after the 1990s
84
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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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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,
Conclusion
86
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.
Conclusion
88
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.
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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
Exercise: Playacting
90
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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Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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)
Exercise: Playacting
92
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
94
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。
Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts
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.)
Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts
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.)
＊
＊
＊
＊
＊
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?
Appendixes:Text Excerpts from Scripts 100
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?
101 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
＊
＊
＊
＊
＊
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!
＊
＊
＊
＊
＊
(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.
＊
＊
＊
＊
＊
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
119 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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!
121 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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
123 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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?
125 Introduction to Taiwanese Modern Drama
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
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