Hold On, Love!
A Chinese Opera inspired by William Shakeapeare’s As You Like It (With Chinese Text)
By Ching-Hsi Perng and Fang Chen
English Translation by Ching-Hsi Perng
《可待》是一齣從莎士比亞《皆大歡喜》(As You Like It)發想,運用互文和後設手法,來探討愛情本質與人生自主的新戲。同時,也藉戲中戲的扮演,概略反映臺灣當代的劇場生態。
在《皆大歡喜》中,莎士比亞揭露了各種以「愛」為名的面向。不論最初的動機是情欲、犧牲、想像或衝動,這些融合「傷心、柔弱、善變、渴望、喜愛、傲慢、荒誕、愚蠢、淺薄、花心,以淚洗面、一臉歡顏──各種情緒都有一些,卻沒有一樣是真真實實的」表現,正好印證了試金石(Touchstone)的觀察:「就如同世上萬物難免一死,世上的情人因他們的愚昧而顯出人性」(“. . . as all is mortal in nature, so is all nature in love mortal infolly.” 2.4.43-44);亦如本劇中賀伯所發議論:「愛情原本就是瘋瘋癲癲」。但世間應該還有一種愛情,不一定局限於男女之間,無關乎對錯得失,甚至不必言語,就這樣安安靜靜地凝望。即使過程曲折或沒有報償,也能昇華至某種境界,以同理心「護持、成全」對方真正的願望。而這種心意,乃是浮華人間最溫暖美麗的一抹光影,彰顯了某種個人堅定的信念價值;這才是人生值得追尋的「愛」。
CHING-HSI PERNG, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, National Taiwan University, is currently a Chair Professor at Fu Jen Catholic University. Among some forty books to his credit are three studies on Shakespeare, translations of seven Shakespeare’s plays, and (with Professor Fang Chen) five adaptations into traditional Chinese theater. He is elected the 2018 National Taiwan University Outstanding Alumnus in Literature and the Arts.
FANG CHEN is Professor of Chinese Theatre at National Taiwan Normal University and president of Taiwan Shakespeare Association. She was the former president of Chinese-Taipei Theatre Association, and has done research at Stanford University. A recipient of many grants and awards for her academic achievements, she has authored over a dozen books on Chinese theatre. Other Shake-xiqu she co-scripted (with Ching-Hsi Perng) include Bond (adapted from The Merchant of Venice), Measure, Measure! (adapted from Measure for Measure), Betrayal (inspired by Cardenio) and Questioning Heaven (adapted from King Lear).
List of Scenes
Prelude
Scene 1: The Enquiry
Scene 2: Rehearsing Love
Scene 3: Genuine Feeling
Scene 4: Aspects of Love
Intermission
Scene 5: Love Awakened
Scene 6: Love Remembered
Epilogue
近來彭鏡禧與陳芳又改編了莎劇故事,推出一齣《可待》,以傳統戲曲的形式搬上舞臺。有趣的是,這次改編的動作很大,故事情節取材自不同的莎劇劇本,有《皆大歡喜》(As You Like It)的片段,有《仲夏夜之夢》(A Midsummer Night’s Dream)的片段,還穿插了《哈姆雷》(Hamlet)劇中劇的橋段,簡直像陸象山「六經註我,我註六經」,倒是別開生面。劇本文辭的創作,則毫不依傍莎劇原文的中譯,而是遵循中國傳統曲文的格式,展現情節的發展,讀起來就像傳奇戲文。這種劇本撰寫的轉化過程,是化莎劇為中國戲曲的「變態」,使得舞臺呈演不至於出現劇本文辭與表演程式的扞格,讓觀眾感到看的是戲曲,而非拼湊不中不西的戲詞,演出不倫不類的莎劇,感受不明不白的跨境演出。