Chapter 19 garden dream

The novel "A Dream in the Garden" was published by me in "Modern Literature" more than ten years ago.At that time, I was fascinated by Kunqu opera, and felt the decline of traditional Chinese drama art, so I wrote "A Dream in the Garden".Kunqu opera originated in the middle of the Ming Dynasty and has dominated the Chinese theater world for nearly three hundred years. It has been tempered by countless writers, musicians and dramatists, and has been condensed into the most exquisite and perfect art form.It's a pity that the spring is white and snowy, and the song is high and few. During the Qianlong period, it was gradually replaced by skin yellow.Since the Republic of China, except for Mei Lanfang's several Kunqu operas such as "Si Fan", "Thorn Tiger", "A Dream in the Garden", etc., which can shine in the chrysanthemum altar, most of the others have been left in the cold.I remember that when I first came across Kunqu opera more than ten years ago, I was immediately shocked by its exquisite art, and regretted its decline.At that time, I was studying the works of Tang Xianzu, a great writer of the Ming Dynasty. This story of love conquering death and transcending time and space is a milestone in the tradition of romantic literature in my country. Among them, "Dream" has reached the pinnacle of lyric poetry.Inspired by the Kunqu opera "A Dream in the Garden" and its legend, I tried to express the realm of these two dramas in the form of novels. This was my original motivation for writing "A Dream in the Garden".

The story of "A Dream in the Garden" is very simple. It tells the story of a Kunqu opera artist. At a banquet, he reunited with old friends. During the banquet, someone sang the Kunqu opera "A Dream in a Garden" a cappella, which aroused the artist's feelings about the past and the present.The story of this novel is weak, focusing on the brewing of lyrical and poetic atmosphere.This is the hardest short story I have ever written, and I have written it five times.Because the traditional narrative method was used for the first three times, it was impossible to write memory fragments interlaced by time and space. It was not until I tried to use the stream of consciousness technique that I broke the limitation of time and space and integrated the rhythm and poetry of Kunqu opera into the plot of the novel.It can be said that Kunqu Opera is the main source of inspiration for this novel.

The relationship between novels and dramas is both far and near.Some novels can be transformed into complete dramas only by adding some stage directors, while other novels can never be staged.Dickens's novels are very successful in stage plays and movies, because the characters in his novels are interesting, the plots are lively and fascinating.Camus moved to the screen, but it was so boring that people drowsy.A good novelist may not necessarily be able to write a good script.Henry James, a great master of the United States, tried to write a stage play. Halfway through the performance, some people had already left the stage.The master regretted it all his life.British Maugham's novels are far inferior to James's, but his scripts are all the rage. He turned one of his own novels into a stage play, and it was staged on Broadway, which lasted for many months.

My novel "A Dream in the Garden" was staged, but it was a bit unexpected.In August 1979, the Hong Kong government held the first "Chinese Literature Week" and invited me to participate in the selection of Hong Kong novels. At the same time, the Hong Kong Arts Center staged the stage plays "A Dream in the Garden" and "The Story of the Immortal" adapted from my novels. "A Dream in the Garden" is performed by the "Seal Troupe" mainly composed of teachers and students of the University of Hong Kong, directed by Dr. Huang Qingxia, and most of the screenwriters are based on the original novel.Because the actors are not familiar with Kunqu opera, the Kunqu opera part had to be dubbed, and the dramatic potential of Kunqu opera was not fully realized; however, the director's technique was quite novel, the actors were competent, especially the heroine was very hardworking, the audience responded enthusiastically, and the audience was full for two days.Hong Kong newspaper reports are also quite praiseworthy.When I returned to Taiwan, I discussed this matter with my friends in the cultural circles in Taiwan. Everyone said in unison: "Why don't you bring "A Dream in the Garden" back to Taiwan?" Fan Manong was also present, so we agreed on it, and "Xinxiang" would come forward to produce it.Unexpectedly, when this plan was spread, it immediately received unprecedented and enthusiastic support from cultural figures at home and abroad.Everyone believes that Taiwan's cultural development and economic foundation have reached the stage where stage plays can be promoted, and the domestic theater industry has worked hard for many years, and various personnel behind and behind the stage have been trained. At this time, the development of theater should be at the right time .With this belief, we began to work separately and actively prepare for the performance of "A Dream in the Garden".

The first is the choice of director.Because the performance concept of "A Dream in the Garden" is to integrate tradition into modernity, the director not only needs to be proficient in the modern Western stage, but also has a certain degree of cultivation in traditional Chinese drama, especially Kunqu opera.Such a candidate is hard to find.We are very fortunate to have the full support of Dr. Yang Shipeng.Yang Shipeng graduated from the Foreign Languages ​​Department of National Taiwan University. After going to the United States, he specialized in drama at the University of Wisconsin. While teaching at the University of Hawaii, he trained American students to perform Peking Opera "Oolong Yuan", and won the championship in the National Student Drama Competition.Went to the United States to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and was broadcast by American Public Television.In the American theater world, it is not easy for an Asian to win this honor.Yang Shipeng later transferred to the Department of Drama at the University of Colorado, where he served as the head of the department for many years, hosted the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and directed more Shakespeare plays every summer.Last year, Yang Shipeng was invited by the Hong Kong government to go to Hong Kong to perform Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" in the city hall. Because of the unprecedented performance, the Hong Kong government hired Yang Shipeng as the artistic director.In his busy schedule, Yang Shipeng took on the task of directing "A Dream in a Garden". In addition to his strong interest in "A Dream in a Garden", he also directed many western dramas in foreign countries for many years. He contributed his talents to his country, so he resolutely agreed to return to China to take on the burden of being a director.We met in San Francisco and spent a whole day discussing in the hotel. The two reached a tacit understanding and jointly wrote the script of "A Dream in the Garden".

Next is the actors.The actors in this play are also extraordinary. In addition to rich stage experience, the two heroines must be able to sing Kunqu Opera, the other must sing Huashan, and most importantly, they must have the beauty of traditional Chinese women. One is graceful and luxurious, and the other is bright and flying.We were lucky enough to find Lu Yan and Hu Jin, the two ladies who acted as the heroines of "A Dream in the Garden", so we really didn't think of anyone else.Moreover, the two agreed that Lu Yan would come back from the United States to join in the grand event.

Xu Boyun, the host of "New Elephant", is the main motivation for preparing for the performance of "A Dream in the Garden" because of his enthusiasm for art promotion.He traveled around and gathered first-class stage drama talents in China to support our plan together.The stage design is Mr. Nie Guangyan, because the play needs to use multimedia to assist the development of the plot, the stage design is quite complicated.Nie Guangyan's preliminary idea is to integrate traditional Chinese poetry and paintings into modern design, which is completely Chinese and modern.At that time, Lin Huaimin's Cloud Gate Dance Theater will also draw their swords to help. With the support and cooperation of so many cultural figures, we also accept the generous financial assistance from "China Times", "United Daily News", and Crown Publishing House for the performance of this stage play , our preparatory plan had to initially take shape.

Because this is a new attempt that has mobilized so many first-class cultural talents at home and abroad, we believe that the audience in July must have high expectations of us. Come to promote the performance of "A Dream in the Garden".Of course we hope that the performance will be successful and we can write a record on the Chinese stage. If it fails, I believe it will be a rather heroic artistic adventure.