2013年10月12日星期六

42. 3D女槍手。Fragile – Peter Suart。車你好冇。脫皮爸爸。鐵獅子胡同的回音



3D女槍手

Bill Svanoe does not appear to be in the same exalted class as Williams or Miller, and yet, Nonsesemakers (糊塗戲班) has done well in introducing his work “Punch and Judy” the titular inspiration of which comes from a subculture as popular and C3PO and R2D2, and even older – the traditional, renounced pair of puppet characters. The characters in this play, however, are entirely different – both are women, a good opportunity for Nonsensemakers to bring about a cast crossover of two wonderful actors (“actor” has no gender specification; “actress” is redundant except for special occasion such as film awards where actors and actresses compete in separate categories): Jo (魏綺珊) and Glades (廖淑芬). Well done, Rensen (陳文剛).

In the odd-couple-type plot, a multi-millionaire woman seeks ghost-writing service from a not-quite-getting-there woman writer to write her an auto-bio-novel. Although there is a three-actor cast, the play is mainly a two-character business, in a situation not unlike in “The negotiation” (談判) (Blog posting no. 41) that I watched recently. In one way, it is easier here as the story is presented in divided scenes rather than one continuous real-time. It is more difficult, however, in the sense that there is less suffocating tension here to grip the audience’s attention. What we have instead is carefully crafted character development, separately as well as together, through what is almost like a power-trip duel in a tennis match: back and forth, ebb and flow, alternately holding and breaking service games. And there is even one very well choreographed and executed scene of physical melee.
 
As a result, all hinges on the two lead roles. Here, we have the best. Jo’s most natural stage persona would be one of fragile vulnerability, as in “Love letters” (情信) (Blog posting no. 26) which she effortlessly nailed. Yet, she is equally adept with emotionally tough roles, as in “Popcorn” (爆谷殺人狂) (Blog posting no. 2). Here, as Doris (or Punch), she is cast as a world-wearied struggling writer and a neglected mistress, in a life shaped by a deprived childhood. Her weapon of self-defense is blunt sarcasm. And yet there is a deeper layer that surfaced gradually as the protective layers are peeled away through the development of an unlikely friendship and intimacy. Through this, Jo demonstrates a new level of stage maturity she has reached. Having seen Glades is so many different roles over these years since her “Exploration Theatre” (赫墾坊) days, I don’t need any convincing that she is among the best, delivering whatever is required of her. And yet she surprises me a little here, in the level of depth and unpredictability she is able to bring to the character Diane. With APA credentials, newcomer Tam Tze-ling (譚芷翎) playing the supporting but not insignificant role Debby the bimbo shows promises that she will find and hold a place in the ever increasingly competitive stage scene in town.  

時下翻譯劇很流行「本地化」,但亦有不少保持原著味道。其實兩者沒有優劣之分,只視乎個別劇本的需要,魏綺珊今次的譯本選擇了後者是對的,這齣劇沒有本地化的必要。反而,紐約和全球性 (Diana in the original play is Swiss-Hungarian Marina Cliff) 的原汁原味,需要保存。全劇台詞很暢順,聽來舒服,只是在點題的Punch and Judy 上的 “Punch” 有點難度,直譯為「啊拳」,四平八穩,不過不失,但 “punch” 這個字的punch (no pun intended),似乎還少了點力度,而且「拳」是陽平聲,作為名字較低沉,忽發奇想,不知可否用較響亮,陰平聲的「啊揪」,雖然沒有「拳」的直接,但也可解作「揪他一拳」,甚至粗豪「隻揪」,而且諧音的「權」是男性名字,「秋」則男女皆宜,還會叫人聯想起絕對「揪得」的元秋哩!

Fragile – Peter Suart
Better late than never. I missed the first four of Suart’s one-actor show, on the Holy Grail, the Holocaust, quantum mechanics and race relations respectively, according to Time Out, Hong Kong’s (TOHK) report. The subject matter of this latest, fifth offering that premiered three month ago in Cardiff reminds me inevitably of Soderbergh’s recent movie “Contagion”:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/reviews-64
One common theme, perhaps not very apparent, is that the bacteria (or virus? pardon the technical inaccuracy) is neutral, having a life of its own. It does not have a mission to kill human beings. We are to them just as houses and cars are to us, infrastructure that is integral to their existence.
Back to the play. It opens in an intensely focused scene, an illuminated space at the centre of a dark stage, dominated by a gossamer-like white fabric hanging from high above all the way down to the floor. If it had a few holes, it could pass for the tattered sails in the ghost ship in “The rime of the ancient mariner”. And it does ooze the same eerie, ominous atmosphere, setting the scene for Suart, with his back to the audience, to deliver the fateful opening verses.
As evidenced in the cleverly designed program notes (disguised as a hospital ward report, complete with sanitation masks and gloves) as well as TOHK’s feature article, Suart has done a good deal of research which has taken him to sources as authentic as the Medical Center of Pasteur Institute in Paris – not surprisingly, as the story of the 1894 plague in Hong Kong is told largely from the POV of French (despite Russian-sounding name) doctor Alexandre Yersin, the “first protagonist” as introduced by Suart.
The captivating 90 minutes is ample demonstration how a somewhat simple (albeit devastating) story can be presented on stage as a one-actor show when put together with professional hands of top caliber. Yersin’s own letters to his mother is delivered first-person in French with clear visual presentation of the text in both English and Chinese. Accompanying Suart’s sometimes third-person narration, visuals are also well used to enhance authenticity through pictures of peoples and places taken at the time of the story, i.e. the end of the 19th century. (It really wasn’t that long ago. My own parents were born less than two decades after the plague). In two separate scenes, close to the beginning and the end respectively, Suart demonstrated the deft use silhouettes to create a two-person dialogue in a one-actor show.
Suart’s linguistic virtuosity is another marvel. Locals are undoubtedly impressed by his command not only of Cantonese, but also “Hinglish” (as “Singlish” is to Singaporeans) in the perhaps only comical scene where he portrays three characters in a conversation between a Gweilo and a local, through the translation of another local who speaks “Hinglish”. But throughout the play, there is also an almost proliferation of various accents, European and even British (a form of Cockney?) whenever the scripts demands it. In addition to dialogue, there is also mesmerizing music and lyrics, both by Suart.
Just one more example of the meticulous attention to details. In addition to Yersin’s letters to his mother, there are four other letters written by other people, which Suart read in English at various junctures. Three of them he pulled off from the wall to which they were taped. The fourth was also taped to the wall but at a height that even he cannot reach. The audience might not have caught on when he pulled a table and set it beside the wall but enjoyed in mirth when he later jumped onto it suddenly and started to read the letter (now at eye-level) directly off the wall without even pulling it off.
The play provoked a lot of thinking on many fronts, not the least of which political and religious. However “Suart insists that he is only creating the work as an artist and not a political activist”. Likewise, he intimated “I have no faith but am genuinely interested in other people’s faith, and in the history of faith”. (Both quotes from TOHK). Good stuff.

車你好冇
(1) 故事
認識這個故事的過程很有趣,時光倒流夾抽絲剝繭,初演時沒有留意,到第十九屆 (2009)香港舞台劇獎得獎名單公報喜見文瑞興獲獎,才初次留意到這個有點莫名其妙,又略似粗口的劇名。今次重演一早購了票後,又在九月廿四日 CRHK 1 的《一台好戲》(從電影擴展領域至話劇,好事) 的訪問環節裏才了解始末,是本世紀初的得獎劇本,2004年首演時是「純話劇」而不是音樂劇,2009年改編成音樂劇,今年重演再加幾首歌,務求〝人人有得唱〞(錄自上述商台訪問)。這個故事是百份百地道,2001年寫時針對核心問題地產霸權,訴出「蟻民」的心聲,經過十年,主調不需大改動,只要update一些這十年來的經歷如沙士等,對日益嚴重的問題例如高學歷失業,似乎更多落墨 (推想而已,未看過前身的話劇)。從話劇改成音樂劇,相信不容易,這劇宣傳雖然是「漫畫式,喪笑」,主調其實是温情劇,以家庭正能量,來平衡劇中描繪這頗灰暗的世界。温情在文瑞興一曲《太太OK》中推到極至,觀眾鴉雀無聲,是戲的最高點。以後的發展,卻急轉彎,是上述訪問中說的「從現實到荒誕」,整個戲似乎有點不統一,但也未嘗不是一條好出路,而且誇張的手法從一開始已有鋪排,首尾相應。
(2) 歌曲
場刊訴心聲,孔奕佳自稱「神經刀」,鳴謝岑偉宗的包容,使人想到盤古初再已有的「曲」,「詞」人永恆鬥爭(最經典的自然是Gilbert & Sullivan),不禁會心微笑。岑偉宗的一句「廣東話本身就如音律,這使我樂在其中」,可圈可點 (還有一個「樂」字好精彩的pun),但亦不禁慨嘆當年一票之差,否則今天粵語已成國家的官方「普通話」。言歸正傳,《車》劇的歌,相比如《四千金》(請参閱網誌 26),聲樂上的技術運用較少,然而和這劇寫的現實社會的低下階層很配合,簡單一句「人齊我就滿足OK咯」,已夠窩心。要靚歌,亦有于逸堯@人山人海獻上的《傳意在遙望裏》。
(3) 現場演奏
朋友在散場後對現場演奏讚不絕口,我絕對有同感。《一屋寶貝》隨想 (網誌 34) 中已提過孔奕佳帶領的現場演奏,《車》劇裏更盡量發揮除了基本伴奏以外的多功能,他自己百變的鋼琴,加上吳俊立如泣如訴的小提琴 (公認是最有人類歌聲韻味的樂器),和徐紹輝飄逸如幻的長號,可以是演員台詞或獨白襯托,也可以是過場時情緒轉移的引導,跟這個情感光譜頗大的劇,配合得天衣無縫,功不可沒。喜見現場演奏日漸流行,就算不是音樂劇的,不用翻查己立刻想起的有《情信》的鋼琴 (網誌 26)和《灰闌》的小提琴和鼓 (網誌 28),希望將來更多見,又想起四川好人(網誌 39)可能有樂團現場伴奏版出現,如能成事,是天大的喜訊!
(4) 演員
文瑞興的演出,從《黑色48樓》開始 (綱誌18),在這博客常有提及,欣賞她的演出今次入場主要原因之一,她得獎確實至名歸,一齣劇裏兩極化的從荒誕搞笑到深切感人,很不容易,年青演員扮老角,羅冠蘭後繼有人了 (這是說經常性的選角,若偶一為之的,《紅色的天空》獲獎的龔小玲是最好的典範)。扮老角盧卓安亦有一手,以前看過他的《威尼斯商人》(網誌 35:演兩角TubalStephano),沒有太多表現機會,今次和文瑞興對手戲默契好,化學作用催淚,相得益彰。趙浩然演兒子,從典型的半自閉高學歷雙失電車男,到極盡誇張的漫畫式初戀痴 兒,收放自如。謝瑞琼的演出,以前看過《點點隔世情》和《一屋寶貝》,但也是沒有太多表現機會,今次在上述的《傳意在遙望裏》,第一個bar,她甜美的嗓子已表露無遺,再唱下去,更聽到音域的廣,和技巧的高,本劇她更擔任歌唱指導。澳門客席林秋萌演紙箱婆,一出場便叫人想起馮蔚衡經典的「一品窩」,引用這個比較,自然是褒。看林可嘉滿口鄉音的包租婆,竟然走了眼,認不出是《一屋寶貝》重演中十分欣賞的Maria (接了初演劉雅麗的角色,請參閱綱誌 34)。演「有輪叔」的宋本浩不算陌生,在JCCAC 黑盒拉闊劇團的《莫扎特之死》(網誌 32) 他演約瑟夫二世很不錯。《一屋寶貝》的編劇(改編)張飛帆主攻幕後,今次粉墨登場想是玩票性質。

脫皮爸爸
近兩年看了不少很具水準翻譯自日本原著的舞台劇: 夜行動物 (網誌 28),一屋寶貝 (網誌 34),笑之大學 (網誌 36),直子小姐 (網誌 38),背景又各異其趣。《夜》是「不條理戲劇」鬼材小檜山洋一的作品,譯者是〝土瓜灣街坊〞山崎理惠子 (E-run),這劇除了是HKRT「黑盒」系列的作品外,也是來自台灣的江佳蒨在APA攻讀導演硯士的畢業作。嚴格來說《一》是 inspired by 柳美里的小說《在雨和夢之後》,我在觀劇約半年後,台灣「誠品」見到譯本 (林香吟譯),買來讀了。《一》的主線和主要人物雖然來自原著小說,但高世章,岑偉宗,張飛帆和彭鎮南合力創作的《一屋寶貝》,格調跟小說頗不相同,更為多姿多彩,而且又是音樂劇,「原創」的味道似乎比「譯作」更强,所以說inspired by。這四齣源自日本的作品中,三谷幸喜的《笑》最經典,自林沛濂,鄧偉傑和陳文剛的引進,亦成為本地劇壇戲寶之一。林沛濂和鄧偉傑再接再厲,介紹了已故 三載向田邦子的淒美藝術作品《愛,這個字》,改名《直子小姐》,〝希望能令觀眾更可集中從這個人物去探究「愛」在劇中人心中的意思〞(quote自場刋)
 《脫》劇 (請勿想入非非) 亦是林沛濂 (翻譯,助導,演員,liaison) 的〝好介紹〞,年輕 (六十後) 的原著作者佃典彥在場刊中亦向他鳴謝。看這劇頗有驚喜,開幕前略翻場刊,見有六位演員分別演這由二十多歲到劇中時 間八十多歲的脫皮爸爸,心中自有既定假設,開場時看腦退化的父親,立時想到《女人四十》,但很快便明白這原素在這戲裏只佔了一個很小的位置。到了主線漸清 晰,見到爸爸一層層如蟬的脫皮越來越年輕,驟覺是《背叛》(網誌 33) 的變奏,玩時光倒流,再想卻又大不相同。《脫》劇的劇中時間正常推進,「倒流」的不是時間,而是一個人物,如此巧妙佈局,能不驚喜!(又:這跟Benjamin Button 看似相似其實也截然不同)
 這劇內函豐富,夫妻之道由父子兩代,一含束,一聚焦的娓娓道來,父子之情更從別開生面的「一群父親」這有趣的場景探索。點到為止的則有上面提過的年老腦退化,及「二戰」後日本的心態,而四女角不同的性格亦各有發揮,說看這劇目不暇給,一點兒不為過。
 網誌 41提過辛偉强演袁世凱成功地把他舞台上較常見的類型藏起,《脫》劇裏他回到一個較「辛偉强」的角色,自然揮洒自如。 但整個劇的演出中我最喜歡的是黃慧慈的美津子,倒立念台詞和半醉舞姿故然精彩,最扣人心弦的卻是細緻的面部表情演繹出的內心世界,例如「茄汁倒上精製佳 肴」的一段台詞,包含了多少怨氣,不忿,無奈。同時亦要一讚的是六位鈴木卓二郎 (周志輝,陳永泉,高翰文,潘燦良,林沛濂,凌文龍),要多至六個演員演同一個人物的不同年代,畢竟是很高的要求,劇中觀眾見到的是出奇的統一氣質性格中又有各年代的不同重心,反映出導演和演員的一番苦功和心血。
 最後要一提的是Sukiyaki,這一首流行音樂史上第一首 (可能還是至今唯一的一首,但不肯定)以全外語能打入英語社會的流行榜的iconic名曲,在這劇裏起了點睛的作用。

鐵獅子胡同的回音

這年頭把葵青和中英放在一起,即時聯想到使人驚嘆的大型舞台設計 (《科學怪人》,《天材一瞬》等等),今次《鐵》劇的三百六十度旋轉台景沒有大花巧,卻美觀實用。

鐵》劇乘着兩個「潮」浪。先說預計的巨浪,自然是革命百年。HKRT已重演了《遍地芳菲》(網誌 40) 和送上《一年皇帝夢》(網誌 41)鐵》劇對整劇季購票的觀眾,可說期待已久,這劇果然敢作敢為,把「革命狂人?暴民?國父?」(場刋) 這課題交給觀眾思考,包括刺宋疑案和聯俄容共等具爭議性的問題,落筆較輕的還有在二十一條上和日本的噯眛關係,和孫袁其實只是寡頭政治的殊途同歸的理論一等。巧遇的小浪是最近的「紅顏知己大搜查」潮,乘托起放於四海皆準的「强人身邊必多親密女性」理論。有一場戲很出色,前景是婚禮上的宋慶齡,後景是坐着唸信的原配盧慕貞 (不識字,由女兒代寫),和站在她背後默默支持的陳粹芬,在視覺上把劇中孫文的三個女性連成一線,神來之筆!

RTHK聽盧景文不少,但說到他舞台作品,卻立時回索到六零年代尾,他和江樺,林祥園,蘇孝良成四人幫,在大會堂以折子戲方式,向香港觀眾介紹了幾齣歌劇,今次有幸看到鐵》劇,要多謝他發現陳粹芬這個人物,和抱不平為她平反的心。看古天農《幸遇先生蔡》的蔡元培,雖己是十年前,如今想起,還是風采依然,今次盧景文也一早敲定「他是扮演孫逸仙的理想人物」,「一個偉人也是一個常人,具有常人的弱點和灰暗的一面」(場刋)。今次找凌紹安演陳粹芬,功德無量,自《義海雄風》開始,看她的演出角色類型不少,今次她全然inhabit了這個「屯門女」角色,不負盧景文所托平反的重任。畢竟是「老戲骨」,馮祿德一出虎度門,已鎮攝全場,鐵》劇不是《一年皇帝夢》,比較表面化的袁世凱,反而更易發揮,看得賞心悅目。鐵》劇的ensemble,演員很多,表現均佳,難以盡錄。定要一提的是王曉怡,一個不太重要的角色宋靄齡,到她手上,仍可叫觀眾眼前一亮,她以偏鋒角色揚威立萬,但在《五四新青年》中演〝大路〞主角一樣出色 (網誌 27),是目前劇壇難得的人材。

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