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5. FIRST PERFORMANCE OF BRECHT'S DRAMATIC WORK IN CHINA: THE PRODUCTION OF MOTHER COURAGE AND ITS STAGE DESIGN
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
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FIRSTPERFORMANC EO FBRECHT' SDRAMATI CWOR K INCHIN A- TH EPRODUCTIO NO FMOTHE RCOURAG E A N DIT SSTAG EDESIG N GongBoa n InOctober ,195 9Bertol tBrecht' sfamou spla yMothe r Couragean dHe rChildre nwa sperforme di nShanghai :th e firsttim ethi sdistinguishe dplaywright' swor kwa sstage d inChina .Althoug hBrecht' splay san dhi sdramati c theorieswer eno tfamilia rt oth eChines epeople ,thi s performancereceive dmuc hattentio ni never ycorne ro f China.Th epla ywa stranslate db ySu nFengchengan dFen g Zhian dwa sperforme db yth eShangha iPeople' s A r t Theatreunde rth edirectio no fHuan gZuolin .Th eheroin e wasplaye db yth efamou sactres sDanni ,wh oha dplaye d successfullyman ydifferen tcharacter so nth estage .Th e musicscor ewa scompose db ycreativ emusicians ,an dthu s theartisti cqualit yo fth epla ywa sensured . Itshoul db enote dtha talthoug hBrecht' sdramati c theoriesan dplay shav eonl yrecentl ybee nintroduce dint o China(no ta searl ya sint oEuropean ,America nan dEas t Asiancountries) ,an donl ya fe wo fhi splay san dtheorie s hadbee ntranslate dint oChinese ,th estud yo fBrecht' s dramatictheorie san dth epractic ethereo fwa sstarte da s earlya sth eFifties .Huan gZuoli nwa sth efirs tperso nt o introduceBrecht' stheorie st oth edramatist si nShanghai . In195 1h eexperimente dwit hBrecht' sepi ctheatrica l methodi ncreatin gan ddirectin ghi splay ,Resis tth eU S andAssis tKore a- Bi gMovin gPosters .Durin gth e rehearsalso fthi splay ,h edelivere da scholarl ylectur et o thepeopl einvolve di nth eperformance ,givin ga novervie w ofth edramaticall yartisti ccharacteristic so fBrecht' sEpi c Theatre.O ntha toccasion ,w elearne dfo rth efirs ttim e somethingabou tBrecht' sdramati cart .Eve nthoug hwha t weha dlearne dwa srathe rshallow ,hi stal kstimulate dou r 66 GongBoa n interesti nBrecht' searl yplay san dth eperformin gmethod s inhi sEpi cTheatre ,an dopene du pth epossibilit yo fusin g hisperformin gmethod sfurthe ro nth eChines estage .Th e Shanghaiperformanc eo fMothe rCourag ewa sth econcret e resulto fHuang' spioneeringendeavour . Wekno wtha ti nBrecht' splay she ,a sa poe tan da playwright,devote sal lhi senerg yt orevealin gth esic k societyan dth ewickednes so fcapitalis man dimperialism . Hisdramati ctheorie san dmethod sfocu so non epoint ,i.e . tomak eth eaudienc ekee pa clea rhea dt othin ko fwha t hashappene do nth estage .Thus ,th eplaywrigh tuse sal l possiblemean st odevelo pi nth eaudienc ea ninvestigativ e andcritica lattitud et ounderstan dth eobjectiv etruth . Thisi sthedidacti cpurpos eo fhi...