“With this Door between Us”: Visualizing Pathos in Rain on the Xiaoxiang, “Barely”

“WITH THIS DOOR BETWEEN US”: VISUALIZING PATHOS IN RAIN ON THE XIAOXIANG, “BARELY” Ching-Hsi Perng (National Taiwan University) Quince: … and here’s a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal. This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn-brake our tiring house; and we will do it in action, as we will do it before the Duke. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, III, i I Yang Xianzhi’s 楊顯之 zaju 雜劇 Xiaoxiang yu 瀟湘雨 (Rain on the Xiaoxiang), as preserved in the popular Ming anthology Yuanqu xuan 元曲選 (1616/17),1 is unique in a number of ways. Professor Crump pointed out that, in a clear departure from the general practice of this dramatic form, twice do characters other than the lead role sing an intrusive aria. In Act 2, the imperial examiner (played by a jing 淨 character) sings the song Zui taiping 醉太平 in connection with a comical disrobing scene. In Act 4, his daughter (a chadan 搽旦) does the same, also while disrobing.2 The play also contains an inordinate number of recited verses. Not counting couplets, as many as twenty-three verses are shared by all ten dramatis personae who appear in it,3 resulting in an unusually vocal and expressive supporting cast. While many such verses belong to the common “entrance” or “exit” type, a number of them run to ten or more lines. The distribution of the twenty-three verses by acts and by characters breaks down as follows (an asterisk indicates the verse is shared by two characters): Character4 Prologue Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Zhang Tianjue (father of female lead) 1, 3 4 11, 12 15, 18, 23 Ford Guardian 2 Cui Wenyuan (adopts female lead) 6* 1 The play also exists in the Guqu zhai 顧曲齋 anthology. That version differs from the Yuanqu xuan version on a number of important points, some which are observed in this paper. 2 J. I. Crump, Chinese Theater in the Days of Kublai Khan (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1980), p. 193. In the Guqu zhai edition the jing’s song is not treated as part of the suite, and the chadan does not sing at all. 3 Crump, p. 193. 4 In Professor Crump’s translation in Chinese Theater, the names of these characters are romanized using the Wade-Giles system. Those that differ from their forms given here appear in order as: Chang T’ien-chüeh, Ts’ui Wen-yuan, Ts’ui T’ung, Ch’a-tan, [Chang] Ts’ui-luan, and Hsing’erh. CHINOPERL Papers No. 26 (2005-2006)©2006 by the Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature, Inc. CHINOPERL Papers No. 26 Cui Tong (marries and betrays female lead) 5, 6* 9*, 10* Official (imperial examiner) 7 Chadan (Official’s daughter, married to Cui Tong) 8*, 9*, 10* Zhang Cuiluan (female lead) 13 17, 22 Posthouse Keeper 14, 20 Guard (escorts Cuiluan into penal exile) 16, 21 Xing’er (Tianjue’s servant) 19 Total Verses 3 3 4 3 10 This play may be said to have been constructed on the principle of point-counterpoint, there being so many contrasts and parallels. On the level of character arrangement, both the female lead, Zhang Cuiluan, and the chadan are “gently bred,” but they can hardly be more dissimilar to each other; they form a pair that further parallels another such pair: the imperial examiner and Cui Tong. In terms of stage action, there are three disrobing scenes, involving the imperial examiner, Cui Tong, and the chadan, respectively. Cuiluan makes two visits to Qinchuan, where Cui Tong has gone with his second wife, the chadan, to take office. In the first, no sooner has she arrived than she is taken away as a criminal wearing a cangue; during the second visit, the tables are turned and Cui Tong and his wife are arrested. In terms of plot, Cuiluan, having been rescued from drowning in the Prologue, is taken care of by Cui Wenyuan, who is instrumental in both arranging the marriage between her and his nephew, Cui Tong in Act 2, and saving the latter from the death penalty pronounced on him for his mistreatment of Cuiluan in Act 4. Among other doublets: Zhang...