Shuihu (Water Margin) and Honglou (Dream of the Red Chamber) Adaptations on the Modern Stage
- Shuihu (Water Margin) and Honglou (Dream of the Red Chamber) Adaptations on the Modern Stage
Jing Shen is a Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Eckerd College. She is revising her English translation of Li Yu’s (1610–1680) play Bimu yu (A Pair of Soles) in collaboration with Dr. Robert Hegel. She has produced publications on classical Chinese drama criticism, Ming-Qing chuanqi plays, and theatrical and cinematic adaptations of traditional Chinese novels. She is continuing her research on Shuihu zhuan (Water Margin) and Honglou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber) adaptations.
Footnotes
1. Wu Hsing-kuo and his team have created three plays based on Shuihu zhuan, and Dangkou zhi is actually “108 Heroes III” produced in 2014. The first two are Shang Liangshan 上梁山 (2007) and Zhongyi tang 忠義堂 (2011). The plot of Zhongyi tang ends with chapter 71 of the novel. Note that, despite its title, the play Dangkou zhi is not based on that novel, which also deals with the suppression of the Liangshan bandits. For an analysis of the novel Dangkou zhi, see Shuhui Yang, “Growing from the waist: The Problem of Sequeling in Yu Wanchun’s Dangkou zhi,” in Snakes’ Legs, ed. Martin Huang (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004), pp. 143–58.
2. Lam has his play open with a group of men reading the classic: “Could it be that men are unable to face real challenges and trials, therefore they shouldn’t read Dream of the Red Chamber? It’s why my play’s first scene is a group reading of Dream of the Red Chamber by males” (the program of the play, p. 4).
3. Except for the tragic losses in suppressing Fang La, the other military expeditions are comically depicted. The character Wang Ying (nicknamed “The Stumpy Tiger” in the novel), who fights Princess Tianshou of Liao, is portrayed as a dwarf using the traditional technique called aizi bu 矮 子步 (dwarf steps) designed for “height-challenged” men such as Wang Ying and Pan Jinlian’s husband, Wu Dalang. The effect somewhat resembles “duck walking” except that the actor is not allowed to sit on his heels as he walks. Such characters are played as chou 丑 (clown) roles.
4. See the excerpts from an interview in Ta Kung Pao Gazette 大 公 報 quoted in the Dangkou zhi program, pp. 100–101.
5. This is how his nickname is translated in John and Alex Dent-Young, trans., The Broken Seals, Part One of The Marshes of Mount Liang (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1994), Chap. 18, p. 336.
6. From the same interview in Ta Kung Pao Gazette quoted in the Dangkou zhi program, p. 101.
7. Two local audience members sitting next to me at the show told me that it was now hard to find pure Peking opera performance there because actors were not trained from a very young age any more.
8. Dangkou zhi program, p. 101. The electronic rock Peking opera is reminiscent of the experiment in revolutionary model theater that modernized Peking opera with western music in mainland China although they were actuated by different motives.
9. For the English titles of the chapters, see David Hawkes, The Story of the Stone, vols. 1–3 (London: Penguin Books, 1973–1980); for the Chinese versions, see Honglou meng 紅樓夢, Yu Pingbo 俞平伯 and Qi Gong 啟功, eds. (Beijing: Renmin wenxue, 2000). When Hawkes translates a character’s name instead of romanizing it, his version appears in brackets or parentheses after the romanized form (first occasion only).
10. Hawkes’ translation, 2:271; Chinese edition, p. 417.
11. This is a line that Erjie says to Xifeng right before the two of them are about to enter Rongguo House. See Hawkes’ translation, 3: 337; Chinese edition, p. 749.
12. This is based on Hawkes’ translation, 2: 397, 399; 3: 333, 335, 337.
13. See Chinese edition, pp. 482–83, 747–49.
14. English version of Director’s Message in the program, p. 4.
15. See the program for the play, p. 5. Lam also adapted plays from the other three novels: Shuihu zhuan 水滸傳 (What is Man...
