Summary of the 3rd Shanghai International Experimental Theatre Festival

Mass Culture and the Experimental Drama in the High-tech Era

Wu Baohe

The 3rd Shanghai International Small Theatre Festival was held in Shanghai Theatre Academy from 22nd to 28th November， 2004. Nine plays from home and abroad were presented: Blasting Holes in the Night by California State University， Northridge， U.S.A shows us the hustle and bustle of the world; Miss Braun by Theatre De La Bardane from France reflects on history and humanity; The Bones Store by Kumamoto Kirara Troupe from Japan mercilessly analyzes and directly explores humanity; The Swordsman Who Walks Alone and Gone with the Wind by Shu Ning Presentation Unit from Hong Kong; the Hiukoc Theatre Company from Macau brings And God Said， Let There Be Light: and There Was Light; Looking for Fish by Department of Arts from Shenzhen University and Human and Dog by Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre both depict the people＇s state of living in the contemporary society; Shanghai Theatre Academy presents Predestined Friendship which tells a Buddhist story and The Revival， a montage of traditional Chinese opera classic and the plays of Shakespeare. During the Festival， two academic forums focused on the staged plays were also held with the subjects respectively “Development of Experimental Drama” and “Mass Culture and the Experimental Drama in the High-tech Era”. The dramatic experiment conducted in the small theatre this time not only attracted audience＇s zest but also drew dramatic practitioners＇ concern. Three characteristics emerged in this Festival in terms of dramatic form: the emphasis on body and body language， the widespread way of creation in workshops， the wide use of videoed images， multimedia and new artistic means.

Emphasis on body and body language

Emphasis on body and body language is a prominent characteristic in this Festival. For example， there are merely two lines in Predestined Friendship and it is through body language instead of oral language that the story of Li Yuan， the intellectual and Yuan Ze， the monk in the Tang Dynasty is told. The drama depicts that the two men when traveling at the Three Gorges met a pregnant woman who was the predestined mother of Yuan Ze. At that night， Yuan Ze died peacefully. Before his death， Yuan Ze and Li Yuan made a promise to meet each other again. Thirteen years later， Li Yuan kept the promise and came to the appointed place where he saw a shepherd boy who said，”I am the soul of the dead man after three lives. The time when we appreciated the moon and the wind has passed. I am abashed to have you visit me from afar. My heart has not changed though my body is different.” Li Yuan thus realized that the boy was the revived body of Yuan Ze. The whole setting in Predestined Friendship is a spacious white slope. It is on this slope that the actors who play Li Yuan and Yuan Ze use dances to show the process of the two characters＇ meeting and falling in love， parting and reunion and the contact and separation both mentally and physically. The Swordsman Who Walks Alone and Gone with the Wind also dumps the conversations and presents the love story between boys and girls with extracts from films， music and songs， and pantomimes. In this drama， The Swordsman Who Walks Alone represents boys and Gone with the Wind represents girls. The creators want to tell us that the so-called reality is merely the exaggerated reality in films and that films actually constitute the “reality” people live in. In the drama， stories about life and love of boys and girls are told in twenty-two folk tales related to films written by the writer Chen Hui， which are in fact twenty-two extracts of Hong Kong films， like “one-minute friend” in Days of Being Wild， and the lovers close to each other but never met in Turning Left， Turning Right. The Bones Store pictures an impoverished village in the mountains. The villagers there regarded “desire” as a dirty thing and they try hard to leave the world with clean bones. But one day， a man came from the city whose right wrist had been transplanted with animal＇s bone. He told the villagers the taste of meat and all kinds of pleasures of men. The villagers began to pay attention to their food and clothes and pursue reputation. The flame of desire changes the villagers who had been leading a pure life from “gods” to “men”. The drama describes the desire and behavior of those who are confused in their lives but have to continue living as they have chosen to. The whole drama is divided into seven parts: “flame”， ”cliffs”， ”bones”， ”meat”， ”desire”， ”rain” and ”flame”， respectively manifest the process of the awakening and degeneration of humanity. The part of “meat” is the most striking one among the seven parts and is also where the climax lies. During the performance， for most of the time， all the eleven actors and actresses appear on the stage， acting through various performances of their bodies.

Way of Workshops

Many dramas in this Festival have no ready-made scripts but are created and constructed in way of workshops. The way of workshops is to find a concept first and starting from the concept， the playwright， the director and the actors jointly carry out the creation work during rehearsals， constantly enrich the story and develop all the details into a complete story through brainstorming. For instance， Human and Dog starts from the concept of “the relationship among the hunter， the hunting dog and the rabbit”. It originates from an online article The Hunter， the Hunting dog and the Rabbit about human resources. In this story， the hunter is compared to the boss， the hunting dog the employee and the rabbit the fortunes. It reflects that from past to present， systems of classes and distribution have always been influencing each other. In the past， the hunter raised dogs to catch rabbits and rewarded them with bones. But more rabbits caught did not led to more bones. The contradiction made hunting dogs realize the cruelty of pastoral life. In order to survive， the hunter and the hunting dogs had to compromise and solve the contradiction so they negotiated and laid down a more productive enterprise system which was accepted by the civilized commercial society. However， the employees were still unemployed during economic crisis in spite of their diligent work. They had to open their minds and strive to be strong. As a result， the employees became the boss and the boss became the employees. Finding the Fish starts from “time”. Before the creation， teachers assigned the reading and discussion of Brief History of Time， Universe in a Shell， Prajnaparamitahrdayasutra (Heart Sutra)， and Tao Te Ching. Then the teachers and the students together find images related to time and start rehearsing afterwards. The structure is formed and reformed through the constant clashes between director and actors during rehearsals. And God Said， Let There Be Light: and There Was Light starts from “the self”. Before its creation， directors and actors spent a lot of time talking to each other， collecting materials， imagining， rehearsing spontaneously. They invited people from different fields to express their views and try to find a drama not led by a text and in a state of living-for-now.

Use of Videoed Images and Multimedia

Use of videoed images and multimedia is another characteristic in this Festival. For example， Miss Braun tells the life story of Eva Braun， the secret fiancée of Hitler. The drama uses the short films to show us how she met Hitler at the age of seventeen all the way to her death at the age of nineteen. Only two characters appear in the drama: one is the girl Braun， the other is a German shepherd dog， which is Hitler＇s pet dog and on the other hand represents all the German people in the historic tragedy. When Braun is telling her story， subtitles and video extracts appear on the backdrop of the stage. In the production of Predestined Friendship， the big projection at the back of the stage is always changing to the development of the plot and the change of characters＇ inner world. In the production of And God Said， Let There Be Light: and There Was Light， the director puts the controlling board of lighting and sound right in the middle of the stage. And on the two sides stand the actor and the actress who have great break-out force， performing and controlling the lighting and sound. Using these two media， they defend and attack with lighting and sound， showing their love and hate in confrontation. The structure of the whole drama is formed by the contradiction between men and women.

Use of New Artistic Means

Blasting Holes in the Night is also worth mentioning. It tells about a story of a young man called Ernie who craves for justice for his brother who is murdered during a riot in prison. Ernie in his inner heart prejudices many people around him， like his guilty brother， the street-fighters who are dissatisfied with reality and the prison authorities who refuse to turn over his brother＇s body for burial. But he has to resist these feelings in order to lead a noble and decent life. The drama depicts Ernie＇s experience and his choices in helping his brother＇s soul go into heaven. The drama is intervened by American media and TV ads from time to time. The most prominent feature of this play is its hip-hop flavor. Hip-hop is playing a big role in young people＇s lives nowadays. According to the director， hip-hop is not merely the rhythm and lyrics but an expressive art which demands no disguise. It is the way of communication and self-recognition invented by black young men from middle and lower class in U.S.A. the essence of hip-hop actually comes from poverty. For lack of material wealth， black young men who love music have to listen to the available albums again and again. Because of poverty， they always wear clothes of big sizes as they last long. The racism in American society intensifies the black＇s group consciousness so they highlight their group features with wired clothes and language. The features of hip-hop era are shown in clothes such as extra-large breeches， big T-shirts and sneakers with high upper which are recognizable with the popularity of hip-hop music. The play embodies four typical features of hip-hop， namely DJ， rappers， street dance and graffiti.