在中國教授莎士比亞戲劇

編譯/ 張晨婁

編者按：隨著北京2008年奧運會的臨近，民眾越來越關心“中國”品牌的樹立，學習英語的熱情也被點燃。越來越多的外宣干部和業內同行向我們表達了期待看到雙語欄目的愿望。因此，我們自2006年第1期起開辦了《雙語視窗》欄目以滿足廣大讀者的需求。

看看周圍的媒體，在《北京青年報》、《參考消息》、《國門時報》上有許多精粹的小短文，像一只只啄木鳥，善意地提醒了中國人習以為常的行為背后“尚未和國際接軌”的細節，讀后讓人回味不已。在獲得借鑒意義的同時，也帶來更深入的思考。我們效仿中英文對照的版面形式，旨在通過外國友人的視角來看中國，從中折射出東西方觀念、習俗的異同。通過一篇篇這樣的文章，讓讀者在領略異域文化的同時，也能達到學習英語的目的。

我相信沒有比通過戲劇來學習語言和文化更好的方法了。事實上，西方文明的里程碑——從古希臘到當下紐約百老匯和倫敦西區上演的熱門劇目，都是通過劇作家的語言來進行詮釋的。沒有莎士比亞，英語將失去很多優美的詞匯、習語和日常交流工具。這就好比如果沒有尤金奧尼爾、田納西威廉斯、阿瑟米勒和大衛馬麥特，現代美國英語也會遜色不少。

在我擁有的各種職業頭銜中——美國作家、記者、劇作家、演員、導演和教育家，最終賦予我機會將我的理念付諸實踐的是成為北京外國語大學新聞和戲劇專業教授。

近年來，在36所頂尖的中國高校里，用英語表演莎士比亞戲劇的興趣正開始萌芽，而北外則是這眾多高校中的先鋒。對這一潮流起到很大推動作用的是由香港中文大學舉辦的“中國高校莎士比亞戲劇節”，到現在已經舉辦三年了。

我老早就想在勞倫斯奧利維爾（已故美國20世紀最偉大的莎翁劇演員）在1965年對莎士比亞劇作《奧賽羅》做出的“傳統”而現代的詮釋的基礎上進一步升華，使其進入既富感染力又符合戲劇邏輯表述的境界?？偠灾?，我想將它上升到一種具有極度的毀滅性和無限的浪漫性的混合體：純潔的愛情和失去理智的嫉妒產生的極端對比。這被很多人視為異端邪說。

在我35年的戲劇生涯里，我一直對《奧賽羅》一劇的第五幕第二場（奧賽羅在黛斯德莫娜死后所作的“這就是原因”禱告）情有獨鐘。它也是該劇的高潮，在我看來，這是莎士比亞作品中最完美的部分。我一直懷著一個夢想，如果我有機會，我將在舞臺上詮釋這一幕劇。完全沒有料到的是，這一切夢圓中國，我和中國學生演員一起用“伊麗莎白時代的五行格律詩”來表演英語劇目，不僅如此，還是用母語外的第二語言來表現。

在戲劇情節的設計方面，我們作了大膽的嘗試。我們設計了奧賽羅從雪白圣潔的床上抱起剛被他殺死的黛斯德莫娜，走向舞臺的臺口并且優雅地將她放在地板上，以達到黛斯德莫娜面向觀眾的同時奧賽羅說出“現在，你看上去什么樣啊”的獨白。有些人可能認為把這一幕安排在“地面上”并不合邏輯。但是，要知道，這是莎士比亞戲劇，莎翁比任何人都懂得“直接對話”對觀眾產生的震懾力。事實上，我們的這一設計達到了很好的演出效果。不僅如此，我們還設計了奧賽羅自刎后躺在黛斯德莫娜前方，他們的臉交疊在一起，嘴唇近乎就要貼在一起，而女仆艾米莉的尸體繼續往前延伸。在舞臺最終暗下來之前，用一束強光照亮舞臺，給整臺劇增添了一幅藝術性的構圖。

在忠實于標準劇本以及故事發生年代的基礎上，我們同時發揮了創造性，為此也不可避免地要承擔巨大風險?？上驳氖?，我們成功了：我們進入了“中國高校莎士比亞戲劇節”的決賽并將于今年五月下旬前往香港現場表演該劇。說實話，現在我的感覺更多的是松了一口氣，而不是當初知道結果時的興奮。如果我們錄制的去年十二月末在北外上演《奧賽羅》的DVD在預賽中沒有被選中，沒有使我們成為12個參加決賽的隊伍，那我真是恨不得挖個地洞鉆進去。畢竟，在這次的選拔中，我的競爭對手是在這之前基本上沒有戲劇導演經驗的中國教授，并且他們是在用非母語工作。

我為我們的這些學生演員而感到無比自豪，他們讓我震撼。要知道哪怕是以英語為母語的演員尚且要花費數年去學習表演莎士比亞戲劇，很多人在嘗試過后最終也沒能在這方面有所建樹。而這些中國大學生僅僅用了兩個半月的時間就成功地做到了！他們演得如此地打動人，使我即便在看他們彩排的時候都激動得渾身熱流涌動。他們無畏，有敏銳的洞察力，表演讓人信服，這最終讓我實現了我畢生的夙愿：在舞臺上詮釋一個不一樣的“奧賽羅”。

我們是否能在香港憑借《奧賽羅》一劇獲勝，對此我也沒有把握。但我知道我們的學生演員——奧賽羅（崔新鈺扮演）、黛斯德莫娜（李晶扮演）和艾米莉（梁幸儀扮演）——都是非常優秀的演員，他們有獲勝的實力。然而，對我自己而言，我不知道我的這種自我放任、不拘一格的舞臺表演風格是否足夠優秀，從而贏得香港戲劇節或其他同類比賽的勝利。

如果我們獲勝，獎勵是非常豐厚的：三位演員將赴倫敦并且獲得全程的莎士比亞戲劇之旅。我這個導演能跟在他們后面就好了。

（作者是美國著名的作家、電影劇本作家和新聞記者，現任北京外國語大學英語學院國際新聞與傳播系教授。）

原文： I believe there are few better ways to learn a language and a culture than through its drama. Indeed， western civilization’s cultural milestone’s， from ancient Greece to the current hit shows on New York’s Broadway and London’s West End， are most often denoted through the language of its playwrights. Without Shakespeare， the English language would be poorer by thousands of words， idioms， and routine tools of discourse. Without Eugene O Neill， Tennessee Williams， Arthur Miller and David Mamet， much the same would be true of contemporary American English.

Of the several different hats I wear professionally-American author， journalist， screenwriter， actor， director and educator—it is as a professor of journalism and drama at Beijing Foreign Studies University that I was given the opportunity to finally put my belief to the test. There is a burgeoning interest in performing English language Shakespeare at some 3 dozen major Chinese universities; BFSU (Beiwai) is among this vanguard. The catalyst for the trend is the Chinese Universities Shakespeare Festival hosted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong， now in its third year of existence.

I have long wanted to take Laurence Olivier’s definitive 1965traditional’ modern interpretation of William Shakespeare’sOthello， the Moor of Venice，to what I believe is its next emotionally， theatrically logical expression (the now deceased Sir Laurence Olivier is considered the 20th century’s greatest Shakespearean actor). In sum， I wanted to take it to a higher level of both enraged lethality and tenderly romantic ambiguity: the polar extremes between pure love and mind-breaking sexual jealousy， a notion that is considered heretical by many.

In my almost 35-year history with the play， the absolute murderous resolve of Othello’sIt is the causeinvocation in Desdemona’s bed-chamber death scene Act V， Scene II， the deadly climax of what I believe is Shakespeare’s most perfect play. I had a dream of how I would like to do the show if I ever again got the opportunity. Little did I know it would come in China with Chinese student actors performing English Elizabethan English in iambic pentameter， no less as a second language!

We have Othello carry the dead Desdemona in his arms from the white-on-white sanctity of the killing-bed to the apron of the stage and lay her gently on the floor， in effect giving her to the audience while he does his “Now， how dost thou look now soliloquy”. One would think it not logical or seemly to place such a treasure upon the ground; but， because it is Shakespeare， who knew the power of direct address’ upon an audience， it works. Even more so when Othello soon dies from his self-inflicted wound stretched out along the apron in an extension of the line with Desdemona’s body， their faces over-lapping， and their lips almost touching—with the maid-servant Emilia’s body extending the line further still， but upstage a pace， adding a richly layered tableau before the stage goes to black.

We took big risks creatively， although staying faithful to the standard script， and period. And we did not lose; we made the finals and will present the scene live in Hong Kong in late May. In truth， I am far more relieved than I am excited at making the finals. I would have had to dig a very deep hole and get into it still shoveling if the DVD of our live performance at Beiwai in late December had not been chosen as one of the 12 finalists， after all， my competitors are primarily Chinese professors directing live theatre for the first time， and doing it in a second language.

But I am exceedingly proud of our student actors; they astonished me. It takes years for native English speaking actors to learn how to perform Shakespeare; most whom try are never successful at it. These Chinese university students did it in about two-and-a-half months! And they did it in such a way that my spine would tingle even during rehearsals. They were fearless， intuitive and trusting， which allowed us to realize my longtime goal of staging a different “Othello” .

I have not a clue if we will stage a winning “Othello” in Hong Kong. I do know our student actors—Othello (Cui Xinyu)， Desdemona (Li Jing) and Emilia (Liang Xingyi)—are polished enough to win it all. However， I do not know if my self-indulgent staging convictions are good and true enough to win in Hong Kong， or anywhere else for that matter.

The prize is quite nice if we do win， a trip to London and the full Shakespeare tour this summer for the three actors; the director gets to tag along.

（本欄目與北京外國語大學聯合開辦。歡迎讀者和主持人交流，請發送郵件至zhoujin_gongwu@sina.com）

責編：周瑾