Wednesday, July 23, 2008

天使-性

Angels are light. But what is light? Light allows one to see, but it also exposes, the good and the bad, the beauty and the ugly, truth and deceptions, and everything in between.

In this age and time, I wonder how many things, how many people, would be able to bear the scrutiny of light.

And when the angels are flying too close to the ground, looking at human: their acts, their morals, their beliefs, their lies, their arrogance, their ignorance, humans playing god, humans playing devil - will the angels lose their shine?

Everyday is an eternity, everyone is an angel.

请记得来看戏。

www.multiply.com/journal/item/12/angel-ism_for_the_OCBC_Singapore_Theatre_Festival

Thursday, July 17, 2008

斗争

安华和巫统的斗争,戏味是越来越浓了。

到了现在,谁真谁假根本就不重要。

在人民的眼里,早就看出来一切都是戏。政客也知道人民的眼睛是雪亮的。但是,戏还是要照演,继续卯足劲演到最后。人民也只能无助的看着这一出闹剧。政客也知道人民无能做出什么举动,所以更毫无忌惮的继续演下去。反正这个戏是政客演给政客看的,根本就不需要观众。人民就象在看电视,不管多么无聊,还是不能制止电视台继续制造这些垃圾。

人民只是被消费的消费者。

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

天使,我听不懂你的话语

《天使-性》是戏剧盒和马来剧团合作的一个新戏。

前天有一英文杂志问了一个问题:

"We understand that the play (is mainly in Mandarin and Malay) will not have English subtitles as it would distract the audience from the play. How should the audience then comprehend Angel-ism in its entirety, should they miss lines which they do not understand?"

每一次排中文戏,我都面对这样的问题。一些听不懂华文的人,深怕自己会看不懂戏。这里有两种可能性:

1 华人,但华语文程度不高。既然如此,不如借机锻炼,挑战自己,看看自己到底有多烂。
2 非华人。不用怕,剧场不是仅通过语言来传达意义的。你听不懂,可能会比听懂的人更看得懂画面的意义,动作的意义。你对这个戏又会有另一番体会。看完戏,跟听懂的人了,让听懂的人跟你取经,然后,你在告诉他你看到的东西。我很肯定,他看到的没你多。:)

最后,我给英文杂志的回答:

"There are audiences who understand Malay and they are people who understand Chinese. We also provide simultaneous translation during the show into english in some scenes and I don think audience would be lost. I just wondered why you never asked the same question to the other plays which only uses English .. how do they reach out to people who only understand a little bit of english and only speak mainly chinese and malay? "

我反感的是,如果因为不给英语翻译,我们就被说成象傲慢、排他;更严重的就是说:华文沙文主义者。

有些懂得英文则傲慢得觉得,给予他们方便是天公地义的。为什么他们就从不也为少数不大懂英文族群提供翻译呢?在新加坡,英文被塑造成族群之间的沟通语,但是这以变相的成为一种霸权的象征:相信英文能够最客观的再现其他族群的生活,诠释族群的文化。这种,自认为“客观”的态度,形成一种变相的“傲慢”,因为,打着“客观”的旗帜,更能理直气壮的要求公正,要求平等,要求真相,慢慢的这样的一种态度,就变成了一种”压力“,排他的”压力“。

我从来都没有说不想让听不懂华语的人,看不懂我的戏。我们在创作时,常常都会考虑观众的接受度。看戏,是需要用心看的,不只是靠听的。

对于非华人的观众,我会常常的想办法让他们看懂戏。对于华人,但却又说他听不懂的话,我觉得你大概应该借机会锻炼你的华文。如果你的华文真的很烂,我也不怪你。我就把你当成是一个非华人的观众。

然后也想想,你在用英语侃侃而谈时,有没有也考虑到也有人可能也不大听得懂你说的东西。你有没有考虑过帮他翻译呢?

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

我的Doppelganger

一个让我困惑的重逢。

星期六,牛车水地铁站。本要走回办公室,突然想吃肉干,回身走向另一个出口。突然,有一男人对我打招呼。

男人:“Hi."

我不认识他。但是,我对我的记忆也没太多信心。哈哈。他身旁还有一位老太太。

我:”Hi."

男人:“Are you Heng Loong?"

很多人都把我的英文名字Heng Leun念错,念成我的哥哥的名字, Heng Loong。所以我也不肯定他认出的是谁。但是,我的样子也跟我的哥哥很不一样。

我:”You are..."

先不置可否为上策。

男人:“Are you from Belvere (我听不很清楚) Primary School?"

我:”No..."

男人:“No? You look like a primary school friend of mine. His name is Heng 'Loong'. And we performed on stage together in our Primary School."

我被弄糊涂了。Belvere Primary School, 我都没听过有这间小学。这时男人身旁的老太太微笑着的说话了。

老太太:”你不要介意。他(指着男人)说他认得你。你不介意吧?“

我:“不会。Which secondary school or JC were you from?"

男人说了,但我都不是那里的学生。我糊涂了。

男人:“Is your name Heng 'Loong'?"

我:”Yes. But I don recall knowing you....We may have met in some other places before?"

男人: ”I'm so sorry. You really look like this primary school friend of mine. And his surname is Kok. We performed on stage together. "

我:“My surname is Kok. "

男人:”Really? Kok- Heng -'Loong'? You also have the same surname? And you looked like him! We were from Belvere Primary School."

我:“But my primary school is not Belvere Primary School."

男人:”Oh.. what a coincidence. We performed together."

老太太:“你不要介意哦。他就是觉得你看起来很象他的朋友。没关系吧。就当成是交交朋友啊。”

我:“没问题的。”

男人:“His name is also like you. Haha. He looks like you. Nice knowing you. "

我: ”Me too. "

男人:“Bye."

我:”Take care."

老太太:“你不介意哦。”

然后就分道扬镳。

告示:若有见过一个跟我长得很象,又跟我有同名同姓的人,他可能是我的分身,我的doppelganger, 请赶快通知我。我很想跟我见见面。

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

狼魂与愚羊

在写”补天“的剧本,读到这首诗:


the man who has the soul of the wolf
knows the self-restraint
of the wolf

aimless executions and slaughterings
are not the work of wolves and eagles

but the work of hysterical sheep

from SPEL AGAINST DEMONS, BY GARY SNYDER

电脑坏了

电脑坏了。

硬盘坏了,换了一个新的。

可是,酒硬盘里的资料都被困住了。

需要用1000多块才能”解放“这些资料。

我在考虑。

多用点脑,还是多用点钱。