“The reception of Samuel Beckett in China” (Publication, 2009)
Year
2009
Text
Lie, Jianxi ; Ingham, Mike. The reception of Samuel Beckett in China. In : The international reception of Samuel Beckett. Ed. By Mark Nixon and Matthew Feldman. (London : Continuum, 2009). (Beck16)
Type
Publication
Contributors (1)
Lie, Jianxi
(um 2009)
Mentioned People (1)
Beckett, Samuel
(Dublin 1906-1989 Paris) : Irischer Schriftsteller, Dramatiker, Nobel-Preisträger
Subjects
Literature : Occident : Ireland
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References / Sources
Chronology Entries (7)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1964 | Aufführung von Act without words I von Samuel Beckett in der Hong Kong City Hall, unter der Regie von Jane Lai und Vicki Ooi. | |
| 2 | 1987 |
Aufführung von Deng dai Geduo = Waiting for Godot von Samuel Beckett im Shanghai Changjiang Theatre durch Studenten des Shanghai Drama Institute. Introductory notes in the printed programme : Deng dai Geduo, first performed during the fifties in Paris, is now more than thirty years old. The title is now a household word in the West, and the play is required reading for every college student in the humanities in the Western world. This is proof of the play's profound influence, which propelled its author Beckett to the first rank of the world's dramatists. And yet this play is a total stranger to us, since this is its first performance in our country. Why is this play considered to be the representative work of the Theatre of the Absurd ? Because it incorporates all the classic features of this lieterary genre : there is neither a lively plot nor an attempt at complege characterization ; ther is neither a clearly delineated topic nor the use of dramatic conflict. Even the dialogue is often illogical. The one action in the play - 'Waiting' – is advanced by a combination of realistic and abstract methods ; either by ideas or through the subconscious ; my means self-contained or extended ; through life's small incidents or by philosophical reflection ; all of this through the circular movement of its simple structure. Thus the play is transformed and expanded until it achieves for 'Waiting' a goal that transcends time and space, transcends national boundaries, and even transcends timelessness itself in its artistic effect – in order to reflect mankind's shared emotions. And the two tramps in the play become mankind's 'representatives'. The effect so produced shows the great power of pure art and its classic value. This play has had over a thousand performances in the United States. Once, when the author was asked by a director, 'Who is the Godot that everyone is waiting for in the play ?' the author's replay was that he himself did not know. We can perhaps offer the following attempt at an answer : 'So long as mankind has expectations, an equivalent degree of 'waiting' will exist ; so long as that degree of 'waiting' exists, it will be matched by an equal number of 'Godots' in the world. We hope that the performance of Deng dai Geduo will help advance our understanding of the West, and, at the same time, provide a new direction for out theatrical enterprise. Lo Irving : The premiere of this Beckett play in China was fraught with a great deal of symbolic significance, beginning with the location of the theatre itself. The stage for the performance was sparsely but effectively set with a stunted willow tree at one end, substantial enough to have a rope thrown across the bough later. The costumes were Western, including the tight boots and the various hats. The entrances and exits for Pozzo, the elaborate gestures with the whip, the bustle with the bags and baskets were all stages in the grand manner, wich, together with the music and even the appearance of dancers, betrayed an unmistakable affinity to the tradition of the Peking Opera. In this sense the Chinese Godot, while presented as a work set in the Western world, was at least partially assimilated in the Chinese cultural orbit. |
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| 3 | 1987 | Aufführung von Happy days von Samuel Beckett durch die Zhong ying ju tuan = Chung Ying Theatre Company in Hong Kong, in Cantonese. |
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| 4 | 1989 | Aufführung von Deng dai Geduo = Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett als Freiluftfestspiel der Central Acadmy of Drama, unter der Regie von Meng Jinghui. | |
| 5 | 1991 |
Aufführung von Deng dai Geduo = Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett an der Central Academy of Drama, unter der Regie von Meng Jinghui. Meng Jinghui : Is there anyone in the audience truly willing to go on an adventure with us to shatter this illusory mirage, to rebuild a remembered homeland, and to capture, as far as our eyes can reach, the landscape that surrounds us ? This is what we want to know. To kindle the embers of our passion, safeguard our abode of existence, and look back with more intense candour, wakefulness and vigilance – this is what we can do. It is a pity that for various reasons we have not been able to materialize our dreams on the stage, when the mere throught of these dreams has left us quivering with thrills. Cao Xueping : The audience sat on the stage and watched the two 'angry young tramps', Hu Jun as Vladimir and Guo Tao as Estragon, waiting for Godot, and displaying the irrational rebellion and depression of youth. The presententeion, in the words of Meng, was 'suppressed, unstilted, marked by its cruelty, poetry and violence – the violence of language and the violence of violence'. As the violence mounted, Vladimir smashed the window panes with his sizeable black umbrella and brought the performance to an end. |
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| 6 | 1998 |
Aufführung einer Zusammenfügung von San jie mei = Three sisters von Anton Chekhov und Deng dai Geduo = Waiting for Godot von Samuel Beckett im Beijing ren yi shou du ju chang = Capital Theatre des Beijing People's Art Theatre, unter der Regie von Lin Zhaohua. Except for the removal of some scenes and characters, a complete act oft he original Three sisters serves as the main body for an act of the production and, in that act, a number of fragments from Waiting for Godot are inserted. What the audience saw was in effect an alternation of extracts from the two plays. The idea of having Beckett's characters enter Chekhov's play, and 'vice versa', was to connect the contemporary orld of Godot with the historical world of Three sisters. Apart from the actors' double characters, the set design also provided a spatial frame fort he combination. Since the performing area of Three sisters was primarily upstage and that for Godot downstage, the actors playing in both generally switched characters in accordance with the performing areas they occupied. Such an arrangement of the performing areas for the two plays created a space that required the audience to literally view Three sisters through Godot. |
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| 7 | 1998 |
Aufführung von Waiting for Godot von Samuel Beckett im Zhen han ka fei ju chang = Hardhan Café Theatre in Shanghai, unter der Regie von Ren Ming des Beijing People's Art Theatre mit weiblichen Darstellern für Estragon und Vladmir. Ren Ming retained a radically abridged version and punctuated it with interruptions by Pozzo ; and the monologue came in the form of a voice-over as Lucky, Pozzo's tame intellectual who performs on demand, was replaced by a fashion dummy. |
Sources (5)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1981 | [Beckett, Samuel]. A, mei hao de ri zi. Xiao Lian, Jiang Fan yi. In : Dang dai wai guo wen xue ; vol. 2 (1981). Übersetzung von Beckett, Samuel. Happy days : a play in two acts. (London : Faber and Faber ; New York, N.Y. : Grove Press, 1961). [Erstaufführung Cherry Lane Theatre, New York, 1961]. | Publication / Beck17 | |
| 2 | 1981 | [Beckett, Samuel]. Ju zhong. Feng Hanlu yi. In : Dang dai wai guo wen xue ; vol. 2 (1981). Übersetzung von Beckett, Samuel. Endgame : a play in one act ; followed by Act without words. (London : Faber and Faber, 1958). [Erstaufführung Royal Court Theatre, London 1957]. | Publication / Beck18 | |
| 3 | 1989 | Lo, Irving. Waiting for Godot in the People's Republic of China. In : Journal of Beckett studies ; vol. 11-12 (1989). | Publication / Beck20 | |
| 4 | 1999 | [Beckett, Samuel]. Pulusite lun. Shen Rui, Huang Wei yi. In : Pulusite lun. (Bejing : She hui ke xue wen xian chu ban she, 1999). Übersetzung von Beckett, Samuel. Proust. (New York, N.Y. : Grove Press, 1931). (The Dolphin books ; 7). | Publication / Beck19 | |
| 5 | 2000 |
Meng, Jinghui. Deng dai Geduo dao yan de hua. In : Xian feng xi ju dang an. Meng Jinghui bian. (Beijing : Zuo jia chu ban she, 2000). [Waiting for Godot [by Samuel Beckett] production notes]. 等待戈多导演的话 |
Publication / Beck21 |
Cited by (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zentralbibliothek Zürich | Organisation / ZB |
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