Title

Metatheatrical Approaches in Guoguang Opera Company's Cleopatra and Her Fools and Flowing Sleeves and Rouge

Author

Hsieh, Hsiao-mei

Genre

Article  

Pages

315-342

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese  

Key words

metadrama, Shakespeare, Guoguang Opera Company, Cleopatra and Her Fools, Flowing Sleeves and Rouge

Abstract

      This paper attempts to (1) clarify the definition of metadrama, and (2) discuss the use of metadramatic narrative strateties in two plays by the Guoguang Opera Company 國光劇團, Cleopatra and Her Fools《艷后和她的小丑們》and Flowing Sleeves and Rouge《水袖與胭脂》. In traditional Chinese theatre, metadrama usually appears in a wide sense: philosophically, that life is a dream and all the world is a stage, and structurally, as a play-within-a-play. In recent years, we have witnessed a
breakthrough in the employment of metatheatricality in traditional theatre in Taiwan: Cleopatra and Her Fools and Flowing Sleeves and Rouge, produced by the Guoguang Opera Company in 2012 and 2013, respectively, have demonstrated an uncommonly keen consciousness of theatricality.
Cleopatra and Her Fools is adapted from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra by modern playwright Wei-Jan Chi 紀蔚然. His adaptation is about a contemporary Beijing opera company staging the play Antony and Cleopatra. With lines such as “history can be rewritten” and “we lost the original script,” Chi questions Shakespeare and himself and plays with structure and language. An-Chi Wang 王安祈’s Flowing Sleeves and Rouge takes on an introversive approach. She retells the story of the famous Yang Guifei 楊貴妃, and the play explores the nature of drama, discussing acting and the immortality of art. The two works demonstrate the confidence to counter the mainstream notions (Western/modern) from the periphery (Eastern/traditional).