Research directions for 《我要乖乖的活著》, a play by Taiwanese playwright 王少君:
- If we were to take on the three "stock" characters and look into the social and cultural enigma buried from within, the specific issues often left unexplored could open up alternative perspectives in view of absurdity and beyond. It is important if we could re-contextualize such self-exploratory journey into particular social fabrics, and the ways how the yarns being interlocked from one thing to another.
- In the course researching on those characters, the actors should also research on the self-in-the-making as well, not only as a parent, but also as an individual with specific social and cultural bearings. Such effort would help open up the story-teller's consciousness in view of materials that could easily mixed up with personal interiority...in the course of doing so, naturally they have to go back researching on our body in particular, looking closely into the body, the voice, the thinking machine, the personal track record, the persona, the pain, the self-esteem, the longings, the needs and the yearnings.
- The script touches on the condition of human existence and what brings us to where we are. The fact that the setting is inside a school toilet has strong intentional and moral implications of the writer's views on Taiwan's (or modern) education system, while going beyond the critique.
- The "fable" about the rats is about the objectification of our body (our senses) and the devaluation/ negation of our physical nature. Having sex with rats reduce the fulfilment to physical needs to a lowly mechanic operation. The dignity of the body completely denied.
- Why people have different values in life and what makes them make their choices? Is there really a larger "monster" out there or is it because of our cowardice to stand up to making a choice? The philosophical interpretation here to me is Sartre and Existentialism.
- An additional layer to look into is the verbal delivery shift from Mandarin and Cantonese. The most primitive language is the expression of our feelings, our existential condition, through the vibration of air made possible by manipulating our vocal system. Therefore one can trace the personality of a race through its linguistic structure. People who don't share a language on its semantic level can come to a mutual sympathy if they recite a poem together, for example. How does our HK background impact the way we verbalize the script?
Joanna LEE & hoyingfung
- If we were to take on the three "stock" characters and look into the social and cultural enigma buried from within, the specific issues often left unexplored could open up alternative perspectives in view of absurdity and beyond. It is important if we could re-contextualize such self-exploratory journey into particular social fabrics, and the ways how the yarns being interlocked from one thing to another.
- In the course researching on those characters, the actors should also research on the self-in-the-making as well, not only as a parent, but also as an individual with specific social and cultural bearings. Such effort would help open up the story-teller's consciousness in view of materials that could easily mixed up with personal interiority...in the course of doing so, naturally they have to go back researching on our body in particular, looking closely into the body, the voice, the thinking machine, the personal track record, the persona, the pain, the self-esteem, the longings, the needs and the yearnings.
- The script touches on the condition of human existence and what brings us to where we are. The fact that the setting is inside a school toilet has strong intentional and moral implications of the writer's views on Taiwan's (or modern) education system, while going beyond the critique.
- The "fable" about the rats is about the objectification of our body (our senses) and the devaluation/ negation of our physical nature. Having sex with rats reduce the fulfilment to physical needs to a lowly mechanic operation. The dignity of the body completely denied.
- Why people have different values in life and what makes them make their choices? Is there really a larger "monster" out there or is it because of our cowardice to stand up to making a choice? The philosophical interpretation here to me is Sartre and Existentialism.
- An additional layer to look into is the verbal delivery shift from Mandarin and Cantonese. The most primitive language is the expression of our feelings, our existential condition, through the vibration of air made possible by manipulating our vocal system. Therefore one can trace the personality of a race through its linguistic structure. People who don't share a language on its semantic level can come to a mutual sympathy if they recite a poem together, for example. How does our HK background impact the way we verbalize the script?
Joanna LEE & hoyingfung
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