2007-03-25 21:57:40Jessie W

A.R.Gurney&《收信快樂》

兩次看《收信快樂》都是在母校台北藝術大學T305的畢業製作演出。

沒有機會看過善承矩〈親愛的劇團〉改寫並於2001年12月在國家劇院實驗劇場首演的原始版本,也就是夏靖庭和萬芳演出的版本。

一男一女兩個演員,和四十年來的七十幾封書信往返,構成了一幅平實卻深入人心的生命風景。劇本所蘊含的情感濃度厚度之強大,形式之簡單,角色面向層次之複雜,是用來考驗表演能力,尤其是口白能力的好試煉。

四年前的形式的極簡、表演的深情和四年後的形式的繁複、表演的雲淡風輕都是一種詮釋,相信無論如何都逃不出原作Love Letters和劇作家A.R.Gurney的思緒──Love Letters首演於1988年,1989年於外百老匯搬演時,演出64場,首演由 Kathleen Turner和 John Rubinstein兩位演員演出,之後只在星期天和星期一晚上演出。

並且,每週更換不同的演員。

這個劇本相當受到演員的歡迎,因為它不需要花太多時間排練和背詞。

一個中規中矩的律師Andrew Makepeace Ladd III,和一個極度不穩定卻充滿生命力的藝術家Melissa Gardner,到了台灣,變成市議員李政國和畫家陳淑芬。

自由奔放和內斂規律的對話是不變的。

四十多年的生命濃縮於七十幾封信,正如生命曾經沉重如千萬回憶,大聲哭吼與撕裂,經歷過後,終將是輕快如一個字和一張紙,提煉出一個在墓前跪下說一句「愛你」,那樣簡單的動作。




維基百科對A.R.Gurney的介紹。他的作品大多關注在美國東北方的白人,和中產階級的生活,特別是新英格蘭區。
A.R. Gurney (b. November 1, 1930) is an American playwright and novelist. Born in Buffalo, New York, Gurney, a graduate of St. Paul’s School (Concord, New Hampshire), attended Williams College and the Yale School of Drama, after which he began teaching Humanities at MIT. He began writing plays such as Scenes from American Life, Children, and The Middle Ages while at MIT, but it was his great success with The Dining Room that allowed him to write full-time. The Dining Room is a complicated play with six actors playing a multitude of characters in overlapping scenes set in the singular title location.

Since The Dining Room, Gurney has written a number of plays, most of them concerning WASPs of the American northeast, particularly New England. They include:

What I Did Last Summer
The Cocktail Hour
The Perfect Party
Another Antigone
Sweet Sue
Love Letters
The Old Boy
The Snow Ball (based on his novel) ISBN 0-88184-214-1
A Cheever Evening (based on stories by John Cheever)
Later Life
Sylvia
The Fourth Wall
Far East
Ancestral Voices
Buffalo Gal
Mrs. Farnsworth
O Jerusalem
Screen Play
Indian Blood
Crazy Mary
The Golden Age
The Problem
Gurney has also written several novels; in addition to the abovementioned The Snow Ball, they include:

The Gospel According to Joe
Entertaining Strangers ISBN 0-385-12551-8
In 2006, Gurney was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

疑似是Love Letters的劇照。
Dinning Room的海報。

資料來源:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.R._Gurney
Love Letters的劇照。1999年。中間是導演。