Economic fusion involving Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland is by now an old story. Investment from Hong Kong and Taiwan has fuelled the mainland's growth; in turn mainland markets and resources are making Hong Kong and Taiwan companies rich. The economies are complementary, not competitive. In the field of creative endeavour, however, Greater China has existed as three solitudes. That may be changing, as comparative literature don Zhang Longxi reports.
I had my doubts before I went to see 18 Springs, the multi-media music drama performed at the Kwai Tsing Theatre last month. I wondered whether Eileen Chang's famous novel could be adapted effectively for the stage. Among modern Chinese writers, Eileen Chang (1920-1995) is known for her exquisite depiction of subtle changes of mood and the undulation of emotions. In her novels, it is not plot or movement that matters, but language - language that one can savour slowly in the mouth like some bitter-sweet delicacy.
How does one translate such language from the novel to the stage - from a text read in silence and in private to a public display of movement and action, sound and colour? But after watching the performance last month, I was convinced it was an astonishing success.
The three-hour performance was co-produced by the Hong Kong-based Zuni Icosahedron and the National Theatre Company of China. The directors and supporting staff were from Hong Kong and the leading actress and actor were from Taiwan and the mainland, respectively.
Co-directors and script writers Mathias Woo Yan-wai and Edward Lam Yick-wah used modern techniques of experimental theatre that made it possible for reading and recital, rather than dramatic action, to form the core of the performance. Much of the play was staged against the backdrop of a huge bookshelf, putting the idea of reading literally in front of the audience.
Every line of the script was based on Chang's original, luminous text. A narrator connected the episodes by reciting the relevant parts of the novel. My only complaint was the use of Vivaldi's Four Seasons as part of the background music: it was too sweet and too powerful for Chang's modern tragedy.
More importantly, the cyclical notion of time in Vivaldi's Four Seasons is incompatible with the linear temporality of Chang's novel, based on a concept of time as an irresistible force that burdens everything we do with unintended consequences.
