保存台灣集體記憶

保存台灣集體記憶
國際先鋒論壇報（紐約時報國際版）
The International Herald Tribune, 2009年2月13日
Sonia Kolesinkov-Jessop 新加坡

台灣軍人眷村臨時搭建的住屋一開始就沒計畫做長遠的。這些為當時因1949年戰敗中國共產黨而撤退到台灣的國民黨軍人及家眷而建蓋的住宅區，對村內的居民來說只是暫時住所，等蔣介石的軍隊重拾中國大陸後就會離開。但是年復一年，毛澤東所率領的共軍並沒有被擊倒，而眷村內卻漸漸由這些來自中國不同省分、說著不同方言和吃著各色料理比鄰而居的人們形成了特殊的多源文化。

當時一度超過八百個像這樣族群大融合的眷村對台灣的影響很大。但是近年來，這樣的眷村已逐漸瓦解，取而代之的是都市化的摩天大樓。時至今日，仍屹立不搖的眷村只剩下不到兩百個。

由台灣劇作家同時也是導演的賴聲川所創作的新舞台劇《寶島一村》，內容主要使用普通話及福建話作為人物的對白。故事是敘述三戶人家在一個眷村生活五十年來的點滴。這一齣長達三小時的故事主要是以賴聲川在台北的【表演工作坊】演出團隊為號召，並於十二月在台北上演了廣受好評且成功的首演，而二度加演到二月二十四日的場次也已經銷售一空。這齣戲對目前關於保護台灣共同回憶的省思有相當的貢獻，也為海峽兩岸緊張的關係所帶來的影響給與了一個人性的詮釋。

“這些眷村是我們重要的歷史，然而卻沒有很多人去寫與它們有關的故事，”賴聲川說。”我認為有一種真正的懷舊氣氛，一種迫切性來好好保存這些眷村的回憶”。他又補充說到”一旦這些眷村建築完全被破壞，那些曾在眷村生活的人們都不在了，所有有關眷村的回憶也將一同消失”。

從村民們對中華民國國旗的忠誠、1975年蔣中正過世的悲慟、1980年代含淚返鄉探親，到第二代對遠離眷村出國旅遊的崇景等等內容，《寶島一村》其實就是台灣的故事。

五十五歲的賴聲川表示《寶島一村》內很多的故事都是與致力於保護眷村文化的資深電視製作人王偉忠先生共同討論出來的。五十二歲的王偉忠對於保護並保存漸漸消逝的眷村文化相當用心，不僅拍攝紀錄片更製作有關眷村電視劇。在人際關係緊密的眷村中長大的王偉忠甚至形容眷村是”大人們的難民營，孩子們的遊樂場”。

這個月初，兩位都赴新加坡，《寶島一村》參與了華文藝術節，在新加坡海濱藝術中心演出兩晚，皆獲滿堂的起立喝彩。

強迫分離、錯置以及尋找自我，長久以來一直是賴聲川作品中的主題。他說“「你是誰？]這個問題多年來在台灣一直都是個燙手的問題。“他也補充說明，雖然他是在華盛頓出生在西雅圖長大，他本人也沒有住過眷村。但是，他的家人卻是那 1949年故事中的一部份。他的外交官父親在赴美國之前，便是在1949從中國大陸移居到台灣的。對一個外交官的家人來說，他說“因為總是需要搬來搬去，所以你會一直在尋找及思考「你是誰？」這個問題”。

賴聲川認為這齣戲最大的成就就是讓年輕的一代了解當時那些大陸移民最初來到台灣的艱苦及辛勞。“很多人認為那些人過的很輕鬆，但是事實並非如此”他說。同時他認為這齣戲的內容也會引起中國大陸觀眾的共鳴，因此也有計畫將此劇在年底搬上中國的舞台。

“我相信這齣戲一定會成為一個連結，讓在中國的觀眾知道那些在1949年離開中國大陸的人們發生了什麼事，那些人在離開後的生活又是如何”他說。因為，當時他們都認為分離只是短暫的。許多國民黨軍人就這樣離開了雙親，離開了妻小以及所愛的人。當認清這個可能是永久分離的事實之後，兩邊的人們都必須重整生活以並創造新的人生。

雖然導演預期其中升國旗一幕以及幾句貶損大陸間諜的台詞會引來中國審查員的關注，賴聲川卻相信整體劇本在大陸應該不會有什麼問題。

賴聲川寫過二十九本原創劇本，包括他最經典的創作《暗戀桃花源》（1986)，一齣有關兩個劇團訂了同一個排練場而引申的故事。身為新加坡最重要的表演藝術空間 - 新加坡海濱藝術中心的總裁Benson Puah 讚道”賴聲川應該是當今最出色的中文劇作家及導演。”他說：”他的作品從來不是線型或是單一層面的，而是總是多層次的。”

賴聲川表示前九個月是他最為忙碌的一段時間。除了寫《寶島一村》之外，他還寫了另外兩齣新戲。其中《陪我看電視》是關於一臺黑白電視的”人生”，從它身為尖端家用電器的童年，一直到成為備詢找的古董。賴聲川利用電視機在中國不同的城市及家庭中”生活”，進而探討過去三十年中國大陸的價值觀變化。”看一個國家可以如何發展成如此富裕，也看到價值觀可以變得多麼貧困。”

雖然這齣戲早已在中國境內巡迴演出，原本計畫三月十七日在北京新中央電視臺大樓內的戲院正式上演，卻因本週發生央視大樓區的大火而必須延後這項計畫，而目前製作單位正在考慮其他場地。

這陣子，賴聲川正忙著排練即將於三月七日在香港藝術中心首演的最新劇作《水中之書》。他闡述這部有關一個身為快樂教練的女人，卻在她自己的生活中少有快樂的戲是一個“Screwball Zen Comedy”（瘋狂禪式喜劇），又是來探討自我認知的問題。是個描述家人的關係以及在雷曼兄弟王朝瓦解後追尋個人快樂的故事。 賴聲川說”女主角的男朋友是一個失業的股票經紀人，所以內容是非常具有時事性的”。


Preserving Taiwan's collective memory
By Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop
Published: February 13, 2009

SINGAPORE: The makeshift homes of the "military dependents' villages" in Taiwan were never meant to last. Built to house the thousands of Kuomintang soldiers and their families who had retreated to the island in 1949 following their defeat on the mainland by Communist forces, the villages were seen by their inhabitants as temporary dwellings, where they would stay only until Chiang Kai-shek's forces regained control of the mainland. But Mao's Communist army was not to be beaten, and as the years passed, the dependents' villages developed a distinctive mixed culture with people from different Chinese provinces, speaking different dialects and cooking different cuisines, living side-by-side.
The impact that these melting-pot communities, which once numbered more than 800, have had on Taiwan is significant. But in recent years, the communities have been broken up and skyscrapers have replaced the old homes. Today, less than 200 of the original villages are left standing.
"The Village," a new play in Mandarin and Hokkien by the Taiwanese playwright and director Stan Lai, spans 50 years in the lives of three families living in one of these dependents' villages. The three-hour epic, featuring Lai's Taipei-based troupe Performance Workshop, had its premiere in Taipei in December and has proved to be a popular and critical success, with a sold-out second run until Feb. 24. The play has contributed to the recent debate in Taiwan about the need to preserve collective memories, while giving a human face to the impact of strained cross-Straits relations.
"These villages are an important part of our history that no one has really written much about," said Lai. "But I think there is a real nostalgia and an urgency to protect the memory of these villages." He added: "Once the physical buildings are demolished and the people who lived in these communities pass away, it'll be all gone."
From the villagers' allegiance to the Republic of China flag to their sorrow when Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, their tearful return and reunion with loved ones on the mainland in the 1980s, and their children's aspirations to travel around the world, "The Village" is really the story of Taiwan.
Lai, 55, said the ideas for the many personal stories told in "The Village" came from discussions about village life with the Taiwanese television producer Wang Wei Zhong, who has been active in efforts to preserve and record the vanishing culture, having filmed documentaries and also written a drama series. Wang, 52, grew up in the close knit-community of a dependents' village, which he describes as "a refugee camp for adults and a playground for kids."
Both men were in Singapore earlier this month, when "The Village" played for two nights at the Esplanade Theatre to standing ovations as part of a Chinese-themed cultural festival.
Involuntary separation, displacement, and the search for identity have been long-running themes in Lai's works. "'Who are you?' In Taiwan, that question has been a searing one for years," he said. He added that although he was born in Washington D.C. and raised there and in Seattle until his teens and never lived in a village himself, his family was "part of the whole story of 1949." His father, a diplomat, first moved to Taiwan from mainland China in 1949 before migrating to the United States. In a diplomat's family, "you're always searching for who you are, since you're always moving around," he said.
Lai said he believed that one of the play's achievements had been "to get a lot of young people to understand the hardships of the mainlanders after they came to Taiwan."
"Many think they had an easy time, but this wasn't the case," he said, adding that he believed the play would also resonate with audiences on the mainland, where there are plans to stage it later this year.
"I think in China it will definitely be a connector to let people see what happened to all these people that left in 1949 and what their lives were like and what they felt when they came back," he said.
Because they thought they were moving away for only a brief period of time, many Kuomintang soldiers left behind parents, wives and loved ones, and both sides had to rebuild their lives and create new ones when it became clear the separation would be permanent.
While the director anticipates the Chinese censors' ire might be raised by one scene with the nationalistic flag, as well as a few lines referring to mainland spies in derogative terms, Lai said he thought there should not be any problems with the overall script.

Lai has written 29 original plays, including his classic, "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land" (1986), about two theater companies booked into the same rehearsal space. "Stan is probably the best Chinese language playwright and director right now," said Benson Puah, CEO of the Esplanade, Singapore's main venue for performing arts. "His work is never one dimensional or linear, there are always layers to it."
The playwright said that the last nine months had been some of his busiest. In addition to writing "The Village," he also wrote two more new plays. One of them, "Light Years," is about the "life" of a black and white TV, from its youth as a cutting-edge household appliance through old age as a sought-after antique. As the TV set finds different homes in different cities throughout China, "living" with different families, Lai explores the country's changing values over the last 30 years, and "how the country has grown so rich and how the values have become so poor."
Although the play has already been touring China, it was due to officially open at the new theater of the CCTV Tower in Beijing on March 17. However, a fire at the CCTV Tower complex earlier this week has suspended those plans, and the producer is considering other venues.
For now, Lai is busy with the rehearsals of his newest play, "Writing in Water," which will have its premiere at the Hong Kong Arts Centre on March 7. He described the play, about a woman who works as a happiness coach but doesn't have much happiness in her own life, as a "screwball Zen comedy" that again looks at issues of identity. "The story is about family connection and the search for personal happiness in a post-Lehman world," Lai said. "The boyfriend of the main character is an ex-broker who is out of a job. So it's quite topical."