「這一夜Women說相聲」(‘This evening, women perform crosstalk’) vs. ‘Total Woman’

Chris Goh

Drama Club Advisor of True Light Middle School of Hong Kong

‘Total Woman’ is the 5^th episode of Stan Sheng-chuan Lai’s crosstalk series introduced by the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre staged at Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Grand Theatre from June 28 to July 1.  Stan Lai’s other works in the same genre are: ‘This Evening, Who Will Perform Crosstalk?’ (1989), ‘Another Evening, They Performed Crosstalk’ (1997), ‘Millennium, We Performed Crosstalk’ (2000), and ‘Total Woman’ (or ‘This Evening, Women Perform Crosstalk’, 2005).

The drama can be appreciated at two levels: (i) a women trio (Fang Fang, Yang Ting and Aya Liu) performing crosstalk in an evening and (ii) the exploration of the concept of ‘total woman’.  On the façade, Stan Lai handed on the stage to the only female crosstalk master’s protégée alive (played by Fang Fang) to demonstrate the art of crosstalk (xiang sheng).  And, through this genre, the frustrations and emotions of women were addressed.

This evening (June 30), crosstalk, a dying art form traditionally performed by men in a duet, was taken as an expertise of bitches（潑婦）in traditional Chinese society who cursed almost everything and nagged almost everybody.  Such a transformation revived this intellectual heritage of mankind.  Yet, without the androgynous actress, Fang Fang, the devise images of various characters would not have been portrayed so vividly and the crosstalk would not have been so hilarious.

‘Being oneself and following one’s heart.’ （隨心所慾做自己） was the recurring reminder of how to be a ‘total woman’ in the crosstalk.  Women are trapped by the socially bound stereotyped images and expectations on one hand.  On the other hand, they are pathetically suffered form their own misfortune, such as being ‘fat’, being dumped, being oppressed, etc.  This kind of misfortune passes from one generation to another in the form of incomprehensible words to remind women that their misfortune is beyond the description of words.

If this crosstalk is a journey to discover what is a ‘Total Woman’ as its official English title suggests, the exploration is simply scratching the itch form outside boots.  But if this crosstalk is meant to be performed by women this night as its direct Chinese translation implies, this performance is really a superb one since Stan Lai has added new essence of vitality and feminism to revive the fading art form.

香港話劇團《這一夜Women說相聲》
2008年6月28日至7月1日
香港文化中心大劇院

上載日期：2008年7月

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