A drunkard's monologue

The acclaimed Polish theater director Krystian Lupa will bring to life a work by the late Chinese writer Shi Tiesheng. Chen Nan reports.

Polish theater director Krystian Lupa received an email from Qian Cheng, the general manager of Tianjin Grand Theater, in early 2016, asking him to direct a play based on a novella written by the late Chinese writer Shi Tiesheng (1951-2010).

The novella titled Guanyu Yibu Yi Dianying Zuowei Wutai Beijing De Xiju Zhi Shexiang, which means "a stage idea with film as backdrop", was Shi's only script. It is about a drunken man talking to a mouse about his childhood, parents, ex-wife and his life's struggles.

Lupa did not know of the Chinese writer and had not read any of his works. However, he was intrigued by the story.

After Lupa made several trips to China from April to meet with actors and stage a rehearsal, the play, titled Mo Fei, will be staged at the Tianjin Grand Theater on June 24 and 25. It is part of the ongoing Lin Zhaohua Theater Arts Festival, an annual event initiated by Chinese theater director Lin Zhaohua in 2010.

The play, which is about four hours long, will have Chinese actor Wang Xuebing play the title character, Mo Fei.

"This novel is a monologue for Shi, though Shi's wife told me that he was not an alcoholic," says the 73-year-old director.

"I like the drunken man's language. He is marginalized by society and lonely. But he is frank and brave to confront himself."

To better understand Shi, Lupa read the writer's works, including one of his famous essays, I and the Temple of Earth, which was published in 1991 and was about the writer visiting the Temple of Earth in a wheelchair.

The Polish director also visited the Temple of Earth, a park in downtown Beijing, several times, which, as Lupa says, is "an important place for Shi".

He rode bicycles there, walked around in the park and watched the trees and flowers.

Shi was born and grew up in Beijing near the Temple of Earth. In 1969, he was sent to rural Shaanxi province during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

He was paralyzed after an accident at age 21. Shi was sent back to Beijing and worked in a factory. His kidneys failed in 1998, and he had to undergo dialysis three times a week.

Shi began to publish his works in 1979 and won many of the country's literature prizes, including the Lu Xun Literature Prize, the Lao She Essay Prize and the National Excellent Short Story Prize.

He is best known for his short stories, including My Faraway Clear Peace River and Strings of Life.

One of his novellas, Like a Banjo String, which was published in 1985, was adapted into the film Life on a String by Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige. The film was a nominee at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991.

The same year, a collection of Shi's short stories was translated into English and published as Strings on Life.

Shi died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Beijing in 2010.

For Lupa, the acclaimed theater director who is known for his productions based on Austrian writers Robert Musil and Thomas Bernhard, Mo Fei was part of a culture he could not relate to until he was immersed in it.

Before this play, Lin had brought three of Lupa's stage productions - Persona, Marilyn, Heroes' Square and Woodcutters - to China.

"By reading Shi's works, I recalled my own life, especially my relationship with my mother," Lupa says.

"Like Shi, I had my own 'Temple of Earth' when I was young. It's a place where I could hide from the outside world.

"My mother was a teacher. Like Shi's mother, she cared about me. I was a 'weird' kid and was dreamer. But my mother understood me."

The director also shot lots of videos in Beijing and Tianjin, which will be broadcast on the stage's backdrop.

He also added a character to the play, a female journalist from a Western country, who, like Lupa, from an outside world, tries to explore the inner world of drunken Mo Fei.

"It was quite a challenge to work on this play. But that's what I like. I would have also liked to have had a conversation with the writer, rather than relying solely on the script," says Lupa.

Speaking about his role, Wang, who is known for his role in Lin's play Enemy of the People, says: "Compared with other Chinese stage productions, this play is unique. We had three months, on and off, working together in the rehearsal room, which was an exhausting and thrilling process.

"None of us in the production team are alcoholics, so playing a drunkard is about imagination. But what makes the role convincing is not just physical movements, such as stumbling around, but the drunken man's logic. The way he talks and thinks is very different from how one acts when one is sober."

Wang had not worked with Lupa before. He says that he was apprehensive when he accepted the role.

"We spent a lot of time doing improvisation, and, even now, I still have no idea what I will be like in the play. I feel like a new actor," the 46-year-old says.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn

If you go

7:30 pm, June 24 and 25. Tianjin Grand Theater, 58 Pingjiangdao, Hexi district, Tianjin. 400-056-7790.

Polish director Krystian Lupa (top) has adapted a novella by Chinese author Shi Tiesheng (above right) about a drunken man’s struggles into a theater production. Wang Xuebing (above left) will play the lead role. Photos Provided To China Daily