"Ode to the Goddess of Lo" is a difficult literary classic which demands hard work and time before one can appreciate its fine and delicate descriptions and graceful diction. At this year's Taipei Arts Festival, Hsu Lu, a leading prima donna in the Republic of China, presented "The Goddess of the River Lo" at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. The presentation once again brought to life a tragic romance buried in history.
The plot is simple. Tsao Chih falls in love with Lady Chen, who is, however, ten years older than he. Though Lady Chen reciprocates the poet's love, Tsao Tsao, Tsao Chih's father, decides to marry her to his brother, Tsao Pi, but she comes to a tragic death as the result of a concubine's fight for the Emperor's affection. Remorse preys upon Tsao Pi's mind, and he decides to give one of Lady Chen's favorite personal possessions, a finely embroidered pillow, to his brother, Tsao Chih. The pillow arouses the poet's heart-sore recollections of his love for Lady Chen, who has become a Goddess of the River Lo. She appears in the poet's dreams, and he and the Lady Goddess have a romantic encounter on the shores of the river. In his "Ode to the Goddess of Lo," Tsao Chih describes the gorgeous pageantry of the reunion.
The presentation of this story once again drew a full-house audience, thanks partly to expectations of prima donna Hsu Lu's outstanding performance, and partly to the nostalgia triggered by the well-known tale of the tragic couple. When Lady Chen married Tsao Pi, she was only 22; her death was untimely. Tsao Chih, who was honored as a rare talent in literary circles because of his poetic versatility, also died at a young age-30.
Though the opera is short in plot, it is imbued with "intensive feeling and imagination." And though tradition has it that Peking opera should have no scenic backdrop whatsoever, "Goddess" was fully equipped with a complete, airy landscape setting. Smoke created by dry ice helped the audience to subject itself to impressions of the couple singing and dancing on top of drifting clouds, or loitering along crystal-clear streams. From beginning to end, a reserved beauty is fully manifested in the transcendence of emotion from man to immortal in so scenic a dreamland.
The perfect vocal match and the coordination between prima donna Hsu Lu and songstress Sun Li-hung, who plays the roles of the Goddess of the River Lo and of Tsao Chih, respectively (actresses play many male roles in Peking opera), are part of the reasons the audience was so lured and fascinated. One of the older fans commented: "I saw Mr. Mei Lan-fang's performance in 'Fairy Maids Strewing Flowers' 35 years ago in Shanghai, and decided that it would be unrivaled in staging. I vowed then and there never to watch Peking opera again. Today, I must repeat this vow after witnessing this great performance." Though merely metaphor, the vow clearly indicates the play's success.
Another notable aspect of the performance were the many youths in the audience. Observers estimated that they out numbered middle-aged and elderly fans. The youthful public's sustained love, care, and dedication for Peking opera would assure promising prospects for its further development.
Hsu Lu is a precious gem, polished in local performing-arts circles over the past three decades. Brought up in a well educated family, she benefits from the teachings of a father who was once president of an art-pottery school and also a famous painter, and of her mother, a pianist. Since primary school, Hsu Lu has displayed special talent as a performer of Peking opera. After absorbing the instructions of a gallery of masters, she became the first to graduate from the Tapeng Opera School. Though specializing in roles for the prima donna, Hsu Lu is also long in performances as female warriors, which is unique in the history of Peking opera.
The Goddess of the River Lo & entourage- Treading on clouds. (File photo)
Before the staging of "Goddess," Professor Hu Yao-heng, a leading local dramatist, engaged in a dialogue with Hsu Lu concerning the script. The inter view reflects a successful actress's under standing and interpretation of the plot and of her role.
Prof. Hu Yao-heng: Based on Tsao Chih's "Ode to Goddess Lo," the opera depicts Tsao Chih's dream meeting with the Goddess on the shores of the River Lo. The play places much emphasis on depicting the tenderness and beauty of the Goddess of Lo, and Tsao Chih's final dejection as he realizes the impossibilities inherent in the reunion of man and immortal, while the reverberations are triggered in his heart at sight of his Goddess. Not much of an action plot.
Miss Hsu Lu: Yes. Instead of stressing an active plot, the opera wants to reveal a combination of the beauty of Chinese poetry, painting, dance, and music. This beauty helps make "Ode to the Goddess Lo" into a three dimensional stage presentation, impressively substantive.
Hu: Though immortalized after her death, Lady Chen has cultivated a God dess' temperament, but she still harbors a worldly passion. Would you say her meeting with Tsao Chih is from apprecia tion, intimate understanding, undying love, or in-depth nostalgia?
Hsu: Well, all of them together. That is why she feels so dejected, deep in her heart, and doesn't know what to do.
Hu: I have a question on Scene III, in which Tsao Chih stays at a post house and dreams of his Lady. In this episode, His Excellency (Tsao Pi) gives him the pillow. According to some textual re searchers, this doesn't make sense. In edging for possession of the woman, the elder brother actually emerges victori ous, and then decides to donate his wife's personal keepsake to his rival-brother.
Hsu: I can't see there is anything illogical there. If it were I, I would do the same thing. If I were he and loved her dearly, and I knew that my brother also loved her, I would feel indebted to him because I had put her to death. I would be willing to give him my wife's intimate possession to permit his brighter memory of someone he so deeply loved.
Hu: Your approval of the characters' feelings will naturally enable you to stage an incisive performance.
Hsu: I love "Goddess Lo" partly because my sentiments are close to those of the characters.
Hu: After the Goddess Lo arrives at the post house, she sees Tsao Chih lying on top of a table, sleeping. She wants to wake him.
Hsu: She goes to his side, wanting to nudge him, but dares not. She turns and makes a gesture of embarrassment. They never had a chance to talk to each other when they were both at court. Since she still can not arouse the courage to talk to him, she can only appear in his dream, to set a rendezvous with him at the River Lo, the following day.
Hu: The meeting the next day is, then, the realization of a dream? The meeting later and in this juncture ....
Hsu: Different. At this juncture, she was somewhat timid at unexpectedly seeing someone she had missed so much for so long a time. She dared not face the reality all of a sudden; she needed time to ease the tension. For her, the exit was, "We shall see each other tomorrow." This is my understanding.
Hu: So, you made a date with him the following day at the River Lo. Then you looked back and lamented. Why do you look back and lament? Must be out of some expectation?
Hsu: I wanted to leave after uttering these words, but somewhat reluctantly. I also wanted to stay for awhile. Under the bondage of the ethical education preva lent at that time, it was natural that I couldn't stay too long. But, while looking back at him, the many years of love buried in my heart seemed to overOow all at once. The lamentation is rich in significance- melancholy, helplessness, and expectation?
Hu: At that moment, Tsao Chih wakes up.
Hsu: After dreaming such a beautiful dream, Tsao-Chih's head starts to swim. He is not sure if it was actually Lady Chen that he saw. Out of curiosity and excitement, he decides in any case to meet so beautiful a lady. In this opera, Lady Chen's love for Tsao Chih is deeper than his for her. It is not until the very last moment that Tsao Chih realizes she is Lady Chen, but she knows it is he. II is the Lady who feels that their predestined love has not been fulfilled. But Tsao Chih never realizes that Lady Chen has been immortalized.
Hu: In Scene IV, Goddess Lo comes out to greet maids from the shore of the River Han.
Hsu: She tells them that the reason for her meeting with Tsao Chih is be cause she has an unfulfilled but fated love for him. She also describes Tsao Chih as "a man of refined feelings and taste, and of manners and justice."
Hu: Has she put different weights on the significances of these two phrases? It seems that we must put parentheses around the latter to prevent misleading.
Hsu: I agree. To picture Tsao Chih as "a man of refined feelings and taste," seems to somewhat downgrade her position as goddess. Thus she added a foot note- "and of manners and justice." This line is important. We can never skip it. In other words, she wanted to hide her full feelings from the maids.
Hu: In that case, why did she invite them to go along with her?
Hsu: It was at the end of the meeting with Tsao Chih, alone on the shore of the River Lo, that she wanted the two maids from the banks of the River Han to show up. She wanted them to be there because of their ceremonial function: they will present the last dance, which will then reveal part of the Goddess' life to Tsao Chih.
Hu: They met at.. ..
Hsu: At the palace of the Goddess Lo. At that moment, she utters a melodious passage in adagio, which reads: "to look into the mirror idly after fixing the hair, to step out of the palace while gently waving silk sleeves, with the goddesses leading along the way, riding the waves with small gaits, their silk stockings catching dust. Allow me to wait for him at the waves' edge; nothing is visible except a flood of crystal light." Mei Lan fang first chanted this passage in adagio, later in allegro. I prefer his first interpretation, because I feel that adagio better expresses the delicate feelings.
Hu: Do you intend to put on shake sleeves in this scene?
Hsu: For the line "gently waving silk sleeves," I feel that wearing shake sleeves will better reveal the rovings of my mind when I meet Tsao Chih, later.
Hu: How will you do "riding waves with small gaits, their silk stockings catching dust?"
Hsu: There should be dry ice under my feet at this moment (she laughs). In fact, dry ice is used in the whole scene to show the couple is on top of the clouds. Here I only make a gesture. Props won't help these lines. They all depend on the actors' gestures. "To ride the waves with small gaits" is to step along the tops of the clouds. I must walk in yun pu, (literally "cloudy gaits.") The "dust" in "silk stockings catching dust" does not mean the dust of earth, but the "smoke." I grasp a duster in hand, and with a turn of my head, look at my own silk stockings.
Hu: What is the color of your outfit? Hsu: A white ground embroidered in blue, affixed with blue gauze, and wrapped in an outermost cape. Since this action occurs on the River Lo, the garment should be in the colors of water light blue or light green. In the episode of meeting Tsao Chih, I put on pink to show a happy mood. I have prepared two sets of outfits, but it is possible that I will have no time for a change. To rush too much from scene to scene is laborious, and may disturb my mood and feeling. Maybe I will just go along with the white suit.
Hu: So Tsao Chih shows up.
Hsu: Tsao Chih never understands clearly the status of the Goddess Lo. So he keeps on requesting-and even demanding-that they talk "down in his residence." In this episode, Tsao Chih sports a relatively flippant manner, somewhat childish and inquiring. It seems to him that he has run into a splendid beauty, and that he must not let go of her by chance. Lady Chen is ten years older than he, and more mature in her feelings. The deep love and helplessness she manifests in the lines- "I beg you to understand my sincerity. We might as well imitate phoenixes and fly together." -are beyond Tsao Chih's under standing. In terms of expression, Lady Chen is much more ingratiating, much more stable. Thus, in the beginning, she speaks out frankly: "You are fated to miss me; only I hope you will not go beyond the bounds of propriety." Though deeply in love, she always behaves in a proper manner- "Once behavior is involved, a treacherous barricade emerges." These are strong points of this play. Such love can only be under stood. No words, no behavior are needed. I feel that reserve is the most beautiful characteristic of the Chinese people's traditional treatment of love affairs. Currently, local movies tend to picture love between men and women much too frankly. Once you depict every thing, nothing poetic remains.
Hu: The play reaches its climax at this point.
Hsu: The emotion in the last scene is watered down. More emphasis is placed on the singing and dancing sometimes solo, sometimes group, or sometimes patterning after the orderly night of wild geese. In this passage, much poetic diction from the "Ode to Goddess Lo" is adopted. For instance, the most beautiful two phrases, "as sprightly as a beautiful woman," and "as pleasant as a prancing dragon," are major points of the dance. Hawks' turns are necessary to picture the scene of "as pleasant as a prancing dragon." I don't know how Mei Lan-fang did it. My personal understanding is that, when I and the two maids from the River Han make the hawks' turns together, the three of us, in a flash, fully demonstrate the lively and unrestrained demeanor of a dragon. First I learned the part, then I studied the "Ode" in order to closely understand every detail of it, and so I could coordinate the lines with the actions perfectly. To interpret "wandering listlessly," the three of us adopted a deportment similar to the "braiding of hair." In quick tempo, the silk and the duster seemed to float along, riding up and down the river on the crests of the waves.
Hu: In the "Legend of the White Snake," the trio-the white snake, green snake, and Hsu Hsien-also presented a "hair braiding" passage during the episode of the "Suspended Bridge," only it was meant to construe a scene of "to chase and kill" It was different from this number. The many depictions in Peking opera are like poetic diction, or like formulae in mathematics. There can be different combinations in each play.
Hsu: That is why an actress must receive basic training-to master a great variety of formulae so as to manipulate them adroitly. If your techniques are not polished enough, you have no way to present your role properly. I tried hard to follow Mei's enactment of "Goddess Lo." II is possible that he did not interpret the role the way I do, because I never had a chance to watch his actual stage performance. But I studied his book and tried hard to probe into and to understand his views of the performing arts. I wanted to follow in his steps, but perhaps I fail to reach deep enough into his domain at some point. I thus need your counsel. - Translated by Huang Yu-mei