「厚生演劇研究會」初探

A Discussion of the Kōsei Theater Society in Japanese Colonial Taiwan

殖民地臺灣在接受西方近代戲劇的過程中，曾經發生過兩次戲劇運動。第一次是在一九二○年代，由殖民地知識份子發起，為配合文化啟蒙運動而推動的「新劇運動」；第二次是發生在一九四○年代太平洋戰爭期間，日本殖民政府基於皇民化需要所推展的「青年劇運動」。本文所探討的「厚生演劇研究會」即是出現在殖民地官方大力倡導「青年劇運動」期間，臺灣知識份子企圖扭轉官方戲劇論述的一次具體結社行動。一九四三年間，集結了當時臺灣藝文界精英的《臺灣文學》集團，巧妙操作戰醉期間官方政策性推行「青年劇運動」的機會，籌組「厚生演劇研究會」並進行公演。有別於為軍國主義宣傳的官方美學，「厚生演劇研究會」的主事者王井泉與林博秋在公演籌備期間秉持「第二次新劇運動」之精神，提出了「鄉土的」、「寫實的」戲劇理念，企圖與一九二○年代的新劇運動進行銜接。若從臺灣近代戲劇發展的觀點看「厚生淀劇研究會」，一方向，它突顯了戰爭期臺灣知識份子對皇民化運動下臺灣戲劇發展的主體性問題所進行的思考；另一方面，由於「厚生」的結社與公演正是在「臺年劇運動」的基礎上出現，幾乎可以說，「厚生」在抗拒軍國主義美學的同時，非常弔詭地扭轉、擴大了原屬官方的「青年劇逸動」的內涵。

Two drama movements were important in introducing the techniques and practices of western modern drama to colonial Taiwan. The fist was the New Theater Movement, led by Taiwanese intellectuals in the 1920's as a part of the Cultural Enlightenment Movement; the second was the Youth Theater Movement, promoted and sponsored by the Japanese colonial government to reinforce its program of assimilation (kōminka) during the Pacific War. This paper discusses the Kōsei Theater Society that was established by Taiwanese intellectuals in 1943 with the aim of subverting the official discourse on drama during the Youth Theatre Movement. The Taiwanese Literature group was composed of educated elites who availed themselves of the government's promotion of the Youth Theater Movement to organize the Kōsei Theater society and put on public performances. Resisting the military propaganda associated with the Youth theater Movement, the Kōsei's leaders emphasized the indigenous and realistic in their performances and realistic in their performances and aimed to draw a direct connection to the New Theater Movement of the 1920s. From the perspectice of development of modern Taiwanese theater, Kōsei reveals that wartime Taiwanese intellectuals were already reflecting on the subjectivity of Taiwanese theater under the assimilation movement. Because the Kōsei was able to be formed and put on performances in the midst of the Youth Theater Movement, we can say that the Kōsei resisted militaristic aesthetcs and, consequently, subverted and expanded the government's intentions behind the Youth Theater Movement.