Staging Eugene O’Neill in China in the 1980s

尤金．奧尼爾在二十世紀八十年代的中國舞臺上

「文革」結束後的二十世紀八十年代，尤金．奧尼爾的戲劇作品在中國大陸話劇舞臺上大量湧現。這些演出與當時的政治、文化背景相互動，成為中國戲劇史上一個很有意義的現象。其中早期演出多以政治宣傳和意識形態批評為目的，風格儘量寫實，試圖忠於原著；後期演出則多注重人文主義和啟蒙觀念，一些導演開始轉向奧尼爾的實驗性作品，或對其文本進行自覺的主體性演繹。該變化也顯示了幾代藝術家對奧尼爾的不同認識。作為兼收並蓄的美國戲劇家，奧尼爾給八十年代的中國話劇演出帶來了深遠的影響，並將在此後繼續宣告他的存在。

The 1980s, the decade right after the ”Cultural Revolution,” witnessed a sudden surge of spoken-drama productions of Eugene O'Neill plays in Mainland China. These performances interacted with the political and cultural context of the time, producing a significant phenomenon in Chinese theater history that invites close examination. Most of the early productions of that decade showed propaganda and ideological propensities; they were supposedly realistic in style and faithful to the original script. Later efforts, however, expressed more humanist concerns and enlightenment values than socialist anxieties. Some turned from O'Neill's realistic plays to his experimental pieces and others featured conscious subjectivity in the directors' interpretation of O'Neill texts. The change also indicated a divergence in attitudes of different generations toward O'Neill. The eclectic American dramatist exerted a far-reaching influence on the Chinese theater of spoken drama throughout the 1980s and would continue to have his presence felt in the decades to come. 「文革」結束後的二十世紀八十年代，尤金．奧尼爾的戲劇作品在中國大陸話劇舞臺上大量湧現。這些演出與當時的政治、文化背景相互動，成為中國戲劇史上一個很有意義的現象。其中早期演出多以政治宣傳和意識形態批評為目的，風格儘量寫實，試圖忠於原著；後期演出則多注重人文主義和啟蒙觀念，一些導演開始轉向奧尼爾的實驗性作品，或對其文本進行自覺的主體性演繹。該變化也顯示了幾代藝術家對奧尼爾的不同認識。作為兼收並蓄的美國戲劇家，奧尼爾給八十年代的中國話劇演出帶來了深遠的影響，並將在此後繼續宣告他的存在。