展演後設：國光劇團的《艷后》與《水袖》

Metatheatrical Approaches in the Guoguang Opera Company’s Cleopatra and Her Fools and Flowing Sleeves and Rouge

本文首先試著釐清後設戲劇的定義，接著以2012 年國光劇團的《艷后和她的小丑們》為主，2013 年國光的《水袖與胭脂》為輔，討論兩劇使用後設的敘事策略。紀蔚然在《艷后和她的小丑們》中，以「當代京劇團排演莎劇」出發，藉著戲外的人物與原著對話，質疑詰問莎士比亞，同時也自我顛覆，乃結構形式與語言上的高調戲耍，同時昭示了戲曲改編莎士比亞不一定只能號稱「忠於原著」，也可以有當代臺灣人的觀點。《水袖與胭脂》則屬於內容思想上的內斂探索，王安祈回歸戲曲抒情敘事本體，以楊貴妃死後觀點回探長生殿故事，劇中不斷思考辯證戲劇的本質，對扮演、對戲情、對創作之不朽有深刻的探討。兩劇皆呈現一種以邊緣（東方／傳統）對抗主流（西方／現代）的企圖與自信。

This paper attempts to (1) clarify the definition of metadrama, and (2) discuss the use of metadramatic narrative strateties in two plays by the Guoguang Opera Company 國光劇團, Cleopatra and Her Fools《艷后和她的小丑們》and Flowing Sleeves and Rouge《水袖與胭脂》. In traditional Chinese theatre, metadrama usually appears in a wide sense: philosophically, that life is a dream and all the world is a stage, and structurally, as a play-within-a-play. In recent years, we have witnessed a breakthrough in the employment of metatheatricality in traditional theatre in Taiwan: Cleopatra and Her Fools and Flowing Sleeves and Rouge, produced by the Guoguang Opera Company in 2012 and 2013, respectively, have demonstrated an uncommonly keen consciousness of theatricality. Cleopatra and Her Fools is adapted from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra by modern playwright Wei-Jan Chi 紀蔚然. His adaptation is about a contemporary Beijing opera company staging the play Antony and Cleopatra. With lines such as “history can be rewritten” and “we lost the original script,” Chi questions Shakespeare and himself and plays with structure and language. An-Chi Wang 王安祈’s Flowing Sleeves and Rouge takes on an introversive approach. She retells the story of the famous Yang Guifei 楊貴妃, and the play explores the nature of drama, discussing acting and the immortality of art. The two works demonstrate the confidence to counter the mainstream notions (Western/modern) from the periphery (Eastern/ traditional).