西方作為亞洲歷史的表演場域：論《寬恕》的歷史再現、儀式扮演與意象式劇場

The West as a Performing Site for Asian History: On the Representation of History, Ritual Performance, and Imagistic Theatre in Forgiveness

《寬恕》是由歐美六個單位共同委託製作，以音樂舞蹈為主的舞台劇，在中、日、韓、美四國藝術家歷經三年合作，於二○○○年在美國首演。此作品是世界上少數在涉及他國大屠殺的脈絡下，企圖由儀式搬演探索療傷、和解寬恕的可能性，思考如何打破歷史帶來的仇恨循環。同時希望藉此表演讓西方觀眾知曉他們較不熟悉的太平洋戰爭歷史，尤其是日本對慰安婦的剝削和對中國的侵略。除了主題富挑戰性，《寬恕》的形式融合中國京劇、日本能劇、韓國傳統的巫士（salpuri）舞蹈和古老的宮廷（chungak）歌唱，另外尚有美國的嘻哈音樂和西方歌唱技巧，以及數種中國與日本的樂器演奏等等，跨越多種表演類別。《寬恕》提供一個少見的例子，可以審視表演和暴力屠殺歷史、療傷、寬恕和解三者間的藝術和知識哲學議題。此篇論文不討論不同表演形式的融合問題，而聚焦於《寬恕》是如何再現這段亞洲歷史與搬演儀式，尤其審視跨文化合作模式與贊助單位，表演者衝突的歷史記憶以及西方作為亞洲歷史的表演場域等因素如何影響其創作形式和再現歷史的策略，因此導致《寬恕》成為一個鮮少有敘事，隱喻象徵的東方意象式劇場，而這樣的意象式劇場又引發哪些再現的美學與倫理問題？最後，藉著探討世界其他呼籲和解寬恕的表演作品，思考《寬恕》為何於作品中無法討論寬恕。

Co-commissioned by six organizations in America and Europe, Forgiveness, a music-dance centered theatrical work, premiered in America in 2000, after a three year, international collaboration among well-known artists from China, Korea, Japan and America. This ritual-like performance, one of the few productions in the world with genocide as its subject, calls for healing and reconciliation, and explores the possibilities of breaking the destructive cycle of hatred emanating from the past. It also attempts to call the attention of Western audiences to the lesser known history of the Pacific War, especially Japan’s exploitation of comfort women and its aggression in China. Groundbreaking and challenging in its theme, Forgiveness is also innovative in its form by incorporating several traditional Chinese and Japanese musical instruments and by drawing on Asian performing traditions, such as Peking opera, Japanese noh theatre, Korean salpuri dance and chungak singing, as well as American hip-pop and western singing. This production serves as a valuable case for intellectual and artistic inquiries into the ways that performance attempts to represent the genocidal violence of war history, to heal wounds and reconcile. This article does not explore how different performing traditions worked together; rather, it focuses on the representation of history and ritual performance, with an emphasis on how international collaboration, the contested memories of the performers, and the West as a performing site influenced the form and the strategies of representation, making Forgiveness a metaphoric-imagistic theatre with little narrative. What are some of its aesthetic and ethical problems? Finally, this article examines why Forgiveness failed to speak of forgiveness, by discussing some other dramatic performances calling for peace, on stages throughout the world, that to a certain degree have achieved this goal.