劇本的改編、衍生與對照——以《女優奈々子的審判》為中心

The Adaptation and Development of a Script: A Study of The Trial of Actress Nanako

一個具有普遍認同度的題材，似乎不單只能藉由作品被翻譯、重複改編的意義來彰顯，亦能透過「不同時空下產生的原創作品卻呈現出類似內容」的現象來反映。內容相似且容易讓人感受和接受的故事，可能在不同的時間地點，被不同作者創作出來，當中並無衍生自其他作品之鑿痕。換言之，戲劇作品「共通性」至少有兩種可能詮釋角度：一是改編；另一是複數原創作品在題材上的相似性。前者相關的研究與改編實例是學者較熟悉的課題，後者則少有專門研究者。本文以《女優奈々子的審判》作為討論中心，分析這部由日本作家小林宗吉翻譯自美國劇作家巴耶特．魏理爾（Bayard Veiller，1869-1943）百老匯音樂劇劇本《瑪莉杜根的審判》（The Trial of Mary Dugan）的作品，其內容主題與架構、流傳方式，以及它與當時其他原創作品之間的相似之處，首先探討《女優奈々子的審判》於日本生成與流行的景況，繼而檢視其於戰前與戰後至一九五○年代的臺灣，為新劇劇團以「做活戲」、「偷戲」等手法所改編的方式，最後探討其劇情中的角色身分／性格設定與人際互動模式，與當時其他作者的原創小說、舞台劇與電影作品之間的不謀而合，藉此闡述運用本文所主張之兩種理解戲劇作品間「共通性」現象的詮釋角度，來分析戲劇文本的方式。

The popularity of a theater topic is shown not only in the continuous translation and adaptation of theater works on the topic; it can also be recognized through the coexistence of original works that were created in distinct contexts but share similar content. Authors in different creative milieus may compose stories whose respective readings show both similarity and distinctiveness from each other. We may also discern that the similarity among these stories is not necessarily derived from the adaptation of an original work. As a result, two types of interpretive viewpoints are necessary for an understanding of the creative process through which the commonality among theater works can be recognized: (1) the adaptation of an original text and its derivative works; (2) the coincident selection of similar theater topics by individual authors. This article demonstrates the usefulness of the first viewpoint by analyzing the content and adaptation of Sokichi Kobayashi’s The Trial of Actress Nanako. Kobayashi published The Trial of Actress Nanako in 1939 as a translation of The Trial of Mary Dugan by the American writer Bayard Veiller (1869-1943), which was presented as a musical show at Broadway, New York in 1927. The Trial of Actress Nanako was widely adapted by troupes of modern theater in Taiwan before and after the WWII and throughout the 1950s. The present research further explains the usefulness of the second viewpoint by showing the coincident selection of similar topics and elements of theater among The Trial of Actress Nanako and other literary and performing works at the time. Specifically, I discuss the formation and popularity of The Trial of Actress Nanako in Japan in the 1930s. In addition, I examine two major approaches which troupes of modern theater in Taiwan commonly employed to adapt The Trial of Actress Nanako in their performance: (1) zuo huo xi, i.e. actors improvised in accordance with the conditions available in the performing context; (2) tou xi, i.e., actors created their own version of a story that shares similar plots with the versions of others, and appropriated expressive forms that they had learned while watching others’ performances. Moreover, I analyze the character setting and the modes of interactions among characters commonly portrayed in The Trial of Actress Nanako and in a novel published in the 1890s, a theater presented in the mid-1910s, and a silent as well as a sound motion film screened in the 1930s. In so doing I show the ways in which I applied the present two interpretive viewpoints to analyze the formation and meanings of the commonality among theater works.