一九三○年代上海改良文明戲的實踐及其批判

Implementation and Criticism of Modified Crude Stage Plays of Shanghai in the 1930s

中國戲劇史中的話劇一詞，一開始就以非唱的對話形式推動情節、嚴肅的製作演出及明確的主題意識確立其藝術品性，創作者及觀眾的知識菁英色彩相對明顯，而同時活躍於大城市中遊藝場及部分劇場，已經採用純然對話形式及通俗題材、主要為小市民提供娛樂的新劇／文明戲，雖然標榜演出的是「高尚話劇」，卻仍然不被彼時話劇界及後世戲劇學界所認可，致使一九一四年「甲寅中興」之後上海的新劇／文明戲發展及其影響，長期為中國話劇史書寫所忽視低估。但事實上，彼時新劇／文明戲的發展在上海從未明顯衰落，只是隨著各大小型遊樂場及百貨公司附設遊藝空間的陸續成立，進行演出場域的轉移而已，並長期穩定地提供小市民通俗演劇的娛樂需求，以及在相當程度上擴大了現代戲劇形式在中國的影響範圍。一九二○年代前後，上海文明戲界因高度商業化發展而面臨內外部的壓力，因而自發性地推動文明戲的改良動作，並於一九三○年代漸以「高尚話劇」之姿獲得上海市民觀眾的認同與歡迎，而話劇界人士為爭取更多的觀眾並擴大其演出影響，也提出應打入文明戲陣地並對其進行改良以實現話劇大眾化目的的呼籲，八一三淞滬會戰後，則再次提出具大眾通俗特質的文明戲應予以改良以為文藝大眾化及抗戰宣傳所用，而在上海出現了一波改良文明戲的論爭。自一九一九年秋上海新劇公會組織戲劇研究會開始，到一九三○年代中後期大中華話劇場、皇后劇院及綠寶劇場先後以改良文明戲陣地自居，並以現代的編導制取代其傳統的幕表制，促進了文明戲、話劇、電影界的人才交流，以及文明戲與話劇俗雅合流的速度，這不僅讓文明戲正式成為話劇家庭的一員，同時，也刺激話劇有更多的通俗化、商業化創作。本文擬對一九三○年代的改良文明戲作為、論爭及運動進行研究，梳理文明戲何以改良、何需改良、何人改良、如何改良、改良影響等相關問題，並對話劇的實質內涵及話劇／文明戲此二元對立結構提出看法，希冀對中國話劇史研究有所深化及突破。

In the history of Chinese drama, the term ＂stage play＂ refers to moving a plot in the form of unsung dialogues. The artistic character building is validated through production performances and explicit theme awareness. The essence of intellectual elitism is apparent in the creator and audience. At the same time, amusement arcades and some theaters actively operating in the city had adopted pure dialogue forms and popular themes to provide new dramas/crude stage plays for city residents. Although ＂modern drama＂ performances were flaunted, they were not recognized by the stage play circles and troupes at the time or the later drama academia. Consequently, the Shanghai new drama/crude stage plays after the flourishing period of 1914 (jiayin zhong xing甲寅中興) have long been neglected and underestimated by stage play history books. In fact, the development of new dramas/crude stage plays in Shanghai at the time was not showing an obvious decline; instead, only the venue that hosted the performances had changed following the establishment of amusement arcades and department stores. Long-term and stable entertainment were in turn provided to city residents to meet their needs for popular drama entertainment. To a certain extent, the scope of influence of modern drama forms in China had been broadened. Around the 1920s, Shanghai's crude stage play circle faced internal and external pressure due to a high level of commercialized development. Modified movements in crude stage play were spontaneously promoted. In the 1930s, crude stage plays gradually gained recognition as a paragon of modern drama and were well received by Shanghai residents. In order to seek larger audiences and extend the influence of performances, the stage play community proposed the idea of entering and modifying the arena of the crude stage play in order to realize the appeal for popularizing stage plays. After the Battle of Shanghai on August 13, 1937, modifying crude stage plays with popular characteristics, popularizing culture and arts, and serving as propagandization for resisting the Japanese were proposed once again, setting off a wave of debate over modified crude stage plays in Shanghai. Starting with the drama research workshop organized by the Autumn Shanghai New Drama Guild in 1919, to the mid-1930s and late-1930s when the Greater China Stage Play, Queen's Theatre, and Green-Pao Theatre considered themselves to be the venues for modifying crude stage plays, the traditional playwright-director system was also replaced with a modern one, which facilitated exchanges among talents in crude stage plays, stage plays, and motion picture circles. The convergence of refined and popular stage plays and stage plays was facilitated, thereby inspiring more popular and commercial creations of stage play. In this paper, modified crude stage play practices in the 1930s, the arguments and movements, were studied to sort out how to modify crude stage plays, why they should be modified, who should modify them, how to modify them, and the effects of modification. The opinions in this paper on the substantive connotations of stage plays and the binary, oppositional structure of stage play/crude stage plays were put forward, hoping to deepen the study of stage plays in China and achieve breakthroughs.