香港現當代戲劇粵語劇本書寫發展初探（1910 年代～1990 年代）

A Preliminary Exploration of the Development of Modern and Contemporary Hong Kong Cantonese Playwriting (1910s-1990s)

香港現當代戲劇發展的過程中，其中一條發展脈絡是從白話文變成以粵語來寫作劇本。有學者認為香港用粵語寫作的劇本在上世紀六、七○代之後多了起來，過了八、九○年代，用粵語寫作更成為劇作家樹立本土特色的自覺要求。順著這個觀察，我們可以追問幾組問題：第一，上世紀六、七○年代以前，香港是否沒有用粵語寫成的劇本？如果有，那是怎樣的形態？第二，如果說粵語劇本是七○年代之後多了起來，那麼在此之前，是否存在一個從白話文轉成用粵語寫作劇本的過渡階段？第三，粵語寫作劇本的意識被確立的年代是八、九○年代，那時用粵語寫成的劇本又是怎樣的形態？第四，劇作家用粵語寫作是否只是為了顯示本土性，還是有另外的美學追求？本文以這四組問題為核心，嘗試勾勒香港自1910年代至1990年代間，近八十年的粵語劇本書寫軌跡，並在論文最後部分指出此研究可進一步發展之方向。

In the development of Hong Kong’s modern and contemporary drama, one notable trajectory has been the shift from writing plays in modern vernacular Chinese to Cantonese. Scholars have noted a gradual increase in Cantonese-written plays since the 1960s and 1970s, and Cantonese has even become a conscious language of choice for playwrights to assert a distinct local identity starting from the 1980s and 1990s. From this observation follow several questions: First, were there Cantonese-written plays in Hong Kong before the 1960s and 1970s, and if so, what forms did they take? Second, was there a transition phase from writing in modern vernacular Chinese to writing in Cantonese prior to the rise of Cantonese plays in the 1970s? Third, what was the state of Cantonese-written plays in the 1980s and the 1990s, the period that saw the consolidation of playwrights’awareness of writing in Cantonese? Fourth, was the use of Cantonese a mere marking of local identity, or did it also reflect aesthetic pursuits? Focusing on these questions, this study seeks to map the 80-year trajectory of Cantonese playwriting in Hong Kong from the 1910s to the 1990s and makes suggestions for the directions of further research.