Newsletter No. 477

8 477 • 4.5.2016 ’ 口談實錄 Viva Voce 本刊由香港中文大學資訊處出版，每月出版兩期。截稿日期及稿例載於 www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/chinese/newsletter/ 。 The CUHK Newsletter is published by the Information Services Office, CUHK, on a fortnightly basis. Submission guidelines and deadlines can be found at www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/english/newsletter/ . 古天農 Ko Tin-lung • 1979年崇基社會系 • 1993年起出任中英劇團藝術總監 • 1979 Graduate of Department of Sociology, Chung Chi College • Artistic Director, Chung Ying Theatre Company since 1993 大學為何修讀社會學？ 我成長在反越戰的年代，巴黎學生運動的年代，披頭四約翰 連儂的年代，整個世界都在刺激我思考。我中學已經自編自導 自演話劇，寫劇本諷刺當年的清潔香港運動，揭示學生考試 壓力，描繪雲吞麵小檔主苦況。我以劇本反映我眼中的世界。 搞話劇不是不食人間煙火，而是取材自社會事件。 當年大學選科，因沒有戲劇系可選，而最接近自己興趣的就是 社會學。除了香港演藝學院，香港到今天仍未有一所高校設 戲劇系，值得反省。 《南海十三郎》的故事是怎樣得來的？ 那是從報紙上一則小新聞得來的，說青山有個瘋子，幫精神病 院編排粵劇。我覺得這人殊不簡單，繼而去尋訪認識他的人， 得知他曾是港大高材生，智商超凡，英文聖經能倒背如流。還 聽說，那人精神失常後頻頻報警，聲稱自己一雙鞋被賊人偷 走，而且一人偷右腳，一人偷左腳。偷右腳的叫蔣介石，偷左腳 的叫毛澤東，弄得現在無路可走。你想想，這多有意思啊！我 於是叫 杜國威 寫他的故事。 你在乎票房嗎？ 很在乎。當年《我和春天有個約會》拍成電影，我和杜國威都 很擔心沒人入場。杜國威在戲院盯着排隊買票的人，逮住一 個打算看別齣戲的，掏出錢包說，現在我請你看，但你要看 《我和春天有個約會》。 我們關心票房的原因，不在於銀碼，而是愈覺得自己做出一件 好東西，就愈希望多人能欣賞。在香港搞戲劇，十套有九套必 定虧本，但仍然有人前仆後繼；那是一幫傻子，但傻得可愛。 老說政府資助藝術，依我說，藝術家用青春資助藝術，那是否 值得大家尊重，買票進場表示支持與鼓勵？ 中英劇團為何推動「教育劇場」，把戲劇帶入中小學？ 某年，我帶了一齣戲到中學巡演，講一個末流學生的故事。落 幕後有觀眾告訴我，他和同學原本打算去喝倒彩的，因為被老 師強迫到禮堂看戲，不高興。怎料布幕一開，演的正是老師在 教員室大罵學生一無是處，他們當場呆住，不但看完整齣戲， 事後還在學校裏辦了劇社。 香港很多學生沒機會接觸話劇，令他們主觀以為話劇等同無 聊、誇張、文藝腔、看不懂。推動「教育劇場」是為了還藝於 民，讓大眾看到，原來可以藉戲劇表達心聲，說自己的故事。 請談談中英與中大合作的氣候變化奇幻劇場。 「新世紀保源計劃」是首齣氣候變化奇幻劇，去年於四十所中 小學巡迴演出。今年的新劇目叫「少年Green的保源之旅」，圍 繞生物多樣化講故事，編排互動環節，以吸引觀眾投入劇情。 十幾年前和 李樂詩 聊天，她提及冰山融化和瘦巴巴的北極熊 時會傷心落淚，當時我已覺得，她四出奔走宣揚環保，不如直 接把自己的故事搬上舞台。氣候變化奇幻劇場源自同一思路， 為的是引導觀眾感性地看環保問題。 應邀合辦的戲劇項目，難免「主題先行」。如何避免妥協 藝術創作理念？ 這正正能體現高手與低手之分。雖然主題先行，但你有沒有 能力挖得深，講得動聽？環保、反貪、反吸煙等外來題材， 硬銷很沉悶，學生最抗拒說教。要吸引他們看下去，一定要用 娛樂的手法演繹嚴肅話題，保留思考的空間，而非用嚴肅話 題嚇走觀眾。 Why did you choose sociology as your major? I grew up in the anti-Vietnam War years, the Paris student movement years, the Beatles and John Lennon years. Back then the whole wide world gave me food for thought. In my secondary school days, I already wrote and directed and acted in my own plays—plays that satirized the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign, exposed the exam pressures students faced, and depicted the plight of wonton-noodle- stall owners. In my scripts you will find the world seen through my own eyes. So drama is not an escape from reality but draws inspiration from social issues. When I entered university, there was no drama department. So I picked what interested me the most, and that was sociology. But even in this day and age, apart from HKAPA, none of the higher education institutions in Hong Kong has a drama department. And that’s cause for reflection. How did the story of The Mad Phoenix come about? The creative idea was based on a news story about a lunatic in Castle Peak Hospital. It’s reported that the man was producing Cantonese opera performances for the hospital. I thought he’s terrific and, after interviewing people who knew him, I learned that he had once been a top student at HKU. He was super smart and knew the English Bible inside out. Rumour had it that, after going insane, he often reported to the police about losing a pair of shoes, each stolen by a different thief—the right one by Chiang Kai- shek and the left one by Mao Zedong. So he ended up with nowhere to go. Just imagine how interesting that was! That’s how I came to ask To Kwok-wai Raymond to write a story about him. Does box office matter to you? Very much. When the movie adapted from I Have a Date with Spring premiered, Raymond and I were very worried that no one would go to see it. He even went to a cinema and kept an eye on the people queueing up at the box office. When he spotted one who was about to go for another movie, he immediately took out his wallet and pleaded: ‘Allow me to pay for the ticket. But you’ve got to see I Have a Date with Spring !’ Ticket sales matter to us not because of the dollar sign. It’s because the greater your confidence in a job well done, the higher your hope for appreciation will be. In Hong Kong, nine times out of ten, you will lose money investing in theatre productions. But still the fools keep rushing in and they are such a lovely bunch. People keep saying the government should fund the arts. But I say, for artists who dedicate the flower of their youth to their arts, shouldn’t we show a little more respect and buy tickets for their performances as a form of support and encouragement? Theatre-in-Education is promoted by Chung Ying Theatre Company to introduce the art of drama to primary and secondary schools. How did it all start? I was once on a performance tour to secondary schools. The play was about bottom-of-the-class students. After the curtain fell, a student in the audience told me that he and some others were there simply because attendance was made compulsory by their teacher. In fact they were so unhappy that they showed up with the intention to boo us. However, as soon as the show began, when they saw the scene of a teacher scolding and calling a student useless, they were spellbound. They not only watched the entire play but also went on to form a drama society. Many local students have no chance of getting to know anything about drama. So they get the impression that plays tend to be boring, full of melodrama and flowery speeches, and hard to understand. The objective of Theatre-in- Education is to raise public awareness and let the public see the true colours of theatre. By doing so, they will understand how a play can be used to speak one’s mind and tell one’s story. Please tell us about The Drama of Climate Change , a collaborative project between Chung Ying and CUHK. Premiered last year, The Drama of Climate Change went on a tour to 40 primary and secondary schools. The new play this year focuses on the theme of biodiversity and incorporates interactive elements to better engage the audience. Over a decade ago, I had a conversation with Rebecca Lee , who couldn’t help shedding tears at the mention of melting ice caps and emaciated polar bears. It occurred to me that instead of running around promoting environmental protection, she might as well tell her stories on stage. The Drama of Climate Change is based on the same thinking. It’s meant to motivate the audience to look at environmental issues from an emotional point of view. For collaborative drama projects, a theme-oriented approach is inevitable. How do you avoid compromising creativity? That’s exactly the kind of thing to show just how good (or bad) you really are. It’s all very well for the theme to take precedence, but the question is do you have the ability to dig deeper and tell a captivating story? Environmental protection, anti-corruption, anti-smoking—all these topics can be quite boring if you hard sell the audience. The last thing the students need is a lecture. Even for a serious topic, you’ve still got to take an entertaining approach to give them room to think. Otherwise, you will only scare them away. Photo by Keith Hiro