Tragedy and humor found an inch apart

Taiwan theater director Stan Lai's latest productions, The Seagull and I Take Your Hand in Mine, bring audiences close to Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. [Photo: China Daily]

As a drama director, Stan Lai is a firm believer in original creation.

He sees himself as an apprentice and loyal fan of William Shakespeare. But he is unwilling to stage any of the Bard's works. Instead, on the few occasions he has adapted another person's work, he has always turned to Anton Chekhov. Now, in addition to a retelling of the Russian playwright's classic The Seagull, he also plans to take on I Take Your Hand in Mine.

Written by New York University teacher, playwright and Chekhov expert Carol Rocamora, Hand is a look at the relationship between Chekhov and his actress wife Olga Knipper. During their brief marriage, the couple lived mostly apart, as Olga spent most of her time touring the country performing and Chekhov was forced to stay at home to write.

They communicated through more than 400 letters, in which they discussed art and life. It is these letters on which the play is based.

"In I Take Your Hand in Mine, you will see the relationship, love, and times of Chekhov and his works," Lai says. "Audiences will find themselves not at all far from Chekhov."

Chekhov was charmed by Knipper when she played the lead in The Seagull. Throughout their marriage the two artists would work together, with Knipper performing her husband's scripts that were probably inspired by her in the first place. This interesting connection led Lai to an experimental arrangement-the two mutually interpretative plays will be shown on the same day with only a short supper break.

Last year, Lai wowed audiences and critics with an experimental eight-hour epic A Dream Like a Dream, which weaves several characters' dreams and realities into a seamless structure that echoes Buddhist beliefs about life and death.

"It seems that after the eight-hour experience we are no longer satisfied with two-hour plays," the director jokes.

When Lai read Chekhov for the first time as a drama student at UC Berkeley, he failed to notice the phrase: "a four-act comedy"-a description that later confused him because Chekhov's work seems so unrelentingly bleak. That same confusion was probably shared by Russian dramatist Constantin Stanislavski.

According to Chekhov's letters, he disagreed with Stanislavski's characterization of his plays as tragedies. Chekhov also argued with his wife when she wrote to him describing how actors cried during the script reading of The Cherry Orchard.

"I can really see from his plays that joy and sorrow are merely an inch apart," Lai says. "When you experience extreme happiness or extreme sadness, take a picture. You'll probably see the same look on your face."

The Seagull, which Lai calls an encyclopedia of love, depicts various modes of relationships. For example, two people love each other but can't be together, and people who end up together don't love each other. Some people regret the loss of love, while others don't care.

"When you wonder how a woman is so stupid as to love a man like this, it's a tragedy. But you can also say, 'It's so funny how she actually loves him'. Joy or sorrow rather depend on your perspective," Lai says.

In Lai's previous plays, he has been equally capable of making his audience laugh and cry. The Village, for example, examined the lives of three Kuomintang soldier families who had lived in Taiwan since 1949 yet longed to return to the Chinese mainland. While the stories were humorous, the underlying themes of how politics and history affect ordinary people's destinies gave the play a tragic overtone.

"The actors told me they laughed like crazy during the rehearsal of The Seagull. So I am really curious how Lai is going to stage a turn of emotions," says Zhang Yue, TV host and writer who recently joined Lai in a public discussion about the plays.

If you go:

Two plays in a row, starting at 4 pmwith a supper break,March 1416, Beijing Poly Theater, 14 Dongzhimennan Dajie (Street), Dongcheng district. 4006004100.