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Marriage is dissected and revealed

Marriage and love are the focus of Hugh K.S. Lee in the play Last Night When Stars Were Bright. PHOTO COURTESY OF PING-FONG ACTING TROUPE

Hugh K.S. Lee (李國修), Ping-Fong Acting Troupe's (屏風表演班) unorthodox and brilliant director and actor has begun to question the wisdom of divorce as the only way of resolving the problem of extramarital affairs.

His new play, Last Night When Stars Were Bright (昨夜星辰) , will start a tour of the country from tonight.

The issue is probed from the perspective of two generations of people intertwined and involves four love stories. Lee based his plot on his own observations of people around him.

The social background of the play deserves special attention and involves the "Safeguard the Diaoyutai Movement" (保釣運動), an anti-Japanese campaign over ownership of the Diaoyutai islets, in 1971; and the "Wild Lilly Movement" (野百合運動), a student hunger strike, to call for the abolishment of the National Assembly and other political reforms, in 1990.

Both movements provide the platform for some young, married enthusiasts to fall in love again when they are surrounded by feelings of revolutionary romanticism.

Leading actress Ting Wei's (庭薇) father had an affair 20 years ago, resulting from his participation in the Diaoyutai Movement. Her mother took revenge by refusing to divorce.

Ting Wei, living under the shadow of her parents' "cold war," develops a negative attitude toward marriage, but is dating Ren Jun (人君), who has a mother who secretly loves someone else, not Ren's father. Meantime, the woman that Ren Jun truly cares for keeps her affection for her former husband. Their relationship has not been entirely severed.

The Wild Lilly Movement draws Ting Wei and Ren Jun closer and they have an affair which results in Ting Wei's pregnancy.

The play finally reaches its climax when both of them have to yield to pressure from each of their families by agreeing to get married. As the date of the marriage approaches, will they fulfill their parents' wishes and commit to a marriage without true love?

Lee's play has a fade-in and fade-out approach by dividing the stage into two blocks, where characters in the play can freely move through time and space to act out the different yet related crises that each family is facing.

Lee seems to suggest the sweet moments in one's marriage do not come easily, or without having to undergo difficulties. Lee therefore arranges his plot to show at the end that the troubled couples return to their original marriages by overcoming their own bitter feelings.

Performance notes:
What: Last Night When Stars Were Bright, by the Ping-Fong Acting Troupe
Where: National Theater Hall (國家戲劇院) at 21-1 Zhongshan S Rd, Taipei (台北市中山南路２１之１號)
When: 10/07 and 10/08 at 7:30pm; 10/10 to 10/15 at 7:30pm; 10/08 and 10/09 at 2:30pm; 10/15 to 10/16 at 2:30pm.
There are shows from October to December in Kaohsiung, Tainan, Hsinchu, Chiayi and Taichung.
Ticket Reservation: (02)3393 9888
Web site: www.pingfong.com.tw
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