Alan Ayckbourn belongs to a generation of highly prolific and accomplished British playwrights who seems capable of writing about almost anything with a degree of elegance and sophistication that audiences never seem to tire of. Plays like the perennial repertory favorite Communicating Doors (開錯門中門), show a high level of craftsmanship in both the dialogue and the construction, so that even though the premise is absurd and the substance negligible, it is endlessly revived and has been translated into many languages.
It is no surprise, therefore, that it has proved exceedingly popular in its Chinese adaptation by the Godot Theater (果陀劇場), which first premiered in 1996 and has been brought back on numerous occasions since. Godot, like Ayckbourn, does not aspire to the heights of dramatic genius, but it is a workmanlike group that has successfully staged numerous adaptations from western theater, and while not always achieving the energy and punch of the West End or Broadway, have given Taiwanese audiences access to many modern western dramatic works of which they would otherwise remain ignorant.
Communicating Doors provides plenty of opportunity for screwball comedy, and as the doors of the title allow for time travel across a period of two decades, it is ideal for showcasing the versatility of the cast.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF GODOT THEATER
The action takes place in a London five star hotel suite in the year 2024. Poopay has come to "service" the very elderly, sickly client Reese. Reese is not interested in sex but wants Poopay to witness a document in which he confesses to helping to murder his two former wives. He also wants her to take the document to the police.
Reese has his business partner Julian traveling and caring for him. Julian gets wind of the subterfuge and attempts to kill Poopay to retrieve the secret document since he is implicated in the confession as the killer of the second wife. Poopay escapes through a closet door and finds herself in 2004. She meets the second wife Ruella just before she is about to be killed. The dominatrix finally convinces Ruella of the danger and these two set out to save themselves and warn Reese's first wife Jessica who is in 1984. It sounds confusing, but such is Ayckbourn's skill in putting this intricate structure together, it all manages to jell in a fast paced mayhem of thrills and humor.
As is usual with Godot performances, actors from film and television are often recruited to participate in productions, leading to somewhat uneven quality. In this production, Godot brings together six regulars, including Chen Yu-fang (陳幼芳), who is reprising the role of Ruella for the third time. Veteran actor David Tao (陶大偉) takes the role of Reese, relishing the challenge of playing roles that range from the 70-year-old Reese at the beginning of the play, to a 30-year-old Reese later in the action. Tsai Chamder (蔡燦得), who is best known for appearances in TV soaps, model Chien Shuai-chun (錢帥君) and Shu Tsung-hao (舒宗浩), a Godot regular but primarily a director and scriptwriter for traditional plays, fill out the cast.
Communicating Doors, is well adapted to such a mixed cast, and while much of Ayckbourn's verbal humor is lost, there is plenty of room for improvisation and stage business, something that Godot uses to lend a new gloss to such revivals.
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s