Wed, Sep 07, 2016 page14

• The Eiza 榮座

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  A building in Taipei’s Ximending that now houses a cinema and a Japanese budget apparel store used to be a Japanese European-style theater called the Eiza.

  The theater was inaugurated in October, 1902, when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. At that time, plays such as The Treasury of Loyal Retainers (忠臣藏), Kabuki (Japanese dance-drama) or Bunraku (traditional Japanese puppet play), were performed. The theater house was filled with the sounds of the three-stringed shamisen, and the audience, which would kneel in the traditional seiza posture on the tatami mat floor watching the performance onstage, was predominantly Japanese.

  Lee Ching-chih, an associate professor in architectural design at Shih Chien University, described the Eiza as “one of the old theaters now lost to us.” The Eiza was one of the theaters dating back to the Japanese colonial era, which included the Tamsui Theater, the Red House Theater and the Taihoku Kokaido (“Taipei City Hall” in Japanese) among their number. These provided a temporary escape from reality, a chance to get away from it all. Unfortunately, with the exception of the Red House Theater and the Taihoku Kokaido, all of these unique, evocative theaters have disappeared into history.

  

  The Eiza Theater House is pictured in an undated photo. 榮座；拍攝日期不明。

  Photo: Screengrab by Liao Shuo-wen, Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government, courtesy of Taipei City Archives
  攝影：廖碩文，臺北市政府觀光傳播局《台北畫刊》第565期，翻攝自臺北市立文獻館資料

  In his book “A History of Cinema in Taipei’s Ximending, from 1896 to 1997,” Professor Yeh Lung-yen detailed the vicissitudes of the century-old history of movie theaters in Ximending. The book mentioned a new play Bu Ru Gui (“Nothing here for me now”) performed at the Eiza in 1910, whose prologue Riguang Shanzhong (“Mountain Sun”) used complex equipment to create a thick blanket of fog on stage, amazing the audience. This was something of a revolution for theatrical arts.

  The plays performed in the Eiza conveyed a sense of realism and transported the audience back to the time of the story. Most of the time the place was packed. The stage effects the audience found so impressive back then might not seem so remarkable to us today, given the audio-visual movie effects we have become accustomed to, but a century ago they were right on the cutting edge.

  Source: Hsu Li-chin, Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government, originally in the Taipei Pictorial, edition 565.

  

  Shoppers and tourists walk past the location on which the Eiza was built in Taipei’s Ximending on Aug. 24. 購物及觀光的人潮八月二十四日走過榮座現址；攝於台北西門町。

  Photo: Ethan Zhan, Taipei Times
  攝影：台北時報詹豐造

  (Translated by Ethan Zhan, Taipei Times)

  現今西門町絕色影城和日本平價服飾品牌所在的建築物，曾經是日式歐化劇場「榮座」。榮座落成於一九○二年十月，正是日本統治台灣的時期。當時，劇院中演的是《忠臣藏》系列劇目、日本歌舞劇或傀儡戲，三味線（三弦）的音韻繚繞，觀眾大部分是日本人，在榻榻米上跪膝而坐地專心觀賞。

  實踐大學建築設計系副教授的李清志形容榮座為「已經消失的古董電影院」，同時期還有淡水戲館、紅樓劇場、公會堂等古董級電影院，提供人們暫離現實的「臨時性烏托邦」享受，可惜如今除了西門紅樓與公會堂外，這些具有獨特形式美感的劇場建築已不復見。

  葉龍彥教授所著的《台北西門町電影史：1896 → 1997》書中

  ，詳述了西門町的百年電影滄桑史，其中提到一九一○年榮座推出新劇《不如歸》，序幕〈日光山中〉運用複雜的道具使裊裊煙霧散布在氣派的大舞臺中，令觀眾大為驚嘆，可說是舞臺藝術的一大革命。

  榮座上映的戲劇寫實且具有時代感，經常高朋滿座。這些當時令觀眾觀戲時深感驚嘆的舞臺效果，對照目前影城的數位視聽享受，或許會覺得「也不過如此」，但遙想一世紀前都是劃時代的嘗試。

  文／許麗芩，臺北市政府觀光傳播局《台北畫刊》第565期

  （台北時報詹豐造英譯）

  For your information

  Follow up
  課後練習

  1. When was the Eiza built? (榮座建於何時?) 2. What was the Eiza built for? (榮座的用途是什麼?) 3. Do you prefer to watch movies in a crowded movie theater or do you prefer the comfort of your own home? Why? (你比較喜歡去高朋滿座的電影院裡欣賞電影，還是比較喜歡在自己家裡舒舒服服的看電影?)
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