Hua ju de ding ji: Xianggang xi ju de guo zu yi shi yu li san xiang xiang (1934-1977) = Settlement of hua ju : the nationalism and diasporic imagination of Hong Kong theatre (1934-1977)

Ph.D.Generally speaking, there is lacking of local perspectives in the narration of history of Hong Kong theatre. The historians tend to regard “Hong Kong theatre” as a “branch” of “Chinese theatre”, by ignoring the complicated tensions in-between. Unlike film or literature, theatre constantly is not the key field for recognizing the cultural identities of Hong Kong. In Hong Kong theatre, the tradition “huà jù” (modern Chinese drama) is always linked to the national imagination of early modern Chinese drama, as well as the artistic-ethical attitudes of Chinese dramaturges in period of Republic of China. That is why “Hong Kong theatre” was always put under the umbrella of “Chinese theatre” without any reflexive awareness.This dissertation aims at problematizing the necessity of “Hong Kong theatre” as a kind of “Chinese theatre”, and tries to go back to historical scenes of Hong Kong theatre, re-constructs the historical process of formation of Hong Kong theatre, and discusses how the national and non-national factors affect this process. The dissertation will also discuss Hong Kong theatre in the sense of Chinese Diaspora Studies. By articulating the concept of “diaspora”, a kind of specific cultural identities formation that related to ethics of theatre artists will be exposed in the dissertation: the combination of the spirit of “amateur” from the tradition of “huà jù” and several imaginations of identities in national, provincial, local and personal perspectives.The dissertation discusses the evolution of early Hong Kong theatre from 1934 to 1977. By not using the way of chronicle, several key theatre works and theatre persons will be select to be the case studies. The analysis is focusing on how those works and persons interact with different kinds of collective identities and power relation in Hong Kong theatre. Four key study cases include: A translation drama work Prenez garde à la peinture in 1934; the Hong Kong theatre group during Anti-Japanese War; a Chinese playwright Yao Ke who came to Hong Kong in 1948; and two important Hong Kong theatre persons in 1960s and 1970s: Chung King Fai and Lee Woon Wah. The dissertation focuses on expressing the landscapes of Hong Kong theatre, and hence states the key argument of “settlement of huà jù”: the process of localization of modern Chinese drama in Hong Kong by following the path of diaspora of Chinese dramaturges clusters in early half of 20th century.香港戲劇史論長期缺乏本土視角，論者大多忽略「香港戲劇」跟「中國戲劇」之間的衝突和張力，便輕率地以「華文戲劇」這一籠統框架概括，並將「香港戲劇」跟「中國話劇」粗糙地說成是「枝」和「幹」的關係。香港戲劇史論沒有「本土化」的逼切性，原因之一是戲劇向來不是香港人辨認自身文化的主要場域，這跟電影和文學不同，另一原因，是香港戲劇界一直遺傳著中國現代戲劇，即「話劇」傳統，這一藝術傳統上接二十世紀初話劇誕生初期的現代性國族想像，也保留了民國時期中國戲劇人的藝術態度。論者也因而理所當然地以理解「中國戲劇」的方法來討論「香港戲劇」。本文試圖拆解「香港戲劇」作為「華文戲劇」一部份的必然性，並返回香港戲劇史現場，重讀香港戲劇形式過程中，國族因素跟其他各種非國族因素之間的對抗、相輔和互滲，怎樣建構香港戲劇的獨特形貌。本文將把香港戲劇置放在離散華人研究（Chinese Diaspora Studies）的脈絡中考察，並借用討論華人身份常用的「離散」（diaspora）概念，試圖重讀「離散」這一概念在香港戲劇語境中的有效性，說明一種跟獻身戲劇藝術有關的文化身份形構：香港戲劇人上承「愛美劇」（amateur）的精神，塑造出一種兼收國族、省藉、本土和個人藝術追求的多層次文化身份。本文以論述香港戲劇史為骨幹，涵蓋1934年至1977年這段早期香港戲劇發展的時期。本文將不採取常見的編年史線性寫法，改以香港戲劇史上幾個關鍵演出和人物為核心分析案例，包括：1934年的翻譯劇演出《油漆未乾》；抗戰時期的香港戲劇群體；1948來港的內地劇作家姚克；1960及70年代香港戲劇兩位重要旗手鍾景輝及李援華。透過個案分析，本文力圖展示各種身份想像和現實權力制約之間的關係，並從而帶出「話劇的定居」為命題，說明中國現代戲劇（話劇）是如何伴隨中國戲劇群體的離散經歷傳入香港，又如何在從「離散」到「定居」的轉化之中，讓「話劇」這蘊含鮮明國族想像的藝術形式進行本土移植，繼而建構出1960年代以後香港戲劇的基本面貌。鄧正健."2019年4月".Parallel title from added title page.Thesis Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2019.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-180).Abstracts in Chinese and English.Title from PDF title page (viewed on January 24, 2022).Deng Zhengjian