近日，上海英語劇團SRT劇社(Shanghai Repertory Theater)推出的莎士比亞名劇《第十二夜》（Twelfth Night）在上海上演。滬江網(wǎng)有幸請到該劇導演，研究莎士比亞戲劇長達45年之久的Thomas Caron先生做客滬江，和我們一起聊一聊這次上演的《第十二夜》，以及他鐘愛的莎士比亞。

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1. what brought you to Shanghai to do this?

你是怎么想到來上海做莎士比亞戲劇的？

I've been coming in China for a few years for personal reasons. On my very first day, I knew this is where I wanted to live. So I arranged first teaching, in Pudong. And I did that for a year. Then I eventually moved to Puxi, and teaching drama to children in an association with Shanghai theater academy, that's my principal employment. I'm also working with the English Repertory Theater, company theater, there's two.

Because I thought my acting life is over when I came to China. But it's been just the opposite. I've been performing a lot. Some of the great great plays, had some opportunities to direct. This is the right decision for me.

幾年前我因為一些個人原因來到了中國，而我到上海的第一天就知道這是我想生活的城市。我最初在上海找了一份教師的工作，跟著開始教小朋友們戲劇，也為現(xiàn)在的劇團工作。我剛來中國時，以為自己從此和表演絕緣了。不過事實恰好相反，我有很多演出機會，有的是非常非常棒的劇目，當然也做導演。我想我來中國是一個正確的決定。

2. What is your motivation to not only bring Shakespeare to Shanghai, but also do a Chinese version?

是怎么想到不僅要做《第十二夜》的英文版、還要做中文版的？

Well, I didn't choose to do it. This is the theater company, the producer choose to do this play, and she asked me to direct it. I've been involved with productions in Twelfth Night, this is my fifth production, as a producer or an actor. If I was been to choose my own play to do it, I probably choose something else. But this is a very, very popular play. It's good if you want to sale tickets to make money, cause people want to see this play. And I've directed before, I've directed seven years ago, in Massachusetts. So I'm very familiar with it. My goal in coming to China is to work with Chinese actors in Chinese. I didn't want to rush it. I wanted to just let things develop. And I always thought that when I came to the point where I'm ready to direct the Chinese actors in a Chinese Shakespeare play, this would be the play I would do. Because I was familiar with it; because it has a relatively small number of people in it; and it's a very popular play! So by coincidence when I was asked to direct this play in English, I thought now it's the time to do it in Chinese. Because I've built the set, I got all the props, and I can use them again. So, we've met with the Chinese actors, they seemed have great interests in it. It's not 100% guaranteed, but it's looking good. And within a few weeks when the show I'm doing now is over, we'll meet and do rehearsals. Most of the Chinese actors I'm working with speak some English, some speaks very good English, one of them don't speak any at all. But...and my Chinese is basic. But I know the play, and I have my script, with Chinese on the side. I know what they're saying. I know the play upside down, backward; I know this play so well. So even if I don't know each Chinese word, I know the speeches they are saying, because I know this play so well.

其實推出《第十二夜》不是我的個人選擇，也是基于市場等各方面原因的綜合考量?！兜谑埂肥且徊亢苤⒑苁軞g迎的莎士比亞作品。我先后5次接觸這個劇目，曾經(jīng)擔任過演員、也在七年前導過這部劇。所以我對它首先是非常熟悉的。我到中國來的最終目的就是要和中國的演員、用中文排一出戲。而之前我就一直想，如果我要在中國導一部莎士比亞的戲，那肯定是《第十二夜》。因為我對它熟悉、它需要的演員不多、又很受歡迎！所以也是巧合，在我這次執(zhí)導《第十二夜》英文版的時候，我想時機到了。

所以我們和這些中國演員見了面，他們對此也很感興趣。雖然我沒有100%的把握，但看起來還是挺不錯的。在英文版的《第十二夜》演出結(jié)束后，我們就將開始彩排。雖然大部分即將參與的中國演員不怎么講英文、而我的中文也只有初級水平，但因為我對這部劇的熟悉程度，我相信還是可以處理的很好。

3. You don’t speak Chinese, and most actors and actress in the Chinese version do not have many experiences in acting, how do you plan to overcome these problems?

你不會中文，中文版的演員也大都沒有特別多的演藝經(jīng)驗，如何克服這兩點？

No they don't. A lot of them have some kind of performing experiences. There are some comedians, some poets...but actually I see this is a good thing, because it’s better to work with people who have no experiences than people who have bad habits. And the strongest challenge working with the English-speaking actors are that they all come from different backgrounds, they all have different ideas of how to do the work, they all have different vocabularies. I don’t think I’ve been 100% successful when getting them all pointed to the same direction. So when you work for people who are a blank slate, you can get them understand the way I work and the way I want them to work right from the beginning in a way, because everybody is talented, I believe that everybody has a talent, you know, so this is not a question of talent. I can get a good performance out of anybody if they listen to me and try to do what I ask them to do. So I think as long as they have the enthusiasm and good voices and attractive people, I think we'll be a very good show.

是的，我們大部分的中國演員沒有什么話劇演出經(jīng)驗。但我反倒覺得這是好事兒，因為和沒有經(jīng)驗的人工作、好過和有壞習慣的人工作。當時和英語的演員合作時，最大的挑戰(zhàn)就是大家都來自不同的背景、有不同的想法、說不同的語言。我覺得在英語版中我不算是完全成功地把大家都融合到這部戲中來。

所以當你和沒有什么經(jīng)驗的合作時，你可以讓大家更清楚你希望這部戲發(fā)展成什么樣。我相信每個人都是有天賦的，所以如果演員們愿意相信我、聽我的話，那么我有能力將演員身上的潛力激發(fā)出來。只要他們對戲劇有熱情、聲音夠好聽、本身是有魅力的人，我們的中文版將會非常精彩。