Completely well research, newly designed and
constructed costumes
Set designed by Tang Peijun, an award winning set designer
from China
Other links of interest
Other International Society/Asia On Stage productions
Tremont Theatre
Productions at Tremont Theatre
The Wild Land
Within The Forbidden City
97
America, America
That Gentleman From China 1998
production
That Gentleman
From China, Playwright's notes
The Silk Road
Three Lives
Rhinoceros
The Malice of Empire
Drama under CCI
The success of The wild Land, was beyond my
expectation. I was pleasantly surprised by the acclaim that
the English adaptation received. Some theatre people who
were familiar with the original play said that the adaptation
was very well done; the story was more tightly knit than
the original, the dialogues were successfully written; the
treatment of the third act was unexpected. Many Americans
who had no knowledge of the Chinese original also commented
that the play clutched on the audience's attention from
the beginning to the end, and that the dialogues were powerful.
Such comments reinforced my confidence. The encouragement
from Mr. Bruce Rossley, Boston's Cultural Affair's Commissioner,
was the strength that propelled me to establish Asia On
Stage as a professional repertory theatre.
I firmly believe that drama is an important
aspect of a culture. As a promoter of Chinese culture I
feel that it is my duty to preserve and cultivate that art
form.
The story of Within the Forbidden City
is based on history while the dramatic episodes have
been created by this writer. Three historical events were
used as the foil against which to build the drama. These
are the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and the signing of Shimonoseki
Treaty in 1895, Emperor Guang-xu's reforms and the coup
of 1898, the Boxers Rebellion and the Allied Army of Eight
Nations of 1900. In writing the play I tried to balance
historical facts and dramatic effect.
It was a conscious decision on the choice
of 1895-1900 as the play's time frame and 1895 as the major
focal point. 1995 marks the 50th anniversary of the ending
of the Second World War. Many American's feel apologetic
to Japan for using the atomic bombs to end the war. They
call Japan "the victim." I remember a teacher of mine said
one time: "It is incredible that such a inhumane, savagery
deed was afflicted on another nation at the time when I
was already one year old. It was during my time! I feel
responsible." Last year (1995) a conference held at MIT
on the subject of WW II and its victims. Japanese, of course,
but no Chinese scholars were represented on the panel. Professor
Cheng Hung of M.I.T. was among the audience. He stood up
and said: "To discuss the World War II without Chinese representation
is ludicrous...." The whole world sobs for the Holocaust,
condemns Hitler. On the other hand, who remembers the massacre
of Chinese people in Nanking, the slaughtering of tens of
thousands of Chinese people in Manchuria by the Japanese?
How many know about Japan's policy of having their soldiers
kill all the Chinese civilians, burn all thier houses and
loot all their belongings as the soldiers sack a city or
a village? My grand mother witnessed a Japanese soldier
piercing two Chinese babies through with his sword and swirled
them in the air. She also saw another soldier puncturing
a pregnant woman's stomach with a knife. My grand mother
was hiding among stacks of hay and escaped the atrocity.
The Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 was started by Japan
which had attempted to conquer China forty two years earlier.
As the war ended China did not even demand a payment of
indemnity.
In 1894, Japan invaded China's Dependency,
Korea, and attacked China's Manchuria. Japan's victory imposed
on China the most unjust, most humiliating Shimonoseki Treaty
signed in 1895. That treaty demanded China to cede territory
and pay huge indemnity to Japan among other things. This
was exactly one hundred years from the time I wrote this
play.
This humiliation directly spurred Emperor
Guang-xu's realization that modernization and reforms were
the only way to save his nation. However, the passionate
opposition he met with his adopted mother, the Grand Empress
(known as the Empress Dowager to the Westerners) and her
die-hard conservatives made it impossible for him to succeed.
An attempt to remove the Grand Empress' tremendous power
only resulted in a coup against Guang-xu himself..
History has judged Emperor Guang-xu as "weak
and undecisive." But he impressed me, through historical
evidence, differently. His was a period before the fall
of the dynasty. He struggled in vain to save it from collapsing.
With this in mind I described him as a brilliant young emperor
with vision and compassion. It was his tragic fate that
put him at that point in history and below a dictator who
was his adopted mother (addressed "Imperial Parent" by him.)
The highest moral code of China, filial piety, did not give
him room to defy his Imperial Parent. "Unfilial son" was
a condemnable label Guang-xu had tried to avoid all along.
Even after realizing that the Grand Empress was plotting
to take his life, and he ordered Yuan Shi-kai to surround
the Summer Palace he still concerned about the safety of
the Grand Empress.
Guang-xu's favorite consort, Lady Zhen (Zhen
fei) has left scanty records in the original data. As such
dramatists and novelists may have the freedom to let their
imagination run uncurbed. In one play she was portrayed
as a strong, courageous, daring heroine never afraid of
standing up for others and speaking up, even giving lengthy
speeches, to the Grand Empress. She might be well educated,
intelligent and having bright ideas. But we should be reminded
that she was only sixteen years of age when summoned to
the Forbidden City and since lived in constant intrigues
and worries about offending the Grand Empress. These must
be taken into consideration when molding her character.
The Grand Empress must have been authoritative,
dignified and possessing courtly manner. Although she was
arrogant, commanding, and ruthless she could not have been
a termagant as some playwrights have portrayed her.
Writing a script for stage has many constraints.
For me there are even more. I have to refrain myself from
indulging in having very large cast, elaborate and multiple
settings, and lengthy story. The play has to be contained
in a two hour time frame. The major characters should not
be more than six and supporting roles no more than ten.
I was constantly thinking about the practicalities of production.
There are not many actors available; the cost for building
large number of Qing Dynasty costumes and palace scenery
will be prohibitive. Technically, elaborate scenes take
too long to change. My hands were tied by these concerns.
--Doris
Chu
Director's notes.
Beneath the rich costumes, beautiful set,
and historical story line; this play is about choices. There
are an infinite number of different variables that influence
an individual's decision. Asian Americans have grown up
with variables that, at face value, seem unique to us. But,
they are universal; a mother's influence on a son, a lover's
influence on a love one, a sisters influence on a sister,
or a teacher's influence on a student. Each of these character
make their decisions as best they can under difficult circumstances.
These circumstances are unique to the location and the era
the characters live in; yet, the inter-relation between
the characters are universal. All of us face difficult choices
in our lives. This play happens to be about the choice and
decisions made in China at the turn of the 19th century.
--Chil
Kong
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