The Other Shore (11 page)

Over there.

Stable Keeper:

You haven’t found anything yet, right? How come you’re going over there?

Man:

I’m not going to look for anything any more. I just want to go over there.

Stable Keeper:

We’re all looking here, but you insist on going there.

Everybody:

Shall we let him?

Crowd:

No!

Absolutely not!

He can’t go.

Just wait until we’ve all found it, then you can go.

Man:

Let me explain.

Crowd:

There’s no need, we already know.

We’ve been looking, you’ve been looking, everybody’s been looking, but no one’s found anything. Why do you want to go there now?

It won’t do.

When we say no, we mean no.

If you quit looking and we quit looking, then you can go there. But everybody’s still looking right now and you insist on going, of course we won’t let you.

How can you?

If we’re going to quit, we should all quit. So if we’re going to look, we should all be looking, right?

Man:

I don’t have anything to do with you.

Stable Keeper:

My friend, we’re treating you like a friend, don’t you see? (To the Crowd.) Try again to make him understand. Okay, let’s start from the beginning.

Crowd:

(
One after the other.
) That’s to say, yes, no, everybody looks or nobody looks, even if nobody looks or everybody looks, not looking is not the same as not wanting to look, the question is whether we can look and find it—

Man:

What if I don’t want to look?

Crowd:

You don’t want to look, sure, okay, we can’t force you to if you don’t want to, if you don’t want to look, it doesn’t mean nobody should look, and if everybody looks then you can’t be not looking, nobody looks you don’t look no more, everybody wants to look and you don’t look, everybody looks for everybody, you don’t look for everybody, you don’t look and everybody looks, you look or not you don’t look everybody looks you look or not nobody looks you look everybody looks—

Man:

(
Can’t control himself.
) I’m going my way! I’m not bothering anybody, and nobody’s going to bother me, okay?

Stable Keeper:

I’ll give it to you straight: No way! You’ve found it but we haven’t, it just won’t wash!

Man:

But I haven’t found anything!

Stable Keeper:

Then keep looking.

Man:

I’m not looking here any more. I—want—to—go—there.

Stable Keeper:

Don’t you know the rules here? We’ve told you over and over again, why can’t you admit that you’re wrong and change your ways?

Crowd:

What’s happening?

What’s happening?

Son of a bitch, he’s looking for trouble!

Stable Keeper:

Wait, this is no good, it’s so uncivilized. If he doesn’t want to repent, let him. We won’t make it difficult for him. Just tell him to crawl through here. (
Pointing to his crotch.
) What do you say?

Crowd:

(
Bursting into laughter.
) Wonderful!

(
Silence. Surprisingly, Man crawls through Stable Keeper’s crotch. The Crowd is shocked and disappears. Man picks up a key while he is crawling. Shadow enters immediately.
)

Shadow:

A key? That is correct. You must have been looking for a key like this one. Yes, yes, the key is what you have been looking for!

(
Man is on his knees, inspecting the key in his hand. He then stands up and walks to centre stage and uses the key to open an imaginary door. He pulls hard on the big and heavy door and manages to open it. He walks inside. Shadow exits. Silence everywhere.
)

Man:

(
Inquiring
.) Hello—(
Echo: Hello
—
hello
—
hello
—
hello
—
hello
—
) Ah—(
Ah
—
Ah
—
Ah
—
Ah…Ah…Ah…The echoes seem to make the room more hollow and deserted.) Anybody home? (
Echo: Anybody home? Anybody home? Anybody home? Anybody home? Anybody home?…
) Nobody has ever set foot in here before for sure…(
Echo-like murmuring: so lonely, so lonely, so lonely, so lonely.
) (
Man looks around and finds that some objects are hidden under the cover of a piece of black cloth. He carefully pulls out a bare woman’s arm from under the black cloth.
)

Man:

(
Shocked
.) O—

(
Simulated female voice sighs, echoing: O…O…O…O…O…. The voice seems to make him more enthusiastic. He begins to clear out what lies beneath the black cloth more diligently, and he pulls out a woman’s leg.
)

Man:

(
Excited.
) Ah!

(
There is another series of simulated female voice calling urgently: Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!…Finally Man discovers a female mannequin hidden under the black cloth. He lifts the mannequin out and lays it down carefully. He admires it and then starts to move its hands and feet. And with increasing passion and energy, he fiddles with its shoulders, arms and the whole body, bringing it to a rather awkward forward leaning position. He turns the head around, and groping and touching, he manages to create various facial expressions. Every change he makes on the mannequin is accompanied by a simulated female voice akin to mechanical sound. The dif- ferent expressions on the mannequin’s face, including joy, pain, bewilderment, and peaceful staring, are also accompanied by music expressing the same sentiments in a simulated female voice. He puts the head straight so that it is staring at a not-so-distant place in front…. Then he stops and tries to figure out what to do next.

He becomes more excited now. One by one he pulls out more male and female mannequins and arranges them into a kind of pattern. After thinking for a while, he decides to put a piece of headgear on the first model. He keeps rearranging the pattern, his feet dancing to the beat of the increasingly loud music. The pattern changes according to one or more rules of his own making and at a speed which can only be observed in an instant. Gradually he finds himself hemmed in by the pattern and becomes one of its composite parts, and he crawls busily back and forth in between the mannequins. The process is a sustained and intense consumption of will power and strength
.

Now the mannequins form a gigantic collective pattern using the first mannequin as its centre. As they move about, the pattern keeps changing slowly yet unstoppably. Man runs around in a hurry, jumping, moving, and rolling among his own creations. Highly excited, he calls out and responds to the mannequins in all kinds of non-language shouts and screams. This is a process of constant discovery, renewal, rediscovery, and further renewal. But gradually the objects no longer obey his commands and the sounds they make begin to overwhelm his shouts. As he is totally drawn in among them, he gradually becomes weaker, and it becomes difficult for him to get out. After a long while he finally manages to crawl out like a worm, utterly exhausted. His creations roaringly gyrate past him and slowly disappear
.)

(
Shadow appears again, keeping a certain distance from him.
)

Shadow:

(
Narrates in a serene voice.
) Then winter came along. It was snowing hard that day, and you walked barefoot on the ice to experience the bone-chilling cold. You seemed to feel that you were Jesus Christ, that you were the loneliest person, the only person who was suffering in this world. You felt that you were pervaded by the spirit of self-sacrifice, even though you were not sure for whom you would be sacrificing yourself. Yes, you did leave your footprints in the snow, and in the distance was a hazy, misty forest.

(
Totally worn out, Man walks into a simulated forest made of human bodies.
)

Shadow:

(
Following him.
) You walked into the dark and shady forest. The trees, every one of them, had already shed their leaves, stretching out their shaven branches like naked women. Somberly they stood in the snow, lonely and speechless. You could not help wanting to tell them about your sorrows and torments. You recalled the time of your youth, when you waited for her on the roadside for a long long time. That day it was also snowing, and you were determined to tell her that you loved her. You want to say that at the time you were still young and innocent, but now you have sinned deeply, and you will never be able to go back to those early days any more. You have long lost your faith in people, your heart has grown old and it will not love again. Your only wish is to go walking among the trees in the forest until you are totally exhausted. Then you will collapse somewhere, hoping never to be found.

(
Finally Man leans against a tree to take a breath. Shadow comes closer and closer, observing him.
)

Shadow:

In fact it is nothing more than a kind of self-pity. You are unwilling to end like this, you are so vain. (
Exits.
)

(
The tree Man has been leaning against bends down its trunk and speaks in a human-like voice: “Oh, here you are.” Then all the trees in the forest move slowly towards him like monsters. They reveal their human forms and become the Crowd, all dressed in mourning clothes
.)

Crowd:

(
They speak and move, but they are unfeeling and expressionless.
)

We’ve been looking all over for you.

Come on, take us to the pub to have a drink.

You’re our host, how come you’re here in the snow?

You’re a giant, and we have to look up to see you.

You’re famous, so famous that we’re scared of you.

We admire you, but we don’t want to idolize you.

You’re no more than a crook, only we don’t have your tricks.

Get up and come with us.

You should donate money to our charities for children, you must know that children need money the most.

You went through the forest alone, a forest even the devil fears to tread, you’re number one.

You’re a pathfinder, you’ve walked out a road nobody wants to walk on, you’ve led people astray.

You’re lucky, not everyone is as lucky as you are. It’s not that you’re more talented than the others, it’s only that they don’t get the chance to show what they’ve got.

You’re the tops, let’s us give him a pat on the behind!

(
The Crowd laugh coldly and sinisterly. Some start to pull at him and grapple with him.
)

Crowd:

(
Suddenly.
) Here he comes!

Talk of the devil.

Make way.

(
Shadow backs in as the Crowd step aside to make way for him.
)

Man:

(
Weakly.
) Who are you?

Shadow:

Your heart.

(
As the Crowd watch the drooping, blind, and deaf heart slouching past them, Shadow quietly drags Man away. The Crowd slowly follow behind the heart which is extremely old and actually invisible. All exit.
)

(
One by one the Actors enter from the other side
.)

Actors:

We set off before dawn. The morning dew was thick, and in the dark we heard the cows breathing while they were chewing grass on a small hill nearby. In the distance, the river bend was enveloped in a shade of deep blue light brighter than the sky.

He told us a fable.

I dreamed that there’s a piece of ivory in my stomach, it scared me to death!

Have you thought of becoming a bird?

Why a bird? I’m happy with the way I am, and he says he loves me.

Faulkner.

I like “Roses for Emily.”

I called you up many times.

Do you know how to read palms?

No need for any explanations, you don’t have to explain any more!

This kitten is so cute.

I think I’ve seen you somewhere.

I have a sweet tooth, and I’m also a sucker for sour milk.

Your hair looks so nice, is it real?

(
The sound of a baby crying.
)

Sweetie, oh, sorry, I forgot to change your diapers!

(
The sound of a car engine starting.
)

How are you going to get back?

It’s so bad, what kind of stupid play is this anyway?

Are you doing anything tomorrow? Shall we have dinner together?

(
Sounds of a baby crying, a car engine starting and running, bicycle bells and the trickle of running water from a tap, and in the distance, the siren of an ambulance.
)

The
end

Some Suggestions on Producing The Other Shore

1. The so-called “spoken drama” (huaju) tends to emphasize and highlight the art of language; in order to free drama from its constraints and to revive drama in all its functions as a performing art, we have to provide training for a new breed of modern actors. As with the actors in traditional operas, these new actors must be versatile, and their skills should include singing, the martial arts, stylized movements and delivering dialogues. They should also be able to perform Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekov, Aristophanes, Racine, Lao She, Cao Yu, Guo Moruo, Goethe, Brecht, Pirandello, Beckett, and even mimes and musicals. The present play is written with the intention of providing an all-around training for the actors.