PRODUCTION Betrayal [Beipan]
Data Type：production background
Author：Perng, Ching-hsi; Chen, Fang
Title：From the Playwrights: “Wond' rous Faithful”
Source：Betrayal Performance Program
Place：Taipei
Publisher：Chinese Culture University, Department of Chinese Drama [Zhongguo wenhua daxue zhongguo xiju xuexi]
Date：2013
Language：English
Abstract：The two playwrights redefine "betrayal," arguing that it can be a form of truthfulness to one's ideal. The protagonist's rebellion is no less a loyal act. Moreover, this production seems like a departure from Greenblatt and Mee's Cardenio but in fact it is the playwrights' fidelity to their vision of their own culture.
[Don't] waste [your time] living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma…..
Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.
Steve Jobs (1955-2011)
What we do know is that Shakespeare constantly refashioned the works of others and that he expected in turn that his own works would be similarly refashioned.
Stephen Greenblatt
Of course, the culture writes us first, and then we write our stories.
Charles Mee
Betrayal is inspired by Stephen Greenblatt and Charles Mee's contemporary drama Cardenio, which in turn derives from Shakespeare's “lost play” Cardenio and an episode in Cervantes's Don Quijote de la Mancha. Focusing on this play's transmutations, Professor Greenblatt of Harvard University, under the aegis of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, started “The Cardenio Project: An experiment in Cultural Mobility” (2003-). (For details see http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cardenio/index.html. Thus Cardenio, whom Don Quijote chanced to meet, has now been turned into the protagonist in many a cross-cultural adaptation.
There's only one stipulation for the adaptations taking part in the experiment: they should not be mere “translations” of the ”original”; they should “betray” it! Such appropriations are bound to take into consideration local cultures. In other words, this kind of betrayal highlights the adaptors' truthfulness to their vision of their own culture.
Betrayal, the twelfth play to join in this experiment of cultural mobility, is concerned about what “betrayal” means in the contexts of traditional Cinese culture and modern time. It is based on the belief that the individual search for an ideal love should be given a chance and treated with magnanimity and understanding even in the patriarchal society. Betrayal is no betrayal, when it is merely a harmless form of truthfulness to one's ideal. In fact, the protagonists' rebellious acts bode well for the country and the houses involved, for the firstborn yields his primogenital rights in favor of his younger brother, an enlightened and more qualified future leader of the country and the houses involved, for the firstborn yields his primogenital rights in favor of his younger brother, an enlightened and more qualified future leader of the country. Moreover, love triumphs over fate, thus putting an end to bloody retaliations.
At first glance, the present play may seem a far cry from Greenblatt and Charles Mee's American Cardenio and hence smacks of infidelity. But one must not forget their version is not any more similar to its sources. Thus infidelity becomes a form of fidelity. As to the echoes and dialogues between these two plays, we leave it to the careful reader familiar with Cardenio to detect them.
Betrayal stumbled a few times during the preparatory stages, but here it is. We are extremely grateful to Professor Greenblatt and The Mello Foundation for their trust and unflinching support; to Professor Daniel S. P. Yang, who read an earlier draft of the script and offered a wealth of insightful comments; and to Professor Hui-Fen Liu, Chairperson of the Department of Chinese Theater, Chinese Culture University, and Professor Bao-Chun Lee, director of the play, whose endless patience and outstanding leadership make this production possible, so that Betrayal can be a part of the worthy Cardenio Project.
Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.
Steve Jobs (1955-2011)
What we do know is that Shakespeare constantly refashioned the works of others and that he expected in turn that his own works would be similarly refashioned.
Stephen Greenblatt
Of course, the culture writes us first, and then we write our stories.
Charles Mee
Betrayal is inspired by Stephen Greenblatt and Charles Mee's contemporary drama Cardenio, which in turn derives from Shakespeare's “lost play” Cardenio and an episode in Cervantes's Don Quijote de la Mancha. Focusing on this play's transmutations, Professor Greenblatt of Harvard University, under the aegis of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, started “The Cardenio Project: An experiment in Cultural Mobility” (2003-). (For details see http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cardenio/index.html. Thus Cardenio, whom Don Quijote chanced to meet, has now been turned into the protagonist in many a cross-cultural adaptation.
There's only one stipulation for the adaptations taking part in the experiment: they should not be mere “translations” of the ”original”; they should “betray” it! Such appropriations are bound to take into consideration local cultures. In other words, this kind of betrayal highlights the adaptors' truthfulness to their vision of their own culture.
Betrayal, the twelfth play to join in this experiment of cultural mobility, is concerned about what “betrayal” means in the contexts of traditional Cinese culture and modern time. It is based on the belief that the individual search for an ideal love should be given a chance and treated with magnanimity and understanding even in the patriarchal society. Betrayal is no betrayal, when it is merely a harmless form of truthfulness to one's ideal. In fact, the protagonists' rebellious acts bode well for the country and the houses involved, for the firstborn yields his primogenital rights in favor of his younger brother, an enlightened and more qualified future leader of the country and the houses involved, for the firstborn yields his primogenital rights in favor of his younger brother, an enlightened and more qualified future leader of the country. Moreover, love triumphs over fate, thus putting an end to bloody retaliations.
At first glance, the present play may seem a far cry from Greenblatt and Charles Mee's American Cardenio and hence smacks of infidelity. But one must not forget their version is not any more similar to its sources. Thus infidelity becomes a form of fidelity. As to the echoes and dialogues between these two plays, we leave it to the careful reader familiar with Cardenio to detect them.
Betrayal stumbled a few times during the preparatory stages, but here it is. We are extremely grateful to Professor Greenblatt and The Mello Foundation for their trust and unflinching support; to Professor Daniel S. P. Yang, who read an earlier draft of the script and offered a wealth of insightful comments; and to Professor Hui-Fen Liu, Chairperson of the Department of Chinese Theater, Chinese Culture University, and Professor Bao-Chun Lee, director of the play, whose endless patience and outstanding leadership make this production possible, so that Betrayal can be a part of the worthy Cardenio Project.
