编剧理论与技法 陆军著 2005年 中国戏剧出版社 ISBN 7-104-01863-8 / J-806
编剧理论与技巧 顾仲彝 （gù zhòng yí）
戏剧艺术原理 施旭升著 2006年 中国传媒大学出版社 ISBN 7-81085-551-4
戏剧原理 姚一苇著 书林出版有限公司 ISBN 957-586-250-3
戏剧概论与欣赏 Robert L.Lee 著 / 叶子启译 2001 杨智文化事业股份有限公司
English title : Everything about Theatre! The Guidebook of Theatre Fundamentals, Robert l. Lee, 1996
戏剧理论史稿 余秋雨著 1983年 上海文艺出版社
现代戏剧与现代性 吴星亮著 2007年 人民文学出版社
戏剧香港香港戏剧 李克欢 2007年 Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0-19-548895-1
现代戏剧叙事观 建构与解构 纪蔚然著 2006年 书林出版有限公司 957-445-129-1
香港话剧选 方梓員、田本相 编 1994年 文化艺术出版社 7-5039-1336-3/J-429
西方悲喜剧艺术的美学历程 程孟辉著 1997年 北京师范大学出版社 7-5602-1941-1/B.30
闲情偶寄.词曲部 李渔
演员的挑战 Uta Hagen
戏剧与电影的编剧理论与技巧 Theory and Technique of Playwriting, John Howard Lawson
戏剧技巧 乔治.贝克
剧作法 William Archer Play-Making, A Manual of Craftsmanship
张先《剧本创作论要》，中国戏剧出版社2003年。
杨健、张先：《剧本写作初级教程》，中国戏剧出版社2002年12月版。
杨健：《拉片子》，作家出版社2008年9月版。
谭霈生： 《论戏剧性》， 北京大学出版社 1984年版。
约翰·霍华德·劳逊： 《戏剧与电影的剧作理论与技巧》 中国电影出版社 1979年版。
乔治·贝克： 《编剧技巧》， 中国戏剧出版社1985年版。
罗伯特·麦基： 《故事--材质结构、风格和银幕创作的原理》， 中国电影出版社2001年版。
丹尼艾尔·阿里洪： 《电影语言的语法》， 中国电影出版社1982年版。
阿契尔： 《剧作法》， 中国戏剧出版社1980年版。
罗念生，杨宪益译： 《外国剧作选》， 上海文艺出版社，1980年版。
孙建秋： 《美国当代短剧选》， 外国教学与研究出版社2005年版。
祝肇年： 《古典戏剧编剧六论》， 中国戏剧出版社1986年版。
马丁·艾斯林 《戏剧剖析》 中国戏剧出版社1981年版。
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Faith Healer
I'm not sure if four monologues can make an interesting play. Faith Healer is, I think, better for reading than for seeing on stage.
Did Frank forget that Grace gave birth to a stillborn ? How could he forget ? Because he was really too drunk then ? Why did he forget, or not even want to acknowledged to himself that it has happened ? He chose not to be with Grace for the baby's birth in order to visit her mother, but in the end, he was slightly more than an hour too late to see his mother at her deathbed, which he did remember.
Presumably Grace did not leave Frank to go to Paddington. She had said to Frank that she would die if she left him. So Frank must have left her. Why did Frank leave her ? How could Frank leave her when she would die if she was alone ? Or did he leave her when he was too drunk to know what he was doing ?
A very touching story on how everyone needs someone.
Did Frank forget that Grace gave birth to a stillborn ? How could he forget ? Because he was really too drunk then ? Why did he forget, or not even want to acknowledged to himself that it has happened ? He chose not to be with Grace for the baby's birth in order to visit her mother, but in the end, he was slightly more than an hour too late to see his mother at her deathbed, which he did remember.
Presumably Grace did not leave Frank to go to Paddington. She had said to Frank that she would die if she left him. So Frank must have left her. Why did Frank leave her ? How could Frank leave her when she would die if she was alone ? Or did he leave her when he was too drunk to know what he was doing ?
A very touching story on how everyone needs someone.
We Need to Talk About Kevin
The movie We need to Talk about Kevin is good. Fine acting for the roles of Eva and Kevin. Kevin looks a bit more normal in the movie than in the poster advertising the movie. I don't know if I will have been able to follow the movie completely if I haven't known the story. Jumping from present to the past may have confused me a little if I didn't read the novel first.
What's missing in the movie are :
1. all the questions and doubts that Eva had before she got pregnant with Kevin
2. Kevin's last name is his mother's last name
3. the incident with the neighbour and the teacher
4. what happened to Celia's pet. Yes, the movie showed that the pet was missing, but there's more
5. why did Eva had Celia ( this may not be clear from the novel either )
6. Eva was sued for being a negligent mother (the movie showed her leaving the court, but was it clear that she was being tried ? )
7. the babysitters
8. Kevin's buddy
Still, these missing beats are not important enough. The audience don't miss any significant part of the plot. But it's a pleasure reading the novel. The story is disturbing, what Kevin did is horrible, but it's a pleasant reading the prose. Lionel Shriver composed each emotional scene carefully, and I feel so heartbreaking, so sorry, so helpless, for Eva. The novel convinces me further that there is still a reason for novel to exist. We still need excellent writers to describe the innermost thoughts and feelings in a realistic settings. Perhaps most of us parents don't seriously believe that our kids will turn into murderers, but what woman or what human being has not felt apprehension over raising children or faced problems in their marriage or relationship with loved ones ?
What's missing in the movie are :
1. all the questions and doubts that Eva had before she got pregnant with Kevin
2. Kevin's last name is his mother's last name
3. the incident with the neighbour and the teacher
4. what happened to Celia's pet. Yes, the movie showed that the pet was missing, but there's more
5. why did Eva had Celia ( this may not be clear from the novel either )
6. Eva was sued for being a negligent mother (the movie showed her leaving the court, but was it clear that she was being tried ? )
7. the babysitters
8. Kevin's buddy
Still, these missing beats are not important enough. The audience don't miss any significant part of the plot. But it's a pleasure reading the novel. The story is disturbing, what Kevin did is horrible, but it's a pleasant reading the prose. Lionel Shriver composed each emotional scene carefully, and I feel so heartbreaking, so sorry, so helpless, for Eva. The novel convinces me further that there is still a reason for novel to exist. We still need excellent writers to describe the innermost thoughts and feelings in a realistic settings. Perhaps most of us parents don't seriously believe that our kids will turn into murderers, but what woman or what human being has not felt apprehension over raising children or faced problems in their marriage or relationship with loved ones ?
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Things We Do for Love
Things We Do for Love is a play written by Alan Ayckbourn. This is a two-act play, with the settings in sections of three flats at 56 Bloom Street, London.
Gilbert, Hamish, Nikki and Barbara are in an early Victorian terrace house which is divided into three flats on different floors. To one side, the front door from the street leads to a small hallway with stairs up to the first floor flat and another flight down to the basement flat. There is a front door leading off this hallway to Barbara's ground-floor apartment.
In view in Barbara's flat is the main sitting room. Leading from the living room are three further doors: one to the bedroom, one to the bathroom, and one to a small, galley-style kitchen. Upstairs, we can see part of the corresponding flat above Barbara's. However, our view of this is cut off at about knee level. This is therefore the view we are afforded of any occupant. We can see a carpet, the legs of a bedstead, chairs and tables.
Downstairs in the basement, below Barbara, we can see even less of Gilbert's flat. A foot or so of the ceiling of his bedsitting room is all that is visible, together with the top of a step-ladder supporting a trestle.
Gilbert is in love with Barbara. He painted an enormous nude picture of Barbara on the ceiling of his flat. Nikki attended St Gertrude School together with Barbara. They had not seen each other for 10 years but Nikki said that Barbara is her best friend. Both of them sang their school anthem various times in the play. The song was about girls being strong and independent. Nikki and Hamish moved into Barbara's apartment and occupied the top floor while waiting for their new home to be furnished. Hamish is a vegetarian. Barbara openly criticizes Hamish's tie and tells Nikki and Hamish that she thinks men who are vegetarians are wimps. Still she fell in love with Hamish. There were two love scenes between Barbara and Hamish, one in Hamish and Nikki's flat, and the other at Barbara's flat. There was also a serious fight, ending with broken limbs and head injury, between Hamish and Barbara.
A very funny story. We never can tell what attracts people. The most unlikely ones can become lovers.
Gilbert, Hamish, Nikki and Barbara are in an early Victorian terrace house which is divided into three flats on different floors. To one side, the front door from the street leads to a small hallway with stairs up to the first floor flat and another flight down to the basement flat. There is a front door leading off this hallway to Barbara's ground-floor apartment.
In view in Barbara's flat is the main sitting room. Leading from the living room are three further doors: one to the bedroom, one to the bathroom, and one to a small, galley-style kitchen. Upstairs, we can see part of the corresponding flat above Barbara's. However, our view of this is cut off at about knee level. This is therefore the view we are afforded of any occupant. We can see a carpet, the legs of a bedstead, chairs and tables.
Downstairs in the basement, below Barbara, we can see even less of Gilbert's flat. A foot or so of the ceiling of his bedsitting room is all that is visible, together with the top of a step-ladder supporting a trestle.
Gilbert is in love with Barbara. He painted an enormous nude picture of Barbara on the ceiling of his flat. Nikki attended St Gertrude School together with Barbara. They had not seen each other for 10 years but Nikki said that Barbara is her best friend. Both of them sang their school anthem various times in the play. The song was about girls being strong and independent. Nikki and Hamish moved into Barbara's apartment and occupied the top floor while waiting for their new home to be furnished. Hamish is a vegetarian. Barbara openly criticizes Hamish's tie and tells Nikki and Hamish that she thinks men who are vegetarians are wimps. Still she fell in love with Hamish. There were two love scenes between Barbara and Hamish, one in Hamish and Nikki's flat, and the other at Barbara's flat. There was also a serious fight, ending with broken limbs and head injury, between Hamish and Barbara.
A very funny story. We never can tell what attracts people. The most unlikely ones can become lovers.
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