MCLC Resource Center is pleased to announce publication of Claire Conceison’s translation of Teahouse, Meng Jinghui’s radical adaptation of Lao She’s famous drama. The translation includes images from Meng’s 2019 production of the play in Avignon. A teaser appears below; for the full translation, see: https://u.osu.edu/mclc/online-series/teahouse/. The translation is published in conjunction with Barbara Leonesi’s recent MCLC essay on Meng’s adaptation, a link to which appears in the title header.
My thanks to Claire Conceison for sharing her translation with the MCLC commmunity.
Kirk Denton, MCLC
By Lao She 老舍[1]
Adapted by Meng Jinghui 孟京辉[2]
Translated by Claire Conceison 康开丽
Published in conjunction with Barbara Leonesi’s MCLC essay on Meng’s adaptation
See also Conceison’s 2019 report on Meng’s Avignon production
MCLC Resource Center Publication (Copyright October 2023)
Preshow at performance of Meng’s Teahouse performed at the Avignon Festival 2019 from July 9-20 at L’Opera Confluence theater. All subsequent photos are from this performance. Photo: Claire Conceison.
Dramatis Personae (in order of speaking)[3]
| Teahouse Customers Wang Lifa Master Song Master Chang Er Dezi Master Ma Pockmark Liu Kang Liu Kang Shunzi Eunuch Pang Qin Zhongyi Tang the Oracle Little Girl Peasant Woman Li San Song Enzi Tubby Huang |
Little Spider Critic Officer Publisher Big Spider Sophie Ugly Ronald McDonald Biggie Daxi Xiaoming Didi Bao’er Dafei Little Thing Big Sister Little Sister |
Wang Shufen Refugee Policeman Weishen Chen Lin Qin Boren The Actor Ding Bao |
Teahouse set, designed by Zhang Wu. Composed of 6 tons of steel, it required assembly of 1,000 pieces by 45 technicians, and 8 electricians to rotate the sphere. Photo: Meng Jinghui Studio.
SCENE 1: Ensemble
First Customer: Who is this Tan Sitong?
Second Customer: I heard of him somewhere before. He must have committed a horrible crime. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been sentenced to death.
Third Customer: In the past few months, some officials and scholars have been trying to stir up trouble and causing all kinds of chaos!
Fourth Customer: No matter what happens, my Bannerman’s subsidy is safe. That Tan Sitong and Kang Youwei were saying subsidies should be abolished and we should earn our own living. That’s wicked!
Third Customer: By the time we get our subsidies, our superiors have skimmed most of it off the top anyway. It’s a tough life however you look at it.
Fourth Customer: A tough life is better than no life. If I had to earn my own living, I would starve.
Wang Lifa: Customers! Do Not Discuss Affairs of State.
Master Song and Master Chang: Drink some of this? ….. [read the full translation here]