1.26.2009

女人 ︱ 表演 ︱ 自戀

兩個星期前收到一個朋友的一封信, 說到她最近作為一個表演者和一個女人所面對的一個信心危機。 她是一個Burlesque和Stand-up Comedy表演者,有一晚在她表演一個一小時長的新作之前的整個下午,打從在家裡做準備開始,到在地鐵車箱裡,到走向劇場的路上,她的手心一直不停的冒著汗,她想:如果我這次失敗了,我不單對不起觀眾和自己,更對不起世界上所有的女性,因為到目前為止Stand-up Comedy的表演者絕大部份都是男性。她在信裡引述了 Germaine Greer 的話, “One of the real problems about women in comedy is narcissism. You’ve got to be prepared to make yourself look ridiculous, and lots of women find that very difficult to do.”

其實我不明白為什麼做Comedy就一定會令人看起來變得荒謬。我想,Comedy應該是事情Tragic到了極點,變得十分Absurd,所以才會令人發笑。其實一個表演者如果是真正明瞭Comedy背後的荒謬,表演的時候只會覺得享受,而不會覺得荒謬。事實上,或許沒有東西比一套好的喜劇更加認真。無論如何,如果Germaine Greer的話是對的,那麼到底女性為什麼比較男性難於讓自己在別人面前變得難看和荒謬呢?那跟女人「愛美」的「天性」和「女人的尊嚴」是否有關?女人如果想得到愛護尊重和找到好的男人做「歸宿」,是不是都得靠一點點的美貌和溫柔?那麼也就是說如果一個女人容許自己失去溫柔撫媚,她就會變成一個令人覺得不吸引的女人?而當一個女表演者站在台上,是不是多多少少都會希望觀眾覺得她吸引?要把自己變得詼諧可笑、滑稽荒謬是不是就成為女表演者的禁忌?我卻認為無論是詼諧可笑滑稽荒謬、優雅高貴溫柔美麗、 還是黑暗神祕殘忍暴力 ,都可能只是一個遊戲,問題是那個女人想如何玩她的這個遊戲。而作為一個女性Stand-up Comedy表演者,如果她很明白自己到底是因為什麼而去做那個表演,表演的內容對她自己的意義有多大,而她自己有否明瞭到底她要表演的內容是因何令人覺得荒謬可笑,那麼我想她應該是不會對不起世界上所有女性的。

自戀(Narcissim)不可能只是女人獨有的特質,女人也不可能比男人更會沉溺在自戀裡,不要忘記其實Narcissus 是一個男人呢,他愛上了自己水裡的倒影,當他靠向水面想要親吻自己的倒影時,便失足掉到水裡溺死了。 其實男人很多時可能比女人更「愛自己」,更關注別人如何看待自己,並以其建立自己的尊嚴和身份。不然《馴悍記》裡的Kate到了最後就不用費那麼多唇舌來教訓那班「不聽話」的妻子,權告她們作為妻子的一定要順從丈夫,不然就會讓丈夫在人前丟臉,最後失去格調的反而是自己。Kate更認為動不動就要跟丈夫過不去的女人是極度頭腦簡單的女人,所以一個聰明而頭腦靈活的女人應該能決定和操控自己以什麼姿態和模樣在人前出現,儘管她的外表言行風度看似千依白順,但實在可能只是跟她那自尊過強的男人玩遊戲。女人只要讓自己的男人在人前好看,自己就也得到面子,更得到寵愛,用溫柔的手段使自己處於一個更有利更高的位置。這場兩性遊戲如過是在人前玩得得心應手的話,可能有時也會很有表演性。所以無論男人女人,可能都一樣「自戀」,問題是各自如何在千變萬化相生相剋的陰陽剛柔裡交手。



林燕



1.25.2009

introducing MOON Yip - Square in the making 3























photos by woolingling & graphics by fung tze

1.24.2009

與Savanna 的傾談

一個四十多歲的女人,看起來很年青,個子很嬌小挺直靈巧,一頭清爽的短髮,很難相信她有一個24歲的兒子。

「我是一個很開朗的人,我玩起來很癲。我覺得工作時要很認真,可玩起來也一定要盡情。」

她是家裡的大家姐,媽媽生了一個又一個都是女兒。

雪萍、雪兒、雪清、雪鈴。

茫茫雪地裡一個乖巧的搖鈴,終於為爸爸帶來了光宗耀祖的男丁。

耀宗。

當年利源東街擺著一檔接著一檔的小販,爸爸賣的是女人絲襪內衣內褲,獨力養著一家多口。每日雪萍為他送中午飯時,總聽到身邊檔販笑著跟爸爸說:「大女兒又來給你送飯啦!你看,你真是天生一副外父相啊!」「聽說你又添了女兒啦,是第幾個了?」爸爸聽了字字上心,多年來一直害怕會冇仔送終。

媽媽在家裡緊守一個「忍」字,終於兒子生了下來,以為日子可以好過一點,夫妻和婆媳關係可以好一點,卻因為連生多個孩子身體變得虛弱而患上了腦血管閉塞,兩三個月入小醫院,半年入大醫院,一病就是20年,沒有好過。雪萍記得媽媽說話從來不多,眼淚卻很多。當女兒們給爸爸打罵時,媽媽只能緊抱著她們一起痛哭。

一想起媽媽,總會雙眼通紅。

雪萍十一歲開始打工,在夜校與一班上了年紀的人一起讀書,感受到做小妹妹給人家愛護照顧的溫暖。雪萍很想繼續讀很多書,然後做個事業有成的女強人。不過其實雪萍不單止想做個女強人,如果可以選擇的話,她來世要做個大男人。

「 我常說我今世應該是要當一個男人的。做男人多好,想要幾個女人就幾個女人。男人很簡單,為了短暫的生理需要和衝動與女人歡好,一下子過後可以什麼也不想不理心裡零負擔,女人可不一樣。 」

做女人要負擔的多很多。

做一個從小就做大家姐的女人要負擔的可能更多。事無大小,總是一人先獨力承擔,不能讓媽媽更擔心,不能讓爸爸更失望,更不能拖累弟妹。

還要做一個現代女人,到底還有多少力氣留給自己?照顧和勸導80多歲的父親、管教著一眾四散東西的弟妹、外出工作努力讓上司和客人稱心滿意、養育孩子、維持婚姻、主持大局、管理起碼兩個家庭的大小事務。

「弟妹讀書比我多,我們家裡很窮,是我不夠努力,考不到獎學金,我不怪爸爸,我只能認命。一切都有命運安排,所以做人要化,要開心。從前爸爸常教我做人一定要開朗和保持笑容,我開朗的性格是從他那裡學回來的。他在利源東街擺檔的時候,無論客人多麻煩他都用笑容招呼他們,有的時候客人走了他會在背後破口大罵,但是對著人前一定要開朗和微笑,這是我們生存之道。」

雪萍在自己的孩子面前如是。

經過多年生活的磨練,雪萍開朗的笑容裡面,抱擁著的似乎是哀傷、矛盾和掘強。

「有誰認為老父曾經愛錫我多於任何一個弟妹的,給我站出來;有誰認為自己吃的苦頭比我多的,給我站出來。」老父與眾弟妹們沒話可說。

「現在是我教爸爸如何做人, 他最疼愛的孩子是最不照顧他的, 他現在才知我的好,也不得不聽我的話。」


林燕

女聲。男唱

她。可真是她?

眾生之下,心,如曠野沙磧中億萬年碰碰撞撞間的偶然結晶,其根怎說?女聲,循偶合的身軀,其覺伏藏而多足,其色盡煩惱而多想,難逃塵網法度。男唱,亦循偶合的肉身,其知見意行,盡虛榮的威儀,似掩遮種種隨學類生的欲慾,其足多色而乏味。

聲,管是女是男,聊是物變下承事碰觸的延音,其想乃多填塞著疲厭欲樂之色,鮮大悲言詞,成熟眾生之道。究是耳聞物動,還是無間斷的心脈,糾纏於微塵功德?聲,多熟悉而缺妙著,似海潮浪蕩,須心靜才能體味其莊嚴。奈何,不求甚解者眾,其願早服膺於輪轉物欲,障垢填胸。弔詭的是:淨心也變成欲海難填的執意,其聲也若瘋若狂!

他,可不是他!

女,若水。男,本亦然。母之乳,亦水源之妙。父之本,亦源於母生,其道若谷,其音莫不靠聚眾而轉法輪?

智慧,其色怎若男若女?修行者,多刼後而復見,亦陰亦陽;其海亦倦亦靜,若淺若深。諸者眾生,十方獨立言行的,了無幾人,其功德亦復千萬慧根交媾而成形,分算之下,多不男不女,其「一」何故之有?

今日,女唱,亦復男聲而虛空女體的養份;男音,亦漸去其剛陽而難持男身的供養。男業女惡,女業男娼,各偏其色而盲。一切功德,亦復煩惱事,念念皆空而無當。善男信女,奈何不復己身之始源,虛實早肢離破碎,大德難行!

然大德乃一方自圓之說,女男亦復眾生無量的眾大小波濤,其業界難免多色多足多想!物界,源其自性之所以,按十方浮沉而顯其力量。肉身,亦復因緣而起,其見念怎不復鎖於其性。奈何識見頃自沿十二方上路,早超乎肉身的緣覺,築建男女聲聞外無所不學的法界,衝擊著物理自性以外的「其他性源」,卻忘記一切亦復自然物裡物外「身語意業」的無窮姿色!各方想念,無間斷的「持續延展」其「無有窮盡」之變,驟若生生典故,一切似「目木」的「心相」,其「天」亦是自然種種的覺行,其足遍及肉身裡外。

男女,如鏡如像,其「病態」或「怪誕」隨文化的煑沸,各自箝制著想像的方寸!一切「堅持」或「忠於自己」的聲音,亦復自然本繚亂多變的唱作,其歌在不同情歷的整治下,各試圖活出可能的「自在」罷了!

奈何道德的審美下,其盡頭亦復源音物語交錯的想像,亦女亦男,其身心軟硬不一,箇中道理,只是另一幅人生錄像,難以「壓制」或「管理」的德行。當「權」者,頃自奢想言行德行的,多自迷於戒律場所,妄行於「無所住」的「遊魂野鬼」,又怎能種智於自然?

出生,聊是一次又一次萬千百刼的遭遇,受持於特定時空的物理及文化條件,又一再「失身」於人家法度,遊移自性於男音女業或女語男色之意間,錯摸著天地輪迴的足跡!

女聲。其女何如?

男唱。其男怎辨?

如鏡如像下,如水如塵,其行根本含混,取光暗驟明驟放。女男之法,驟似一概下放賣春道場,自困術士矯情之色,無休止的光顧矯型相士,一生謀求「正身」?

成長中,因性別而出現過的暴力動作,是觸碰「正身」的痛症,在相互翻臉的迷思底下,再難弄清一二,遂各自使出「法寶」,尋求一日自身的安樂!男女心計,隨幻想付諸於行動,各自融入盤算世界的趣味,「主張」著「聲」「唱」的音域和角度,按年代的轉向,無休止地尋求八方渠道,展覽「施虐」、「受虐」般的情色意象……

聲唱之光,乃眾生亮相之色;其雯,映照著大海大地諸空諸相!


瘋子發作女人篇二/二零零九年一月二十五日

square in the making 2























photos by woolingling / graphics by fung tze

square in the making 1























photo by woolingling / graphics by fung tze

1.15.2009

何來「一枱壞女人」?

兩星期前一個週末早上,我們一枱六人,四男兩女,各談上自身家裡的「女人故事」,焦點聚集在「阿媽」身上……

自女性主義抬頭以來,「講女人」似是「女人的專利」。男人談女人,很容易被人家拉出「政治正確與否」的量角器,說話變得「字字驚心」!開宗名義搞一齣有關「壞」女人的戲,理應是自找麻煩,與天下女人為敵不成?

我可真是男人?你可真是女人?男女一身者,更不知理應怎樣,才能「名正言順」的安然自處?你我可真有選擇?隨出生時空而承襲上的「本質」、「自性」和種種與之交媾的累集文化價值,又可有認真獨立的梳理過其中每每可能給人家混淆視聽而又「不能自己」的經驗?「好」「壞」處,之間又可理應怎樣重新量度它底「內」「外」根源?或多或少,這些恐怕是一生逃不出的問題,糾纏於每日每夜(沒有)行動的思緒……

記得多年前台灣社會學及人類學教授邱延亮在一次分享中曾這樣挑戰在場的聽眾:「誰真箇知道我是男是女?」言下之意,單憑性別表徵決定「男」「女」之「別」,似乎是不足夠的。人,自給一切事、物、象、意命名開始,多反鎖自身思考於「名」的表層,很容易忘卻進一步了解「其名之所以」、「後果前因」和「可能底蘊」。昔日,「男」,在「田」和「力」的工農社會聯想下,「女」體的「兩腳」怎變得「曲」而「卑微」?今日,其「形」已過時,但卻沒有新的符號取而代之。隨之而來的,是一大堆試圖「補償」的「文字註腳」,在其「名」上上下下,附加更多「延伸閱讀」的「論述」和「連碼」。只是,這一串串「後著」,多是「文字搞作專家」手持的「戲寶」,看勢批文。如何自我超越這「女男男女」的文化變奏,又或是面對這似多在經年不/多變的「男女女男」的性別沉浸,似乎是今夕世代仍解不破的迷思。儘管是「女男女男」或「男女男女」,對一個生物學者或是一個現象學家來說,二者由「內」而形於「外」,以至由觀「外」而形於「內」的物理變奏過程中,其「好」「壞」實難作二元分斷。當「好」是意味著「女」「子」相交而合的「造像行動」,其「壞」決不能單(性)向孤立任何一方。況且,「壞」的「土壤」,其因何究?實在甚值反覆思量……

我是一個在現代城市長大的「男人」。我沒有多大「力氣」,亦沒有「耕田」的經驗。我的「本質」,或許早擁抱著「女」身的「能量」(我深信出生亡母成為我一生心底無休止地求尋母體的根本脈搏)!就連做愛,也曾幾想像自己仿效「女身」的感受,又或是妄想透過女人的乳房和陰道的器官表徵,追訪自身生命成形的源頭!奈何,因身體連著一條「子孫根」,實難以跳出不少女人(尤其是悍衛「女性主義」者)的「標籤」,成為具「侵略性」的「大男人」(但我的性器絕對是「小器」之流,又何「大」之有?)!一下子,肩承著父系社會的無形詛咒,「男身」頓謀求「女靈」的安撫,以抵消社會上任何可能疏漏及不(可能)完全的性別描繪。只是,在成長的過程中,跌跌撞撞的碰上早習以為「常」、虛實難辨的種種道德潮流,難免一再失陷在女女男男之間。「承先啟後」?真不知理應從何說起!遂似一生無止境般陷入給人家或自我「斷症」的行列,在一批又一批「壞」女人和「臭」男人之間,索驥摸橋,在缺乏天資悟性底下,永遠成為「政治不正確」的一員,怎不教人氣餒?

今日的「田」,或許是一種對大自然知識的規劃意味,其「力」早不再局限於男性;今日的「女」,其文形意象或許早逐步蛻變成一種「舞動身體」的「跳躍精神」,腳步靈巧地肩負及平衡一切迎面而來的生活符碼。「男」「女」,如《易經》中「乾」「坤」之意,萬象陰陽相交的自然氣魄。奈何天地萬物,早頃自運動著天賦的物性,在無時無地與百物交媾的過程中,滲透出不同的「卦象」。女之何,男之如,一概隨時空物動,衍生出難以一二言全的個性。只是,人總愛妄自尊大,鍾情控制眼下一切可涉足的「人間」領域,漠視自然體系以言「自主」,遂各自隨「有限經驗」,建構出以「社會體系」為「行動價值」中心的「有限物動」,其「性」多雜而難辨!男女之身,一旦被納入當權者「系統化」管理的支配下,其本質或早已流進「必然缺憾」的軌跡,按「章」理「說」!

妄想,或許也是自然天賦的物性,其質亦「乾」「坤」難訂!

「姓」氏,隨「女」人「生」育的一刻,按現實表徵而悟其「性別名份」之所以。母系社會或許早是父系社會發展的前身!人類不論男女,都是從女人陰道(或肚皮)滑出的生命體,「男」「女」的結緣,按染色性的分佈,輾轉拼合,在「一體」中孕育成形。二者皆出自「娘」胎,故「女」身,是構建生命的「良」源,其先天底蘊,是「男」身一生難以體驗的特殊結構。或許,正因如此,藉「女」身追尋其生命源頭似是「男生」的「宿命」,藉以延伸自性的「缺憾」罷。同性愛而悽者,亦隨自然物理自由拼湊的大小機會率,按特殊物理條件,組構相交結緣的本質,其「源」與「性」向,亦乾亦坤,其氣實難籠統地以「常」計之!

萬象本無常,一枱「壞」女人結集,聊是試圖追溯「異常性別」的起跑器,從中大膽跨越數十世紀,藉「西」方回到「東」方,觀其「南」「北」,尋找「女身」的「男脈」和內裡相爭著的「坤乾百氣」!

一個最尋常不過的香港女人,又如何藉一身「有限經驗」,借古人故事的魂魄,重新書寫自身的故事?這正是《一枱壞女人》要做的功課……


瘋子發作女人篇一/二零零九年一月十六日

1.11.2009

《馴悍記》凱特 最後的一段話

「哎呀!鬆開你那緊蹙的眉頭,收起你那輕蔑的瞥視,傷害你的主人、你的君王、你的支配者:只會令你的美貌變得暗淡失色,就如寒冷的冰霜凍傷著草原,更會毀壞你的名譽,就如旋風摧殘著幼嫩的花蕾;絲毫沒有可取之處,也絕不討好。一個使性子的女人,就像翻騰的污水,混濁不清,令人嘔心,喪失所有美麗,縱使如何口渴喉乾的男人,也不願啜飲一口。 你的丈夫就是你的主人、你的生命、你的看守者、你的頭腦、你至高無上的君王;他照顧著你,為了養活你,他在大海裡陸地上辛苦地工作著,夜里冒著風浪,白天忍受寒冷,你卻暖暖的躺在家裡,又安全又舒適。他希望你雙手奉獻給他的沒有其他,只是你的愛情,你溫柔的容貌,和你真心的服從;你欠他的好處這麼多,他要求你作出的回報卻是那麼微薄!一個女人對待她的丈夫,應當像臣子對待君王一樣;假如她剛愎自用,動不動就發脾氣,陰沈刻薄,不服從丈夫真誠的心意,那麼她豈不是一個大逆不道、忘恩負義的叛徒?當應該跪下求和的時候,卻向丈夫宣戰;當應該盡心竭力服侍、愛護、順從丈夫的時候,卻企圖篡奪統治主權,支配丈夫:這種頭腦簡單的行為,真是女人的恥辱。我們的身體為什麼這樣柔軟無力,吃不了苦,經不起世事的困擾?那不就是因為我們的性情必須和我們的外表相互一致,同樣地溫柔圓滑嗎?來,聽我說,你們這班倔強而無力的可憐蟲!我的心從前也像你們一樣自大高傲,或許我有比你們多一點的理由與丈夫針鋒相對以牙還牙,不甘心底頭認輸;可是現在的我明白我們的長矛只不過是些稻草,我們的力量很軟弱,而我們的軟弱更是無比的,我們看起來相當了不起,但其實是何等渺小。所以你們還是放下你們的慾望,因為它完全沒有益處,然後跪下來伸手向你們的丈夫請求憐愛吧。為了表示我的順從,只要我的丈夫喜歡,我的手就為他準備好,讓他得到安心。

林燕

1.01.2009

Volumnia of CORIOLANUS

[V,3,3599]
Should we be silent and not speak, our raiment 
And state of bodies would bewray what life 
We have led since thy exile. Think with thyself 
How more unfortunate than all living women 
Are we come hither: since that thy sight, 
which should 
Make our eyes flow with joy, hearts dance 
with comforts, 
Constrains them weep and shake with fear and sorrow; 
Making the mother, wife and child to see 
The son, the husband and the father tearing 
His country's bowels out. And to poor we 
Thine enmity's most capital: thou barr'st us 
Our prayers to the gods, which is a comfort 
That all but we enjoy; for how can we, 
Alas, how can we for our country pray. 
Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory, 
Whereto we are bound? alack, or we must lose 
The country, our dear nurse, or else thy person, 
Our comfort in the country. We must find 
An evident calamity, though we had 
Our wish, which side should win: for either thou 
Must, as a foreign recreant, be led 
With manacles thorough our streets, or else 
triumphantly tread on thy country's ruin, 
And bear the palm for having bravely shed 
Thy wife and children's blood. For myself, son, 
I purpose not to wait on fortune till 
These wars determine: if I cannot persuade thee 
Rather to show a noble grace to both parts 
Than seek the end of one, thou shalt no sooner 
March to assault thy country than to tread— 
Trust to't, thou shalt not—on thy mother's womb, 
That brought thee to this world.

[V,3,3642]
Nay, go not from us thus. 
If it were so that our request did tend 
To save the Romans, thereby to destroy 
The Volsces whom you serve, you might condemn us, 
As poisonous of your honour: no; our suit 
Is that you reconcile them: while the Volsces 
May say 'This mercy we have show'd;' the Romans, 
'This we received;' and each in either side 
Give the all-hail to thee and cry 'Be blest 
For making up this peace!' Thou know'st, great son, 
The end of war's uncertain, but this certain, 
That, if thou conquer Rome, the benefit 
Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name, 
Whose repetition will be dogg'd with curses; 
Whose chronicle thus writ: 'The man was noble, 
But with his last attempt he wiped it out; 
Destroy'd his country, and his name remains 
To the ensuing age abhorr'd.' Speak to me, son: 
Thou hast affected the fine strains of honour, 
To imitate the graces of the gods; 
To tear with thunder the wide cheeks o' the air, 
And yet to charge thy sulphur with a bolt 
That should but rive an oak. Why dost not speak? 
Think'st thou it honourable for a noble man 
Still to remember wrongs? Daughter, speak you: 
He cares not for your weeping. Speak thou, boy: 
Perhaps thy childishness will move him more 
Than can our reasons. There's no man in the world 
More bound to 's mother; yet here he lets me prate 
Like one i' the stocks. Thou hast never in thy life 
Show'd thy dear mother any courtesy, 
When she, poor hen, fond of no second brood, 
Has cluck'd thee to the wars and safely home, 
Loaden with honour. Say my request's unjust, 
And spurn me back: but if it be not so, 
Thou art not honest; and the gods will plague thee, 
That thou restrain'st from me the duty which 
To a mother's part belongs. He turns away: 
Down, ladies; let us shame him with our knees. 
To his surname Coriolanus 'longs more pride 
Than pity to our prayers. Down: an end; 
This is the last: so we will home to Rome, 
And die among our neighbours. Nay, behold 's: 
This boy, that cannot tell what he would have 
But kneels and holds up bands for fellowship, 
Does reason our petition with more strength 
Than thou hast to deny 't. Come, let us go: 
This fellow had a Volscian to his mother; 
His wife is in Corioli and his child 
Like him by chance. Yet give us our dispatch: 
I am hush'd until our city be a-fire, 
And then I'll speak a little.


Selected from William Shakespeare's CORIOLANUS
Source from http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/

Katherina of THE TAMING OF THE SHREWD

[V,2,2644]
Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow, 
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes 
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor. 
It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads, 
Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds, 
And in no sense is meet or amiable. 
A woman mov'd is like a fountain troubled- 
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty; 
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty 
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it. 
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, 
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee, 
And for thy maintenance commits his body 
To painful labour both by sea and land, 
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold, 
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe; 
And craves no other tribute at thy hands 
But love, fair looks, and true obedience- 
Too little payment for so great a debt. 
Such duty as the subject owes the prince, 
Even such a woman oweth to her husband; 
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour, 
And not obedient to his honest will, 
What is she but a foul contending rebel 
And graceless traitor to her loving lord? 
I am asham'd that women are so simple 
To offer war where they should kneel for peace; 
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway, 
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey. 
Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth, 
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world, 
But that our soft conditions and our hearts 
Should well agree with our external parts? 
Come, come, you forward and unable worms! 
My mind hath been as big as one of yours, 
My heart as great, my reason haply more, 
To bandy word for word and frown for frown; 
But now I see our lances are but straws, 
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare, 
That seeming to be most which we indeed least are. 
Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot, 
And place your hands below your husband's foot; 
In token of which duty, if he please, 
My hand is ready, may it do him ease.


Selected from William Shakespeare's THE TAMING OF THE SHREWD
Source from http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/

Lady Macbeth of "MACBETH"

[I,5,385]
The raven himself is hoarse 
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan 
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits 
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, 
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full 
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; 
Stop up the access and passage to remorse, 
That no compunctious visitings of nature 
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between 
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts, 
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers, 
Wherever in your sightless substances 
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, 
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, 
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, 
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, 
To cry 'Hold, hold!' 


[I,5,415]
O, never 
Shall sun that morrow see! 
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men 
May read strange matters. To beguile the time, 
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, 
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, 
But be the serpent under't. He that's coming 
Must be provided for: and you shall put 
This night's great business into my dispatch; 
Which shall to all our nights and days to come 
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

[I,7,512]
Was the hope drunk 
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since? 
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale 
At what it did so freely? From this time 
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard 
To be the same in thine own act and valour 
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that 
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, 
And live a coward in thine own esteem, 
Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,' 
Like the poor cat i' the adage?

[I,7,526]
What beast was't, then, 
That made you break this enterprise to me? 
When you durst do it, then you were a man; 
And, to be more than what you were, you would 
Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place 
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both: 
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now 
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know 
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: 
I would, while it was smiling in my face, 
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, 
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you 
Have done to this.

[III,2,1174]
Nought's had, all's spent, 
Where our desire is got without content: 
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy 
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. 
[Enter MACBETH] 
How now, my lord! why do you keep alone, 
Of sorriest fancies your companions making, 
Using those thoughts which should indeed have died 
With them they think on? Things without all remedy 
Should be without regard: what's done is done.

[V,1,2159]
Out, damned spot! out, I say!—One: two: why, 
then, 'tis time to do't.—Hell is murky!—Fie, my 
lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we 
fear who knows it, when none can call our power to 
account?—Yet who would have thought the old man 
to have had so much blood in him.

[V,1,2166]
The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now?— 
What, will these hands ne'er be clean?—No more o' 
that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with 
this starting.

[V,1,2173
Here's the smell of the blood still: all the 
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little 
hand. Oh, oh, oh!

[V,1,2184]
Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not so 
pale.—I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he 
cannot come out on's grave.

[V,1,2188]
To bed, to bed! there's knocking at the gate: 
come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What's 
done cannot be undone.—To bed, to bed, to bed!

Selected from William Shakespeare's MACBETH
Source from http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/

Goneril of "King Lear"

[I,1,55]
Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter; 
Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty; 
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare; 
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour; 
As much as child e'er lov'd, or father found; 
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable. 
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

[I,3,507]
By day and night, he wrongs me! Every hour 
He flashes into one gross crime or other 
That sets us all at odds. I'll not endure it. 


[I,3,517]
Put on what weary negligence you please, 
You and your fellows. I'd have it come to question. 
If he distaste it, let him to our sister, 
Whose mind and mine I know in that are one, 
Not to be overrul'd. Idle old man, 
That still would manage those authorities 
That he hath given away! Now, by my life, 
Old fools are babes again, and must be us'd 
With checks as flatteries, when they are seen abus'd. 
Remember what I have said.

[I,4,722]
Not only, sir, this your all-licens'd fool, 
But other of your insolent retinue 
Do hourly carp and quarrel, breaking forth 
In rank and not-to-be-endured riots. Sir, 
I had thought, by making this well known unto you, 
To have found a safe redress, but now grow fearful, 
By what yourself, too, late have spoke and done, 
That you protect this course, and put it on 
By your allowance; which if you should, the fault 
Would not scape censure, nor the redresses sleep, 
Which, in the tender of a wholesome weal, 
Might in their working do you that offence 
Which else were shame, that then necessity 
Must call discreet proceeding.

[I,4,859]
Safer than trust too far. 
Let me still take away the harms I fear, 
Not fear still to be taken. I know his heart.

[IV,2,2350]
[to Edmund] Then shall you go no further. 
It is the cowish terror of his spirit, 
That dares not undertake. He'll not feel wrongs 
Which tie him to an answer. Our wishes on the way 
May prove effects. Back, Edmund, to my brother. 
Hasten his musters and conduct his pow'rs. 
I must change arms at home and give the distaff 
Into my husband's hands. This trusty servant 
Shall pass between us. Ere long you are like to hear 
(If you dare venture in your own behalf) 
A mistress's command. Wear this. [Gives a favour.] 
Spare speech. 
Decline your head. This kiss, if it durst speak, 
Would stretch thy spirits up into the air. 
Conceive, and fare thee well.

[IV,2,2366]
My most dear Gloucester! 
O, the difference of man and man! 
To thee a woman's services are due; 
My fool usurps my body.

[IV,2,2395]
Milk-liver'd man! 
That bear'st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs; 
Who hast not in thy brows an eye discerning 
Thine honour from thy suffering; that not know'st 
Fools do those villains pity who are punish'd 
Ere they have done their mischief. Where's thy drum? 
France spreads his banners in our noiseless land, 
With plumed helm thy state begins to threat, 
Whiles thou, a moral fool, sit'st still, and criest 
'Alack, why does he so?'

Selected from William Shakespeare's KING LEAR
Source from http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/

SHAKESPEARE’S DARK LADY SONNETS 129

CXXIX – Sonnet 129

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action: and till action, lust
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight;
Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as a swallowed bait,
On purpose laid to make the taker mad.
Mad in pursuit and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have extreme;
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;
Before, a joy proposed; behind a dream.
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

Selected from the Sonnets written by William Shakespeare
Source from http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/

有關《一枱壞女人》之一二

以莎士比亞筆下的五個女人為探索的起點 — 《馴悍記》("The Taming of the Shrew")裡強悍潑辣的凱特(Katherina), 《李爾王》("King Lear")裡陰鬱惡毒的大女兒高納里爾 (Goneril), 《麥克白》("Macbeth")裡野心勃勃的麥克白夫人(Lady Macbeth),《科尼奧蘭納斯》("Coriolanus")裡高傲獨裁的母親伏倫妮婭 (Voluminia)及十四行詩(Sonnets)中的第 127首至152首詩篇裡風流不忠的「黑女士」(Dark Lady),尋索今日城市裡各種女人的影子。為了嘗試在文字與影子之間找尋連係,將會訪問十個現代的女人,而重新反思到底女性這個性別盛載著的是什麼的意義和身份。「莎氏」筆下的「莎屎女人」,在今日的女人世界裡是如何被理解? 以前不擇手段的毒女人會不會是今天敢愛敢恨的女性榜樣?古代的青樓女子今天看來會不會是多才多藝的前衛女性?漢朝班昭『女誡』言女子四行:婦德、婦言、婦容、婦功,但這些誡條似乎從來與傾國傾城改寫歷史的女子無關。女性在追求浪漫豪邁,敢愛敢恨,獨立自主,社會地位的同時,如何欣賞和容納自然賦予的女性特質? 女性的 「進化」 是不是一定是一種 「進步」?女兒、 姐妹、妻子、母親、情婦,這些身份到底正在怎麼樣的處境下輪迴著?

創作會以文本(Text)和訪談(Interviews)為編構 (Devising)的基礎,重視所有創作人在編作過程裡對題材的探索、反思與及提供理解和立場,再一起通過分享、討論、工作坊和實驗來建構作品。期望每位參與的創作人,在過程中通過創作對特設題材進行研究,通過研究再深化創作。

創作會以獨腳戲的形式,通過一名女表演者的身體,借那五位莎士比亞女人的身份和十個現代女人的自述,與現場演奏、物件和影像對話,重新為今日女人尋找「新故事」……

舞台意象以簡約手段為基,自由融入東西方劇場美學語彙,展現「後後現代」思潮下超越解構、回歸純淨的「完全表演」,借當下音、文、意、動、象的「書法式」表演美學,檢拾「文化批判」的可能「舞台體位」。