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Parroting Without Parody: Chung King-fai, The Seals Players and Theatre Space

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Identity and Theatre Translation in Hong Kong

Part of the book series: New Frontiers in Translation Studies ((NFTS))

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Abstract

Translated plays began to flourish in Hong Kong in the 1960s with Chung King-fai’s return from the United States. In this chapter pre-1980s trends are analysed in order to provide a perspective on the changes which took place in translated theatre in the 1980s and 1990s, the periods under investigation in this study. We find that early translations were mainly imitations, in which the aim was to remain faithful to the original both in the form and content of the original. We also investigate the ideological implications of faithfulness in translated theatre in this period.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a detailed analysis of these three productions, see Fong (2003: 293–300).

  2. 2.

    For a detailed discussion of the “greenback culture” in Hong Kong, see Fong (2003: 301–302, 305), Liu (1999: 199–204) and Tay et al. (2000: 10–20).

  3. 3.

    For a more detailed history and chronology of The Seals Players, see Lai and Ooi (2009: 399–410).

  4. 4.

    In the year 1986–1987, The Seals Players mounted three short original Chinese plays under the series title “On the Hong Kong Stage” 香港舞台上 (Xianggang wutai shang) (Lai and Ooi 2009: 408). In addition to adapting Pai Hsien-yung’s short story for the stage, they also performed Gao Xingjian’s Wild Man 野人 (Yeren) in 1990, after Vicki Ooi resigned from the post of Artistic Director and Law Kar 羅卡 succeeded her. In the same series, Ye Si 也斯, a poet and comparative literature scholar in Hong Kong, adapted Eileen Chang’s 張愛玲 short story “Jasmine Petals” (茉莉香片 Moli xiangpian) into a short play entitled Jasmine (苿莉 Moli). Wild Man and Jasmine were the only two Chinese plays in The Seals Players’ repertoire.

  5. 5.

    Dominic Cheung, founding Artistic Director of Theatre Space, admitted to a strong personal connection with The Seals Players that spanned more than 20 years. He was prompter for Vicki Ooi’s Long Day’s Journey into Night in 1978 and then continued to participate in almost every production of The Seals Players until the company suspended its operations in 1993. He studied translation with Ooi at the University of Hong Kong in 1987 (Cheung 2009; Theatre Space n.d.). In a newspaper interview, he referred to Ooi as his “respected mentor” (恩師 enshi) (Ngai 2007).

  6. 6.

    Productions based on non-English titles were secondary translations, i.e., the Cantonese play scripts were translated from English translations of the original texts. For instance, the performance text of The Visitor, which was originally written in French by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, was translated into Cantonese by Dominic Cheung from the English translation (Cheung 2008, 2009).

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  1. School of Translation, Hang Seng Management College, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

    Shelby Kar-yan Chan

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Chan, S.Ky. (2015). Parroting Without Parody: Chung King-fai, The Seals Players and Theatre Space. In: Identity and Theatre Translation in Hong Kong. New Frontiers in Translation Studies. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45541-8_4

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