HARD ACT TO FOLLOW IN STAGING A RETURN
Twenty years after his play Three Sisters Waiting for Godot flopped, director Lin Zhaohua is seeking to revive his work for modern audiences. Chen Nan reports.
In 1998, one of the nation’s most renowned theater directors, Lin Zhaohua, premiered his play, Three Sisters Waiting for Godot, in which he combined Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.
The director put the two scripts together and explored topics like “endless waiting” and “the vision of a happy future”. However, the reception of the play from audiences left him disappointed.
Half of the seats at Beijing’s Capital Theater, where the play was staged, were empty. The play, which was scheduled to be staged over 30 shows, only ran for 12. Since he couldn’t find investment, Lin and Yi Liming, the stage designer for the play, used their own money to produce Three Sisters Waiting for Godot. Regarding the play’s commercial failure, both Lin and Yi bore the cost of the financial losses.
Nearly 20 years later, Lin has decided to revive Three Sisters Waiting for Godot. The play will be staged in Shanghai on Thursday and Friday, and will tour other cities in 2018, including Beijing, Chongqing and Wuhan.
“Success or failure, I don’t really think about it. I cannot remember why I was so persistent about making this play back then when nobody wanted to invest in it. The play hasn’t been staged for about two decades and I want audiences to see it again,” says Lin, 81.
“Though the play is full of absurdity, it reflects reality. For example, the two people wait for someone named Godot. In real life, waiting is an everyday occurrence, like waiting for a bus or waiting for a show to start,” Li adds.
In the latest version, audiences will see the stage design made by Yi in 1998, which has water flowing onstage resembling the image of a lonely island.
In the 1998 version, Three Sisters Waiting for Godot gathered veteran Chinese actors Pu Cunxin and Chen Jianbin to play the two men, Vladimir and Estragon, who wait for the arrival of Godot while joking around and arguing. Chinese actresses Gong Lijun, Chen Jin and Lin Cong played the three sisters Olga, Masha and Irina.
In the latest version, Lin invited young Chinese actors to take part, and among them is Zhang Ruojun, who plays the role of Vladimir. He says that he saw pictures of Zhang first and after talking to him, the young actor’s voice impressed him.
The 30-year-old, who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy, is one of China’s most successful young actors. Best known for playing heartthrob roles in movies and TV series, Zhang has about 15 million followers on his Sina Weibo account, a major microblog platform in China. Despite his tight schedule, Zhang gave the play the nod because he is a big fan of Lin.
“I watched a video of Lin’s play, Absolute Signal, when I was a student at the Beijing Film Academy. I didn’t quite understand it but I love his artistic style,” says Zhang. “To prepare for the role, I watched a video of the 1998 version of Three Sisters Waiting for Godot over and over again. And like Absolute Signal, the play is not easy to understand, but I have grown obsessed with the role. I’ve never performed in a play and it’s totally a fresh experience. I could sense my growth as an actor during rehearsals, which is very exciting.”
In 2013, Lin, along with theater producer Zhang Lifeng, launched If-Top Lin Zhaohua Theater Creation Center, which focuses on producing Lin’s plays.
“Three Sisters Waiting for Godot was a pioneering experiment when Lin first presented it to the audience. Even after 20 years, the play is still challenging for both the actors and the audience,” says Zhang Lifeng, who is the producer of the latest production of the play.
Born in Tianjin, Lin graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 1961 and is among the country’s pioneering theater directors. From 1984 to 1998, he was deputy head of the Beijing People’s Arts Theater, which was founded in 1952 and is known for plays such as Teahouse. Lin also gives lectures at Peking University and the Central Academy of Drama.
Lin is no stranger to controversy due to his distinctive, avant-garde style. He has adapted many Western works into Chinese plays, including Coriolanus, one of Shakespeare’s less well-known plays, and Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard.
In 2009, Wotou Compound, written by Liu Heng and directed by Lin, premiered at the Capital Theater and became an instant classic. The play, which depicts the lives of ordinary Beijingers to reflect social change, has been performed over 100 times since its premiere. In November, the play was staged again and performed by famous actors from the Beijing People’s Art Theater including He Bing, Song Dandan and Xu Fan, which sold out fast.
In 2016, he premiered Dr Godot or Six People Searching for the 18th Camel, a joint directorial work by Lin and his son, Lin Xiyue, at the annual Wuzhen Theater Festival, in East China’s Zhejiang province. Lin Xiyue will co-direct Three Sisters Waiting for Godot.