"Plays Of Human Beings" In Multi-cultural Context

Taiwan theater underwent six stages in the 20th century:incubation in the Japanese occupation era(1910-1945),development in the early resumption period(1945-1949),monotony and barrenness in the anti-Communism-and-Russia period(1950-1965),the Western influence and impact in the new theatre period(1965-1980),compatibility and experimentalism in the Small Theater period(1980-1990),and avant-garde and exploration in the modern theater period(1990-present).In the conflict and chaos of multiculturalism when the "loss of human souls" became an acute problem,it is Yao Yiwei who first broke through the dark and hazy zone.Yao Yiwei began his theatre career when the anti-Communism-and-Russia drama began to decline.He produced fourteen plays in three decades(1963-1993),trying to break through the political and materialist maze,focusing on human nature and human emotions,combating against despair in the depression and dullness of life,and expressing his pursuit of the spirit of freedom.Taiwan theatre began to walk out of pragmatism,touch upon the human souls and was directed to a new life ever since Yao appeared as a dramatist.He is "the candle-lighter in the dark night" and pioneer of modern Taiwan theatre.As a dedicated advocate of modernism,Yao played a significant role In Taiwan theatre's transformation from traditional realism to modernism.The paper consists of seven chapters.The introduction chapter presents the academic significance of the research topic,the research framework and the theoretical innovation after an endeavor to clarify the diverse and integrative cultural context of Taiwan theatre in the 20th century,analyze the“issue of human beings"stemmed from the hubbub and review the previous research on Yao Yiwei's plays.Chapter ? is the Pursuit of Free Spirit.Specifies different stages of Yao's creation,based on the change of his creative characteristics and his theatrical achievements.In the hubbub of political tyranny,commercial control and anti-literary postmodernism,Yao Yiwei insisted on independent production of personal characteristics,bearing rationalism and enlightenment in mind.He created the tradition of human-orientation in modern Taiwan theatre,aiming to promote the consciousness of subjectivity.With his skepticism and consciousness of cultural criticism,his work displays a conscious pursuit of freedom.Chapter ? is titled the Rediscovery of human beings and rational enlightenment.The spirit of enlightenment underlies all his theatrical productions.It is also what the paper is based on.Yao broke the dichotomy of theatrical characters between good and bad,kind and evil and beautiful and ugly.He believed that human beings are the combination of rationalism and non-rationalism and an independent being with dynamic development,with the inherent nature of being contradictory.Human beings pursue the meaning of life when display its subjectivity and dignity.The freedom of life and death is the reflection of life's ultimate value.Chapter ? is the Pursuit of the Meaning of Life and Being.In Yao's plays,human beings are independent and limited.In the dual pressure of the dilemma of living and spirit,contemporary people,depressed,frustrated and confused,attempted to adjust themselves between reality and ideal.They try to find the lost self and feel the direction of life so that they can realize the spiritual transcendence of life and being and explore the value and significance of life and being in the transformation from matter to spirit,from the real to the poetic and from the finite to the infinite.Chapter ? is the Distortion of Human Nature and its Criticism.Spiritual crisis has plagued human existence all the time.The distortion of human nature by tradition,secular world,and politics led to the indifference and alienation between man and its self,man and others,man and nature,and man and the society.Thus personality is split,self goes toward destruction,and finally the loss of human spirit.Yao criticized this abnormal social phenomenon and intended to construct a healthy and natural human nature.Chapter ? is the Exploration of National and Cultural Psychology.Yao's theatrical creation focuses on“human beings"."Human beings" here is not shallow and pale abstract symbols,but solid and concrete writing rooted in strong national and cultural traditions.Influenced by the "May-fourth Movement" and Lu Xun's thought,Yao tried to reflect the national and cultural psychology which has been obscured by traditional culture,customs and morality.He criticized the national characteristics of servility,spectatorship,evasion and deception.He endeavored to recast the national spirit of adherence to integrity,having the courage to take action and should the responsibility so as to enrich the "holistic" understanding of a people and a nation.In the conclusion chapter,it makes clear the status of Yao Yiwei and his "Plays of Human beings" in the history of Taiwan theatre.Yao insists on the independence of theatrical creation.He is dedicated to depicting the uniqueness of individual souls,criticizing the distortion,ugliness and hypocrisy of the human nature,and the national characteristics of servility,and constructing a human nature which is healthy,beautiful and natural carrying forward the national spirit,calling for a new national quality.To enrich the theme on humanity,he also dares to make formal inovotion and creates the new paradigm of "modern Chinese theatre",which reflects and marks the promotion of modem humanistic spitit in Taiwan.Teeming with stong modern consciousness,distinct national spirit,and a grand world-view,his plays transcend the time and the milieu,bridging the past,the present and the future,and becoming the epoch-making milestone in the history of modem Taiwan theatre.Yao Viwei and his"Plays of Human beings" have a significant historical role in the process of the modernization of Taiwan theatre.