A Studv Of Gu Zhongyi's Adaptation Of Foreign Plays

Gu Zhongyi(1903.12.12-1965.02.07)is a well-known playwright,translator and educator in China and he has made important contributions to the development of Chinese drama.As a playwright,he wrote and adapted many plays while pushing forward Chinese drama movement.As a translator,he put much emphasis on introducing foreign dramas to Chinese readers and translated a number of works by different writers.As an educator,he founded the Shanghai Drama Experimental School(Shanghai Theater Academy),which fostered a number of drama talents.This study based on Gu Zhongyi's adaptation of froeign plays.As a playwright who adapted the most foreign plays in the history of Chinese drama,he created 22 adapted plays from 1925 to 1947,some of which are very popular in theaters.Adaptation is a process based on the needs of our nation to absorb the essence of foreign drama and how the writer conveys the social and cultural meaning through the adaptation shows the thought and vision of the adaptor.Firstly,based on Gu Zhongyi's educational and teaching experience,this paper aims to explore the relationship between his adaptation practice and the specific drama activities so as to fully understand the interaction between writer's creation and practice.Secondly,being as a dramatist as well as an educator,Gu Zhongyi expressed certain social educational ideas through his adaptation.In the most important period of the development of Chinese drama—"The May Forth Movement" and "The War of Resistance Against Japan",Gu Zhongyi expressed his concern about social problems through works.He believed that those adapted dramas could influence the moral standards of the civilians in a positive way,and stimulated patriotism.For example,in the adapted translation of Renzhichu,the author criticized the society of Nickel and Dime by turning the antagonist Zhang Bonan from an integrated teacher of an elementary school to a gold digger rotted in the secular world.This adaptation showed the way to people during the Anti-Japanese War.The adaptation of Shengcaiyoudao intentionally changed the meaning of parsimony,and referred "the Miser" to those who were selfish and egoistical even when their country was at stake.Another example will be the adaptation of Meiluoxiang,in which he created "a fallen Nala"—a tragic actress in the time of May Fourth Movement when the social drama was catching on.People all felt sorry for this poor actress and her tragedy has aroused a wide discussion of Chinese women's destiny of that time.Finally,the essence of adaption drama is for stage performance.In the process of adaptation,Gu Zhongyi gave much consideration to the "language" and "stage action",through which he successfully conveyed the western ideas to Chinese audiences in an understandable way.This creative way of drama adaptation earned him great honor and admiration from his generation and beyond.In the appendix,the author analyzed and supplemented the information according to the existing material,summarizing the list of Gu Zhongyi's all adaption dramas and Gu Zhongyi's life.In addition,the author collected and sorted out materials about Gu Zhongyi's drama practice and text information about Gu Zhongyi's adaption drama through different databases.These materials together show how his plays were staged from 1937 to 1945,and have supplemented the current academic research in this field.