CUHK Series:The Other Shore: Plays by Gao Xingjian
Page 8
Men in Crowd:
Take her away! Take her away!
(Women in the Crowd come forward to drag Mad Woman away.)
Mad Woman:
You’re afraid too, aren’t you? You’re afraid I’ll say that all of your husbands, every single one of them, have slept with me? Afraid because you’ll become like me, dumped by your men after they’ve gotten their rocks off? Afraid your husbands will know you’ve screwed other men? Afraid people will find out you’d lost your cherry before you got married?
Crowd:
Gag her!
With horse shit!
With bull shit!
Shut her big mouth!
Mad Woman:
(Grappling with Women in the Crowd.) Haven’t you got off with a man before? You’re like me, you can’t take your hands off your men after they’ve screwed you…
(The Crowd move forward to tie up Mad Woman with ropes and gag her mouth. Crying and wailing, she becomes hy- sterical, but is finally dragged away by the Crowd. Young Man watches in astonishment and leaves with the Crowd. Man, who has been sitting and meditating on the futon, also disappears at the same time. Immediately afterwards, he returns from the other side with his Shadow. Shadow is dressed in black and has on black headgear which covers his face. Man and Shadow do not look at each other. They talk only to themselves, but their steps and movements are synchronized.)
Man:
A seed falls on to the soil—
Shadow:
A child is born onto the world—
Man:
A gust of wind blows through the forest—
Shadow:
A horse gallops on the plateau—
Man:
A grain of sand falls into the eye—
Shadow:
An eye is crying tears—
Man:
The tears fall on the parched desert—
Shadow:
Like entering a bustling marketplace—
Man:
People squashing people, but their eyes can’t be seen—
Shadow:
Seeing dead fish one by one—
Man:
That’s a lonely city—
Shadow:
Pop singers are yelling and screaming to exhaustion—
Man:
Only the stars can hear the wind chimes ringing—
Shadow:
It is not our hearts that are ringing—
Man:
It’s the electric guitars picking your nerves—
Shadow:
You jump three times, nine times, eight times, seven times and you’re out of breath—
Man:
Just because you’re no hero—
Shadow:
More like a popular and low-minded farce—
Man:
An out-of-tune trumpet blows, blows, blows, blows and blows—
Shadow:
The conductor has to be right—
Man:
Everyone says he’s 180% painful—
Shadow:
Only one minute’s happiness—
Man:
It’s not the time for drinking beer—
Shadow:
Chicago Nuremberg—
Man:
Once there was a war—
Shadow:
Only sparrows were killed—
Man:
Soldiers didn’t fight, they only stood on guard—
Shadow:
And those standing on guard got to wear medals—
Man:
Who is the person speaking to me?
Shadow:
It is your shadow, your thoughts spoken out loud—
Man:
You’re always following me—
Shadow:
When you have lost your self—
Man:
You’ll come and remind me and double my trouble?
Shadow:
What are you looking for so desperately?
Man:
Now that you’ve reminded me! I’ve definitely lost something, can you tell me where to look for it?
Shadow:
(Sarcastically.) You probably do not know what you are looking for?
Man:
It appears to be…isn’t everyone looking for it?
(The Crowd enter. They form a circle and bend down to look for something in the circle, like children at play.)
Shadow:
It would not hurt to ask them what you are looking for. (Takes the chance to leave and disappear.)
Man:
Excuse me, are you looking for—
Person A:
A needle, they say you can lead a camel through the eye of this needle.
Man:
(To another person.) Excuse me, can you tell me what you’re looking for?
Person B:
Looking for a place where I can sit comfortably and securely. Once I’m there, I won’t leave the seat ever again. (Whispering.) I have haemorrhoids, I can’t sit on any wooden bench.
Man:
And, what are you looking for?
Person C:
(Stuttering.) I…I…I am…looking for a…a…mouth…which can…s…s…peak…for me. I…I…have to s…s…speak a lot…of…of…words ev…every…every day.
Man:
And you, young man?
Person D:
I’m looking for a rice bowl! You have everything, but I don’t even have a rice bowl!
Man:
Of course, I know, I know it’s very important to have a rice bowl. Go for it. Keep looking. (To another person.) Excuse me, I didn’t do it on purpose. (Removes his foot.) What are you looking for?
Person E:
I’m looking for a pair of shoes that fits. I don’t know why my shoes pinch. I want to know—
Man:
I’m also looking for—
Person E:
Do your shoes pinch too?
Man:
My shoes don’t pinch, but I don’t know where my feet should be going.
Person E:
You just have to follow other people’s footsteps.
Man:
Are you also looking for other people’s footsteps?
Person F:
(Laughing playfully.) I’m looking for a hole I can sneak through without anyone noticing me. And then I’ll come out on the other side swaggering.
Man:
How about you, my friend? You don’t look like the sneaky type.
Person G:
You’re right.
Man:
Can you tell me what are you looking for?
Person G:
Looking for my childhood dream.
Man:
It must be a very beautiful dream. (To another) And you? Are you looking for a dream too?
Person H:
No, I’m looking for a sentence.
Man:
Are you writing a poem?
Person H:
Everybody can write poetry, just like everybody knows how to make love.
Man:
Then you’re—
Person H:
Thinking! Everyone’s got a mind, but not everyone can think.
Man:
You’re right. What you’re looking for must be an epigram.
Person H:
I’m not sure if it’s an epigram. The problem is, if I didn’t find this sentence my thoughts would be cut off, and thoughts which have been cut off are like a cut-off kite, you’ll never be able to retrieve it again. Without a sentence you just can’t think, because thinking is like a chain, each ring is linked to the next one. You understand?
Man:
Young lady, how about you? What are you looking for?
Young Lady:
Take a guess.
Man:
It must be something to do with love.
Young Lady:
You’re so right! I’m waiting for a pair of eyes, tender, profound, and burning with passion—
&
nbsp; (He avoids the young lady, but he bumps into another person.)
Person I:
Don’t step on my toes!
Man:
Oh, I beg your pardon.
Person I:
Never seen anyone who walks like you.
Man:
Neither have I. I’m going that way.
Person I:
Everyone’s looking here, what are you going to do over there?
Man:
There is nothing I want here.
Person I:
What are you looking for?
Man:
(Troubled.) I don’t know what I’m looking for.
Person I:
Everybody, look! The man is a weirdo, he doesn’t know what he’s looking for!
Person J:
He must have found it already.
(The Crowd surround Man.)
Man:
No, I haven’t. Really I haven’t. (Walks away.)
Stable Keeper:
(Coming out from the Crowd.) Where are you going?
Man:
Over there.
Stable Keeper:
You haven’t found anything yet, right? How come you’re going over there?
Man:
I’m not going to look for anything any more. I just want to go over there.
Stable Keeper:
We’re all looking here, but you insist on going there.
Everybody:
Shall we let him?
Crowd:
No!
Absolutely not!
He can’t go.
Just wait until we’ve all found it, then you can go.
Man:
Let me explain.
Crowd:
There’s no need, we already know.
We’ve been looking, you’ve been looking, everybody’s been looking, but no one’s found anything. Why do you want to go there now?
It won’t do.
When we say no, we mean no.
If you quit looking and we quit looking, then you can go there. But everybody’s still looking right now and you insist on going, of course we won’t let you.
How can you?
If we’re going to quit, we should all quit. So if we’re going to look, we should all be looking, right?
Man:
I don’t have anything to do with you.
Stable Keeper:
My friend, we’re treating you like a friend, don’t you see? (To the Crowd.) Try again to make him understand. Okay, let’s start from the beginning.
Crowd:
(One after the other.) That’s to say, yes, no, everybody looks or nobody looks, even if nobody looks or everybody looks, not looking is not the same as not wanting to look, the question is whether we can look and find it—
Man:
What if I don’t want to look?
Crowd:
You don’t want to look, sure, okay, we can’t force you to if you don’t want to, if you don’t want to look, it doesn’t mean nobody should look, and if everybody looks then you can’t be not looking, nobody looks you don’t look no more, everybody wants to look and you don’t look, everybody looks for everybody, you don’t look for everybody, you don’t look and everybody looks, you look or not you don’t look everybody looks you look or not nobody looks you look everybody looks—
Man:
(Can’t control himself.) I’m going my way! I’m not bothering anybody, and nobody’s going to bother me, okay?
Stable Keeper:
I’ll give it to you straight: No way! You’ve found it but we haven’t, it just won’t wash!
Man:
But I haven’t found anything!
Stable Keeper:
Then keep looking.
Man:
I’m not looking here any more. I—want—to—go—there.
Stable Keeper:
Don’t you know the rules here? We’ve told you over and over again, why can’t you admit that you’re wrong and change your ways?
Crowd:
What’s happening?
What’s happening?
Son of a bitch, he’s looking for trouble!
Stable Keeper:
Wait, this is no good, it’s so uncivilized. If he doesn’t want to repent, let him. We won’t make it difficult for him. Just tell him to crawl through here. (Pointing to his crotch.) What do you say?
Crowd:
(Bursting into laughter.) Wonderful!
(Silence. Surprisingly, Man crawls through Stable Keeper’s crotch. The Crowd is shocked and disappears. Man picks up a key while he is crawling. Shadow enters immediately.)
Shadow:
A key? That is correct. You must have been looking for a key like this one. Yes, yes, the key is what you have been looking for!
(Man is on his knees, inspecting the key in his hand. He then stands up and walks to centre stage and uses the key to open an imaginary door. He pulls hard on the big and heavy door and manages to open it. He walks inside. Shadow exits. Silence everywhere.)
Man:
(Inquiring.) Hello—(Echo: Hello—hello—hello—hello—hello—) Ah—(Ah—Ah—Ah—Ah…Ah…Ah…The echoes seem to make the room more hollow and deserted.) Anybody home? (Echo: Anybody home? Anybody home? Anybody home? Anybody home? Anybody home?…) Nobody has ever set foot in here before for sure…(Echo-like murmuring: so lonely, so lonely, so lonely, so lonely.) (Man looks around and finds that some objects are hidden under the cover of a piece of black cloth. He carefully pulls out a bare woman’s arm from under the black cloth.)
Man:
(Shocked.) O—
(Simulated female voice sighs, echoing: O…O…O…O…O…. The voice seems to make him more enthusiastic. He begins to clear out what lies beneath the black cloth more diligently, and he pulls out a woman’s leg.)
Man:
(Excited.) Ah!
(There is another series of simulated female voice calling urgently: Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!…Finally Man discovers a female mannequin hidden under the black cloth. He lifts the mannequin out and lays it down carefully. He admires it and then starts to move its hands and feet. And with increasing passion and energy, he fiddles with its shoulders, arms and the whole body, bringing it to a rather awkward forward leaning position. He turns the head around, and groping and touching, he manages to create various facial expressions. Every change he makes on the mannequin is accompanied by a simulated female voice akin to mechanical sound. The dif- ferent expressions on the mannequin’s face, including joy, pain, bewilderment, and peaceful staring, are also accompanied by music expressing the same sentiments in a simulated female voice. He puts the head straight so that it is staring at a not-so-distant place in front…. Then he stops and tries to figure out what to do next.
He becomes more excited now. One by one he pulls out more male and female mannequins and arranges them into a kind of pattern. After thinking for a while, he decides to put a piece of headgear on the first model. He keeps rearranging the pattern, his feet dancing to the beat of the increasingly loud music. The pattern changes according to one or more rules of his own making and at a speed which can only be observed in an instant. Gradually he finds himself hemmed in by the pattern and becomes one of its composite parts, and he crawls busily back and forth in between the mannequins. The process is a sustained and intense consumption of will power and strength.
Now the mannequins form a gigantic collective pattern using the first mannequin as its centre. As they move about, the pattern keeps changing slowly yet unstoppably. Man runs around in a hurry, jumping, moving, and rolling among his own creations. Highly excited, he calls out and responds to the mannequins in all kinds of non-language shouts and screams. This is a process of constant discovery, renewal, rediscovery, and further renewal. But gradually the objects no longer obey his commands and the sounds they make begin to overwhelm his shouts. As he is totally drawn in among them, he gradually becomes weaker, and it becomes difficult for him to get out. After a long while he fin
ally manages to crawl out like a worm, utterly exhausted. His creations roaringly gyrate past him and slowly disappear.)
(Shadow appears again, keeping a certain distance from him.)
Shadow:
(Narrates in a serene voice.) Then winter came along. It was snowing hard that day, and you walked barefoot on the ice to experience the bone-chilling cold. You seemed to feel that you were Jesus Christ, that you were the loneliest person, the only person who was suffering in this world. You felt that you were pervaded by the spirit of self-sacrifice, even though you were not sure for whom you would be sacrificing yourself. Yes, you did leave your footprints in the snow, and in the distance was a hazy, misty forest.
(Totally worn out, Man walks into a simulated forest made of human bodies.)
Shadow:
(Following him.) You walked into the dark and shady forest. The trees, every one of them, had already shed their leaves, stretching out their shaven branches like naked women. Somberly they stood in the snow, lonely and speechless. You could not help wanting to tell them about your sorrows and torments. You recalled the time of your youth, when you waited for her on the roadside for a long long time. That day it was also snowing, and you were determined to tell her that you loved her. You want to say that at the time you were still young and innocent, but now you have sinned deeply, and you will never be able to go back to those early days any more. You have long lost your faith in people, your heart has grown old and it will not love again. Your only wish is to go walking among the trees in the forest until you are totally exhausted. Then you will collapse somewhere, hoping never to be found.
(Finally Man leans against a tree to take a breath. Shadow comes closer and closer, observing him.)
Shadow:
In fact it is nothing more than a kind of self-pity. You are unwilling to end like this, you are so vain. (Exits.)
(The tree Man has been leaning against bends down its trunk and speaks in a human-like voice: “Oh, here you are.” Then all the trees in the forest move slowly towards him like monsters. They reveal their human forms and become the Crowd, all dressed in mourning clothes.)
Crowd:
(They speak and move, but they are unfeeling and expressionless.)
We’ve been looking all over for you.