禁閉與跨越：法蘭克•麥基尼斯的三個劇作

Abstract

法蘭克•麥基尼斯（Frank McGuinness）是當代愛爾蘭的代表劇作家之一，可惜尚未為中文世界的讀者所熟悉，本文擬依據相關專書、論文、訪談和媒體報導等對他的三部劇作：《工廠女孩》（The Factory Girls，1982）、《看向索姆河前行的厄斯特之子》（Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme，1985）和《吉普賽人騎著馬兒來》（There Came a Gypsy Riding，2007）進行研究，並嘗試就其創作的特色和底蘊作說明。麥基尼斯的劇作常令觀眾處於黑暗、無奈、焦慮的狀態，因此本論文將指出上述狀態的成因在於其作品隱含的「密室」模型。本論文所謂的密室即麥基尼斯慣用的寫作技巧，麥基尼斯寫作的目的及麥基尼斯希望傳遞給觀眾的訊息均通過這種寫作技巧得到體現。此外置於全球流變、跨國界、跨文化的背景下，密室還可被具象地看作劇中人「跨」越現狀的工具。 《工廠女孩》和《看向索姆河前行的厄斯特之子》是麥基尼斯早期的作品，《吉普賽人騎著馬兒來》則是近年新作，其間存在二十多年的時間跨度。愛爾蘭在這二十年中經濟發展迅速，愛爾蘭人不再大量移居他國，轉為外國人移民愛爾蘭，麥氏的劇作也反應此移動方向。本文第二章旨在說明兩部早期劇作各自代表兩種形態的密室：簡易型密室和複合型密室。第三章則證明密室仍適用於《吉普賽人騎著馬兒來》的解讀。第四章深入探索《吉普賽人騎著馬兒來》的寫作意涵，最終得到結論：麥基尼斯對生活在愛爾蘭土地上的人的關懷、對生命的尊重和對死亡的敬畏不僅不曾改變，也可以跨越國界和文化的藩籬，讓非英語文化的讀者所理解及動容。

Although Frank McGuinness is one of the most famous and prolific Irish playwrights, he has not been much recognized by the Chinese-speaking audience. The purpose of this research is thus to introduce him by analyzing characteristics of his plays, especially the Factory Girls (1982), Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (1985) and There Came a Gypsy Riding (2007). One common feature in these three plays is that McGuinness tends to create and maintain a space of darkness, helplessness and anxiety, in which the significance of actions arises from “the closed room”—symbolically speaking. The closed room is unique in terms of depicting character’s shared dilemmas, while in the context of globalization and transnationalism, this technique is figuratively a tool for characters to accomplish the crossing action. Notably, the closed room is helpful in allowing the audience to realize the messages the playwright desires to express. Both of The Factory Girls and Observe the Son of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme were written in the early 1980s, followed by There Came a Gypsy Riding produced twenty years later. During these two decades, the Irish migration wave has significantly shifted due to the rise of the Celtic Tiger. That said, more and more immigrants had settled down in Ireland from Asia, Africa and other European countries, while less and less Irish people immigrated to the foreign land. These three plays mirror such a change of tide. With Chapter 1 serving as an interdiction, Chapter 2 illustrates two forms of closure: the simple closed room and the compound one. Then the third chapter proves that both rooms are applicable to There Came a Gypsy Riding. Chapter 4 explores how to interpret Gypsy, according to the abovementioned models. To sum up, McGuinness seemingly never loses his attention on individuals, always caring for life and respecting the lessons of death.