【聯合報／By STEVEN McELROY／王麗娟譯】
Fighting (and Dancing) Like Bruce Lee
There was an audible thud when Ari Loeb fell on his backside in the midst of a scrappy, eight-against-one brawl at the Signature Theater Company in New York recently. The fight was fictional, of course: Mr. Loeb was rehearsing the finale of “Kung Fu,” the new play by David Henry Hwang about the martial arts master Bruce Lee at Signature Theater through March 30.
The choreographer Sonya Tayeh asked Mr. Loeb, one of Lee’s adversaries, if he was O.K. “I think so,” he replied. (He was.) The next few minutes were spent finding a better way for him to fall — or to be thrown, really — and the short episode highlighted the complexities of making stage fighting look real to an audience while remaining safe for the performers. The process, which that day included several other tweaks to address the twin concerns of safety and verisimilitude, is grueling. It can take hours of rehearsal to create just a few minutes of fast-paced stage time.
“Kung Fu,” which traces Lee’s life from the age of 18 until a few years before his death at 32, draws on the skills of Cole Horibe in the lead role. He is most recognizable to audiences from the television competition show “So You Think You Can Dance”; he was a contestant in Season Nine of the series, and became known for his “martial arts fusion” style.
Mr. Horibe, 28, who was born and raised in Hawaii, began studying martial arts when he was very young. While the movement in the show looks quite realistic, it’s a significant adjustment for a guy who was trained to hit, not to pretend.
“I have to keep reminding myself in the fight scenes: ‘Think of it as dancing,’ ” he said . “My father’s whole mentality for putting his children in martial arts was to learn how to defend ourselves, and he’d always tell us, ‘Imagine there’s a person there.’ When I’m doing these fights, the impulse is to really kick through the target, and a lot of times, I use too much force .”
“Kung Fu” features a dozen fight scenes and some dancing that, while not violent, is clearly infused with what Ms. Tayeh calls “combative” movement.
“The concept for the show started with the way Bruce thought about movement, which is that he took a little bit from a lot of places,” explained Leigh Silverman, the director. “He took from science, he took from boxing, he took from philosophy, he took from karate, he took from every place and he mashed it all together and made his own style.”
Similarly, the movement in “Kung Fu” is built from a variety of sources . While Ms. Tayeh oversees all movement, the production has a credited fight director , Emmanuel Brown (who is also in the cast), and a “Chinese opera movement specialist,” Jamie Guan.
“They give Sonya options, like a palette, a bunch of different colors,” Ms. Silverman said, describing the working relationship. Ms. Tayeh then “puts her eye to it,” the director said, and figures out “how to weave together the different kinds of moves.”
中譯
最近在紐約市的卓越劇場，有一場火爆的八對一打鬥，艾里‧勒布背部著地，撞擊聲清晰可聞。當然，打鬥不是真的，勒布正在卓越劇場彩排「功夫」的最後一幕，黃哲倫的新劇講述的是武術大師李小龍的故事，預定公演至三月卅日。
舞蹈指導索妮雅‧塔耶問飾演李小龍對手之一的勒布是否無恙，他答道：「我想沒事。」（他的確沒事。）接著大夥討論了數分鐘，尋找讓勒布摔得更好，或者應該說拋得更好的方法，這短短的插曲凸顯舞台打鬥場面的複雜程度，要讓觀眾覺得逼真卻不危及表演者的安全。這過程非常磨人，那天另外還做了幾項調整以兼顧安全和逼真。可能需經許多小時的排練，才能創造出舞台上數分鐘的快節奏演出。
「功夫」敘述李小龍從18歲到32歲去世前幾年的生平。該劇大加利用科爾‧堀部的身手，他也是這部舞台劇的主角。堀部是電視競賽節目「舞林爭霸」觀眾最熟知的表演者之一，是第九季節目的參賽者，以「融合武術」風格的舞功聞名。
28歲的堀部出生並成長於夏威夷，自幼學習武術。儘管劇中打鬥場面看來相當逼真，對受訓練去直擊目標而非套招的他來說，卻得大做調整。
他說：「遇到打鬥場面時，我需要一再提醒自己：把它想成舞蹈。我的父親讓小孩學武術，全為了讓他們學習防身，他也一再告訴我們：『想像有個人在那裡。』在做這些打鬥動作時，我有股踢倒目標的衝動，往往用力過猛。」
「功夫」的特色是有十二個武打場景，部分舞蹈雖不暴力，卻明顯融合了塔耶所謂「殺氣騰騰」的動作。
導演雷伊‧席佛曼解釋道：「這齣戲的概念始於李小龍對動作的想法，他從很多地方各擷取一點東西，包括科學、拳擊、哲學、空手道，他從每個地方汲取一點，打碎融合，自成一家風格。」
同樣的，「功夫」的動作也有各種來源。雖然塔耶督導所有動作，整個製作還有知名武術指導艾曼紐‧布朗及「中國戲曲動作專家」關鴻鈞助陣，布朗本人並在劇中軋了一角。
席佛曼形容這項工作關係時說：「他們給了索妮雅選擇，像是給了她一個調色板和一堆不同的色彩。」這位導演說，接著塔耶會「加以研究，思考如何將不同種類的動作編織在一起。」
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