"Masking" and "Unmasking" Korean Adoptees-On Rick Shiomi's "Mask Dance"

「遮蔽」與「揭露」韓裔養子女：談汐見瑞克的《面具舞》

10.7015/JEAS.201112.0949

古木圭子(Keiko Furuki)

韓國面具舞 ； 韓裔養子女 ； 舞台上的面具 ； 巫劇場 ； 亞美劇場 ； Korean mask drama ； Korean adoptees ； masks on stage ； Theater Mu ； Asian-American Theater

歐美研究

41卷4期（2011 / 12 / 01）

949 - 976

英文

巫劇場是汐見瑞克在一九九二年於美國明尼亞波里斯市建立的亞裔美人劇團，《面具舞》是第一部戲。汐見一直在尋找一個亞裔美國劇作家的身份，並探索明尼亞波里斯的亞美議題，儘管該市的亞美人口只占少數。不過，明尼蘇達州有逾千名的韓裔養子女，汐見想透過傳統韓國面具舞的形式來描繪他們對白人收養父母的複雜情感及自身的認同危機。韓國的面具舞十分質樸，但一向對優勢階級多所嘲諷；汐見的面具劇場雖然討論嚴肅的話題，同樣充滿嘲諷特質。本文想探究汐見如何藉由這種喜劇風格來描繪韓裔養子女所遭遇的問題。在《面具舞》裡，面具的使用亦是獨樹一幟。該劇以一個戴著面具的靈魂為敘述者。靈魂的角色頗具創新，它不僅遮蔽了韓裔養子女的意識，也吐露了他們深埋心中的情感。儘管汐見對面具的使用不同於希臘劇場的做法，他卻追隨其基本原則，用法符合彼得霍爾對於面具的定義，即「希臘劇場本身就是一個面具，用以遮蔽劇場外所有根本的或暴力的行動」。藉著面具向外遮掩並與主要角色的忿恨保持距離，汐見維繫了一個客觀的視角，並使亞美劇場有了不同的內涵。這齣戲因此可以被視為亞美劇場革命性的一步，因為它建立起一個表演的平台，將亞美議題、韓國傳統的面具戲以及古典劇場串連起來。

Rick Shiomi's ”Mask Dance” marked the beginning of Theater Mu, an Asian-American theater company established in Minneapolis in 1992. Shiomi had been searching for his identity as a dramatist of Asian descent, and as such much valued explorations of Asian-American issues in Minneapolis, a city with a relatively small Asian-American population. Mask Dance commemorates the birth of Theater Mu.Reportedly, Minnesota has more than 1,000 Korean adoptees, and Shiomi portrays their complicated feelings for their white adoptive parents and their own identity crises, employing the form of a traditional Korean mask dance, ”Pongsan T'alch'um.” These Korean mask plays are colored with down-to-earth aspects, which often satirize the privileged class. Likewise, Shiomi's mask drama, despite its serious topic, contains many satirical features. This paper, consequently, aims to explore how Shiomi portrays the problems of the Korean adoptees by employing this particular comedic style.The use of masks is also quite pioneering in ”Mask Dance”; the play presents Spirit, wearing a mask, as its narrator. Spirit's role is innovative in the sense that it not only ”masks” the consciousness of the Korean children, but also ”unmasks” their buried feelings. While Shiomi's use of masks is set apart from their use in Greek theater, it follows the same fundamental nature. That is, it follows Peter Hall's extended definition of a mask, which posits that Greek theater, itself, is a ”mask” in the way in which it keeps ”all fundamental or violent action off stage.” By outwardly cloaking and distancing the main characters' agony through the use of masks, Shiomi maintains an objective viewpoint and brings substantiality to this Asian-American performance. This play, consequently, can be marked as a revolutionary step in American theater as it established common ground among Asian-American issues, Korean traditional mask drama, and the classical use of masks on stage.

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