孤陋寡聞第一次知道有這么個戲是在那部著名的National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage里,短短幾分鐘的片段不僅讓我記住了Andrew Scott,也讓我對這部神秘的Angels in America念念不忘。后知后覺有一部不在舞臺勝似戲劇的迷你劇存在,感謝導演的忠實,魔幻了現(xiàn)實。念念不忘,必成魔障。再高的還原度也不如廬山真面目,現(xiàn)實的魔幻,藥不能停。
第一部 千禧年近了
卷首引用了美國詩人斯坦利·庫尼茨(Stanley Kunitz)的《樹的試驗》(The Testing-Tree,1971)中的一句: In a murderous time the heart breaks and breaks and lives by breaking.
舞臺提示 10月的最后幾天。切梅爾維茨拉比獨自站在舞臺上,身旁有一個小棺材。那是一個粗糙的松木棺,頭尾各有一個木栓,將棺蓋固定。棺蓋上罩著一塊繡有猶太教標志大衛(wèi)星(Star of David)的祈禱用方巾,前頭則燃著一支猶太教悼念儀式上用的長明燈(yahrzeit candle)。
鏡頭從葬禮開始,梅麗爾·“OMG”·斯特里普(Meryl Streep)反串飾演的老拉比顫顫巍巍地說出了全劇第一段也是很長一段臺詞,溫和、堅定又不失幽默,配上早期猶太移民漂洋過海的黑白紀錄片兒片段,使這段詩意含蓄的驕傲兼吐槽更易于理解: ...She was not a person but a whole kind of person, the ones who crossed the ocean, who brought with us to America the villages of Russia and Lithuania-and how we struggled, and how we fought, for the family, for the Jewish home, so that you would not grow up here, in this strange place, in the melting pot where nothing melted. Descendants of this immigrant woman, you do not grow up in America, you and your children and their children with the goyische names. You do not live in America. No such place exists. Your clay is the clay of some Litvak shtetl, your air the air of the steppes-because she carried the old world on her back across the ocean, in a boat, and she put it down on Grand Concourse Avenue, or in Flatbush, and she worked that earth into your bones, and you pass it to your children, this ancient, ancient culture and home. You can never make that crossing that she made, for such Great Voyages in this world do not any more exist. But every day of your lives the miles that voyage between that place and this one you cross. Every day. You understand me? In you that journey is.
像是冥冥之中戳到喬的痛楚,羅伊提到一出音樂劇《一籠傻鳥》(La Cage aux Folles,1983),并以百老匯歷史最佳之名向喬力薦。這是一部同性戀題材的歡脫喜劇,喬怕是不明就里,但羅伊對待同志問題的態(tài)度在此已經(jīng)埋下伏筆。在他眼里,戲中因善意、寬容而最終和解的假鳳虛凰們,大概真的就是一籠傻鳥吧?只是眼下他還不知道,面前的喬內(nèi)心有多大的困擾糾結,日益作繭自縛。
人物 哈珀·阿瑪?shù)佟てぬ兀℉arper Amaty Pitt):喬的妻子,患有廣場恐懼癥,對“安定”輕微上癮。 謊先生(Mr. Lies):出現(xiàn)在哈珀幻覺中的朋友,他是個旅游代理人,但穿著和談吐像個爵士音樂家。他的上衣翻領上總是別著一個徽章,上刻著“IOTA”(The International Order of Travel Agents,旅游代理國際預訂)。由扮演伯利茲(Belize)的演員飾。 喬。
舞臺提示 當天稍晚。哈珀獨自一人在家。她面對著觀眾,一如往常地一面聽著收音機,一面自言自語。
舌頭上兩粒藍色的藥片兒,蓬頭垢面,毛手毛腳,一時難以將瑪麗-露易絲·帕克(Mary-Louise Parker)的形象與筆管條直、衣冠楚楚的喬的妻子畫等號,鮮明的反差也暗示了二人婚姻關系的背離。劇本中哈珀的第一段臺詞被省略了真是可惜,這段應是她從收音機里獲得的信息乍聽之下似是囈語,卻道破了對新紀元降臨前彌散的末世癌的預言: ...the fussy vegetable preference for visible light, its rejection of darker rays and emanations. Danger from without. It's a kind of gift, from God, the crowning touch to the creation of the world: guardian angels, hands linked, make a spherical net, a blue-green nesting orb, a shell of safety for life itself. But everywhere, things are collapsing, lies surfacing, systems of defense giving way.... This is why, Joe, this is why I shouldn't be left alone.
鏡頭中秋日的絢爛與死亡的陰影強烈對比,路易斯的身影漸行漸遠,他承諾去去就來,但普萊爾已經(jīng)預感到,過去將被埋葬,永遠不會回來了。 -Then I'll come home. -Le chat, elle ne reviendra jamais, jamais... (The cat, she will never, never return...) 至此,對被拋棄的恐懼成為比艾滋病更令普萊爾膽寒的癌,為他與同命相連的哈珀在幻覺中相遇埋下了伏筆。
第五場
人物 哈珀。 喬。 路易斯。 切梅爾維茨拉比。
舞臺提示 當日稍晚。舞臺分為兩景:喬和哈珀在家;路易斯和切梅爾維茨拉比在墓地,小棺材放在一旁。
本劇設定的背景是80年代的紐約,氣數(shù)將盡的羅伊的存在猶如一個似曾相識的陰影,提醒著里根政府的保守主義復辟。身為摩門教徒和共和黨員的喬無疑是“傳統(tǒng)”和“保守”的完美新代言,自然成了陰影意欲附著的傀儡。當他在妻子面前鼓吹里根重塑了美國時,哈珀的囈語再次一針見血:“But it still seems that way. More now than before.”
路易斯帶著預支的負罪感向老拉懺悔,得到的卻是無情的神回復:“Catholics believe in forgiveness. Jews believe in Guilt.”現(xiàn)在想想,越往后越覺得路易斯像一個愛強詞奪理的孩子,任性又脆弱。身患絕癥命不久矣的不是他,撲在病人懷里哭著求安慰的卻是他;飽受病痛折磨生不如死的不是他,大呼小叫再也受不了了的卻是他;不能共患難遺棄愛人另覓新歡的是他,用欲望自醉用暴力自罰是為舊情難忘的也是他……一個負心的孩子,比毒蛇的牙齒還要使人痛入骨髓,致人癌癥。
無論是猶太人、同性戀的身份,還是左派自由主義的觀點,路易斯看起來都是那個與作者本人較為接近的角色。所幸的是,劇中這個猶太教“叛逆”以自由、進步為名的自私、逃避,也是作者揶揄、反思的對象: Americans pay high prices for maintaining the myth of the Individual: We have no system of universal health care, we don't educate our children, we can't pass sane gun control laws, we elect presidents like Reagan, we hate and fear inevitable processes like aging and death.... Anyone interested in exploring alternatives to Individualism and the political economy it serves, Capitalism, has to be willing to ask hard questions about the ego, both as abstraction and as exemplified in oneself.(見劇本后記With a Little Help from My Friends)
兩片兒,倒回去一片兒,又拿出來,放進嘴里,再掰半片兒;兩粒,一把,又一把,就著藥水吞下去。哈珀心滿意足地窩進沙發(fā),眼皮漸漸發(fā)沉;普萊爾平躺在沙發(fā)上,手里的《谷克多傳記》(Cocteau: A Biography)慢慢滑落胸口——夢境的布景就是在模仿法國詩人讓·谷克多(Jean Cocteau)導演的電影《美女與野獸》(Beauty and the Beast,1946)。兩個藥罐子的夢幻相遇在劇中就是這樣開場的,華麗,荒誕,傷感,自尊,初看時第一次流下眼淚就在這里。 -My heart is pumping polluted blood. I feel dirty. -Deep inside you, there's a part of you, the most inner part, entirely free of disease.
-Are you a homo? -NO. I'm not. 哈珀從廚房追到臥室,又追到玄關堵住大門,終于聽到一個這房間里沒人相信的回答。每當觸及問題的實質(zhì),喬就變臉般抹去謙謙君子的偽裝,露出自衛(wèi)的獠牙,卻越發(fā)顯出他的恐懼: All I will say is that I am a very good man who has worked very hard to become good and you want to destroy that. You want to destroy me, but I am not going to let you do that.
-Tell me some more about justice. -You are not about to die. 撫摸,親吻,普萊爾像溫柔的母親安慰著被嚇壞的孩子。路易斯充耳不聞地大談正義的哲學,仿佛沒有任何“癌”擋在他們中間,這就是他所謂的handling: -You love me. What if I walked out on this? Would you hate me forever? -...it seems to me that it lets you off scot-free. No judgment, no guilt or responsibility. For anyone. It was an editorial "you."(本場在迷你劇中被省略的臺詞之一)
兩個謊言。而隱藏在謊言背后的,就是真相。
第九場
人物 亨利(Henry):羅伊的醫(yī)生,由扮演漢娜的演員飾。 羅伊。
舞臺提示 11月的第三個禮拜。羅伊和他的醫(yī)生亨利,在亨利的辦公室里。
很遺憾,劇中沒有讓萬能的梅姨分身亨利,飾演醫(yī)生的是詹姆斯·克倫威爾(James Cromwell)。本場,羅伊發(fā)表了他臭名昭著的“直男癌宣言”: I have sex with men. But unlike nearly every other man of whom this is true, I bring the guy I'm screwing to the White House and President Reagan smiles at us and shakes his hand. Because what I am is defined entirely by who I am. Roy Cohn is not a homosexual. Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man, Henry, who fucks around with guys.... AIDS is what homosexuals have. I have liver cancer.
歷史上真實的羅伊·科恩也是一個深柜,同樣也是死于艾滋病,只不過是在1986年8月,而非劇中的2月。有趣兒的是,羅伊還在作者的另一個劇本《G.大衛(wèi)·沙因在地獄》(G. David Schine in Hell)中出現(xiàn)過,并與他傳說中的基友沙因在地獄中。
第一幕最后,醫(yī)生提到當時的一種抗艾新藥,也就是大名鼎鼎的AZT,但必須向位于馬里蘭州貝塞斯達(Bethesda)的美國國立衛(wèi)生研究院提出申請,再排上兩年的隊才可能拿到。在所有壞消息里,這算得上一個希望;在所有希望里,這相當于絕望。但是在圣經(jīng)里,耶路撒冷城中有一個畢士大池(Pool of Bethesda),池水被天使攪動后,可以治愈第一個下水之人的一切疾病……
第二幕 人為環(huán)境 (1985.12-1986.1)
第一場
人物 普萊爾。 路易斯。
舞臺提示 12月第三個星期的一個晚上,普萊爾獨自倒在他臥房的地上,他的病情更嚴重了。
Enough.
第二場
人物 哈珀。 喬。
舞臺提示 當晚。哈珀獨自坐在家里,室內(nèi)沒有開燈,觀眾幾乎看不見她。喬入場,但沒有開燈。
這是皮特夫婦難得的溫情時刻,可是盡管言語動聽,眼淚真誠,是發(fā)自內(nèi)心地試圖交流或化解,秘密依舊被厚厚的外殼包裹在無法觸及的地方,放不下,打不開?!堆鸥髋c天使摔跤》(Jacob Wrestling with the Angel)是喬打不贏的噩夢。雅各的名字意為“抓住”,在與天使搏斗后,他被神賜名以色列,意即“與神搏斗”,而他的后代就是以色列人。名字的改變,意味著從物質(zhì)中獲得了解放,進入了靈性的境界;喬篤定人不勝天,因而不能也不會做出這樣的“改變”。他的最大努力就是從鹽湖城逃到紐約,以為可以擺脫過去的陰影,治愈“癌癥”,洗刷“罪惡”,其實從來就沒有走出過那片沙漠?,F(xiàn)在,他所能做的就是祈禱上帝“to crush me, break me up into little pieces and start all over again”。
鏡頭推進特寫的那幅《雅各與天使摔跤》,是法國畫家亞歷山大·路易·勒盧瓦爾(Alexander Louis Leloir)的版本。這般神跡,日后會在普萊爾身上再現(xiàn),并且——也是最重要的——取得勝利。這是普萊爾(們)與喬(們)的根本區(qū)別,也是令路易斯最終重新做出選擇的原因。
約瑟夫·雷蒙德·麥卡錫(Joseph Raymond McCarthy),律師、參議員,五十年代初anti-G白色恐怖的制造者;約翰·埃德加·胡佛(J. Edgar Hoover),律師、犯罪學家,曾任FBI局長,仇視左派;沃爾特·溫切爾(Walter Winchell),記者、劇評家、電臺主持人,麥卡錫的支持者。這三位“父親”,是羅伊懷念的風云時代?,F(xiàn)在,他想在蠟燭燃盡前燒上最后一炷香——可是,沒有一位稱職的父親會告訴孩子愛和責任是trap。哦喬,你那雕塑般凝結的崇拜和懷疑,好看得令我作嘔。
身體和事業(yè)的雙重受創(chuàng),使羅伊沒有耐心再和喬玩兒過家家。魔鬼的詭辯,兇相畢露,卻不堪一擊: How do you think a handful of Bolsheviks turned St. Petersburg into Leningrad in one afternoon? Comrades. Who do for each other. Marx and Engels. Lenin and Trotsky. Josef Stalin and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. ...Their little rules. Because I know no rules. Because I don't see the Law as a dead and arbitrary collection of antiquated dictums, thou shall, thou shalt not, because, because I know the Law's a pliable, breathing, sweating…organ... Without the light of the sun, Joe, these cases, and the fancy lawyers who represent them, will wither and die. A well-placed friend, someone in the Justice Department, say, can turn off the sun. Cast a deep shadow on my behalf. Make them shiver in the cold. If they overstep. They would fear that. ——任他天花亂墜,唾沫橫飛,軟硬兼施,喬自風情不解,冥頑不靈,巋然不動。
兩個在很多時候讓我覺得是有性格缺陷的人,在另一些時候,如處子般純潔,難過、苦惱得那么無辜,令人心痛。路易斯因為思念和愧疚,吃不下睡不著;喬在內(nèi)心和外界的多重壓力下,大禮拜天跑去上班。不能自已的慌亂、迷惘中,兩個大男人真的變成了孩子。不熟知彼此過去而產(chǎn)生的安全感模糊了觀念的對立,偽裝成吸引力,將兩顆心試探、擾亂: -...Nowadays. No connections. No responsibilities. All of us...falling through the cracks that separate what we owe to ourselves and...and what we owe to love.(在迷你劇中被省略) -You just.... Whatever you feel like saying or doing, you don't care, you just...do it. -DO what? -It. Whatever. Whatever it is you want to do. -Are you trying to tell me something? (舞臺提示:沉默了一下,兩人帶著性暗示的眼神,彼此對望了一會兒。喬轉(zhuǎn)過頭去。) -NO, I'm just observing that you... -Impulsive. -Yes, I mean it must be scary, you... -Land of the free. Home of the brave. Call me irresponsible. -It's kind of terrifying. -Yeah, well, freedom is. Heartless, too. -Oh you're not heartless. -You don't know.
自由國土,勇士的家鄉(xiāng),偉大和可怕的故事俯拾皆是,Song of Myself的后代,因為年輕而敢于不計后果。這誘惑令喬驚慌——沒有了正義的約束(與羅伊沆瀣一氣?)、愛的套牢(做欲望的奴仆?),完全的自由會是他的滅頂之災: ...what a thing it would be...if overnight everything you owe anything to, justice, or love, had really gone away. Free. It would be...heartless terror. Yes. Terrible, and... Very great. To shed your skin, every old skin, one by one and then walk away, unencumbered, into the morning.
路易斯擠對里根家族那句“Well darling he never sucked my cock but...”是在模仿美國女演員塔盧拉·班克赫德(Tallulah Bankhead)對好事者向她打聽她的一位好友是否同性戀的回答。本場結束前路易斯還有一段自嘲被省略了,剛才他對里根的諷刺,全部反射回自己身上,其實他是有自知之明的,所以才受著良心的譴責: Maybe the court won't convene. Ever again. Maybe we are free. To do whatever. Children of the new morning, criminal minds. Selfish and greedy and loveless and blind. Reagan's children. You're scared. So am I. Everybody is in the land of the free. God help us all.
I'm leaving. I already have. I need some privacy. I won't be judged by you. This isn't a crime, just-the inevitable consequence of people who run out of-whose limitations... YOU can love someone and fail them. You can love someone and not be able to... I have to find some way to save myself.
I'm not going to leave you. This is the truth. I knew this when I married you. I've known this I guess for as long as I've known anything, but... I don't know, I thought maybe that with enough effort and will I could change myself...but I can't... I'm the man with the knives.
——當然,艾米莉不只給普萊爾輸液,還要做全身檢查,你懂的。不過,雖然有全裸鏡頭,氣氛卻是緊張(普萊爾)中透著安詳(護士),有一種嚴肅的神圣感。裝上翅膀,艾瑪阿姨是猙獰搞怪的小惡魔;穿上白大褂兒,她是自帶光環(huán)的圣母。普萊爾戲謔“藥學的奇跡”時說“Lazarus breathes again”,指的是圣經(jīng)中耶穌讓已死的拉撒路復活了的神跡。但在作者筆下更常發(fā)生的是,象征著神力的醫(yī)生總是在宣布無能為力(亨利對羅伊:I haven't got a damn thing for you;牙醫(yī)對普萊爾:Yuck!),代表著人力的護士則一路“送佛送到西”(除了艾米莉外,再如伯利茲對羅伊的“臨終關懷”,對普萊爾的不離不棄)——神的退場,人的自救,或者是我想多了,作者只是有護士情結……
那邊廂,路易斯看上去憔悴了很多,胡子拉碴,盡管仍然喋喋不休,甚至比以往說得更多,卻越發(fā)顯得精神不振,似強弩之末。坐在對面的伯利茲,很明顯在忍耐,而且忍很久了,可是路易斯并沒有要停下來的意思。與外表的變化同步,他關于民主、自由、種族的最新演講也各種矛盾,不知所云。尤其當話題觸及種族問題時,幼稚,虛弱——伯利茲一飛鏢就把果凍戳穿。作為中產(chǎn)白人,路易斯對美國民主過分樂觀,對(美國以外的)反猶情緒有被害妄想癥般的纖細敏感,對(美國的)種族問題卻有意無意地反應遲鈍;他就是他所聲討的布爾喬亞,他早已被他f*ck的同化所同化。伯利茲再次敏銳地從老太太的裹腳布里找到了矛盾的核心:“Real love isn't ambivalent.”在他“最喜歡的平裝暢銷小說”里,種族勢必將愛隔離;在路易斯和普萊爾之間,癌宣判了愛的死刑。伯利茲就是這么犀利,路易斯瞬間崩盤: -Tell him I love him. Can you do that? -I've thought about it for a very long time, and I still don't understand what love is. Justice is simple. Democracy is simple. Those things are unambivalent. But love is very hard. And it goes bad for you if you violate the hard law of love. -I'm dying. -He's dying. You just wish you were.
伯利茲說的那本書《我愛夜晚的神秘》在現(xiàn)實中并不存在,“in love with the night mysterious”其實是美國音樂家科爾·波特(Cole Porter)以莎士比亞的《馴悍記》為藍本創(chuàng)作的音樂劇《刁蠻公主》(Kiss Me, Kate,1948;1953年被改編為電影Kiss Me Kate)里的歌詞。巧的是,波特和喬一樣,也是已婚的同性戀,不過人家的婚姻是建立在知根知底、互惠互利、互助互愛的基礎上,就這點來說可是喬的榜樣。
普萊爾幻聽到艾米莉說的希伯來語是猶太教葬禮上的禱告(El male rachamim),巨大的精神壓力一步步將他推向天使的召喚: ...I feel like something terrifying is on its way, you know, like a missile from outer space, and it's plummeting down towards the earth, and I'm ground zero.... (舞臺提示:舞臺上突然火光一閃,傳出雄壯的萬人大合唱,然后地面上升起一根紅色的金屬柱子,上面架著一本巨大的書,它的每張紙都是鋼做的。那本書打開了,里面刻著一個很大的希伯來文第一個字母Aleph,它化為火焰,然后書本馬上合起來,降入地下消失,燈光恢復正常。艾米莉仍然在表上填寫著,完全沒有注意到這些。普萊爾臉上有種充滿渴望的激動。)
羅森堡夫婦間諜案時至今日仍存在爭議(有證據(jù)表明,朱利葉斯可能參與了間諜活動,而埃塞爾并沒有,至少夠不上死刑的程度),但羅伊在審判中歐文·羅伯特·考夫曼(Irving Robert Kaufman)法官的非法行為確實對判決產(chǎn)生了影響。最令我悲哀的是,羅伊對闖入男性政治戰(zhàn)場的埃塞爾的仇恨摻雜了很多私人因素——如果她不是猶太人,或者不是女性?在我看來,他有嚴重的身份認同障礙,身為猶太人卻謀害同族,身為同性戀卻鎮(zhèn)壓同志??上攵蘸螽斔獣詥痰拿孛軙r,受到的打擊會有多大。F*ck traitors. F*ck communists. F*ck legal. F*ck nice. F*ck the Nation. F*ck yourself.
千禧年,耶穌將再度降臨,撒旦被打入地獄。作為劇中魔鬼的化身,羅伊大勢已去成為必然。 -I have all the time in the world. -You're immortal. -I'm immortal. Ethel. I have forced my way into history. I ain't never gonna die. -History is about to crack wide open. Millennium approaches.
...he wants someone familiar. A partner who knows his steps. (舞臺提示:普萊爾睜開眼睛,路易斯出現(xiàn)。他看起來非常帥。曲子逐漸加入其他樂器合奏,成為一支浪漫的舞曲。) 記憶中的他,容顏未改,健康如初,青春生動。我已忘了為何而來,別去打擾,盡情舞蹈。
Moon river, wider than a mile I'm crossing you in style some day Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker Wherever you're going, I'm going your way
Two drifters, off to see the world, there's such a lot of world to see We're after the same rainbow's end, waiting around the bend My huckleberry friend, moon river and me
The twentieth century. Oh dear, the world has gotten so terribly, terribly old. 多希望這“月亮河”曾被天使攪擾,治愈疾痛,洗刷罪惡,沖破阻隔,使此刻,永遠。
人物 普萊爾。 路易斯。 喬。 天使(The Angel):是四種光和熱的化身,分別為熒光(Fluor)、磷光(Phosphor)、明光(Lumen)和燭光(Candle),化為一體就是“美國天使”(Continental Principality of America)。她有一對華麗的銀灰色翅膀。
舞臺提示 舞臺上分為兩景:普萊爾獨自在他的公寓里;路易斯獨自在公園里。
路易斯!!普萊爾脫口而出的名字,在公園的長椅上,卻等來了喬——但你知道嗎,你將得到的只是一具軀殼: -Well I fooled you. Crocodile tears. Nothing... -I'm a pretty terrible person, Louis. NO, I really really am. I don't think I deserve being loved. -There? See? We already have a lot in common. 路易斯問喬是否知道拉撒路的故事——對,就是第三幕第二場普萊爾自比的那個拉撒路。喬傻乎乎地“預言”耶穌會把普萊爾救活,然后美滋滋地跟著“真愛”滾床單去了。我是該說恭喜,還是該說感謝呢?
(舞臺提示:雄壯的樂聲大起,緊接著,燈光變成非常冷酷的淡藍色,然后又轉(zhuǎn)成溫暖、亮麗的金色,又變成可怖的慘綠,最后是一片高貴美麗的紫色。聲音靜下來。) God almighty... Very Steven Spielberg.(彎譯:戲劇高貴,謝絕煽情。) (舞臺提示:一個似流星下墜般的聲音從地球的極高處,極為猛力地朝著臥室撞擊過來;當這個不知名的物體接近時,房間里的光線似乎都被它吸走,等到屋里全黑時,又聽到如隕石撞地球般的巨響,整棟建筑開始搖晃,臥室部分的天花板、許多灰泥、板條、電線等紛紛掉落在地面。之后,在一片幽幽的白色光束之中,天使展開著她巨大的銀灰色翅膀,從空中降下,飄浮在床的上方。) 劇本里,普萊爾在屁滾尿流間還不忘幽他一默,可惜迷你劇沒敢讓斯皮爾伯格躺槍。除了體現(xiàn)了作者的節(jié)操,放在舞臺上,想來也會有一定的間離效果,使觀眾意識到,一切尚在人間。
Greetings, Prophet; The Great Work begins: The Messenger has arrived.