莎剧表演美国化的时代语境与历史贡献——以布斯家族为例

On the Time Context and Historical Contribution of the Americanization of Shakespeare’s Plays Performance: A Case Study of the Booth Family

美国戏剧源自殖民地时期,由欧洲诸国的白人移民群体带入欧洲戏剧,尤其是主要殖民母国英国的莎士比亚戏剧。从殖民地时期到19世纪末之前是美国戏剧的早期发展阶段,来自英国的莎士比亚戏剧在美国的输入、风行以及美国本土对莎剧的选择、接受和适应问题,一直是引人关注的重要内容。从19世纪美国戏剧舞台上的莎剧演出来看,很明显集中于《理查三世》《哈姆雷特》《裘力斯·凯撒》等剧目。此情况的出现,既有美国戏剧演员的个人成长经历和性格特质的个体原因,又与他们所身处的19世纪美国社会现实密切相关,其背后有着深刻的美国社会根源,带有鲜明的时代印记。同时,19世纪是美国民族戏剧意识开始觉醒的时代,由于当时的美国戏剧在本土的戏剧创作上微不足道,美国民族戏剧的成就主要体现在以布斯家族为代表的戏剧表演上。布斯家族的莎剧表演,打破了美国早期戏剧发展阶段由英国剧团和演员主导和垄断美国戏剧舞台的局面,并在莎剧表演中有意识地融入美国本土元素,开启和形成了极富个性化和美国本土特征的演剧风格,代表了19世纪美国民族戏剧所取得的最高成就,由此奠定了布斯家族在美国早期戏剧发展史上的崇高历史地位。

American drama originated from European drama brought by white immigrants from European countries in the colonial period, especially for Shakespeare’s plays in Britain, the main colonial home country. From the colonial period to the end of the 19th century is the early development stage of American drama. The import and popularity of Shakespeare’s plays from Britain to the United States,as well as the selection, reception and adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays in the United States, have always been an important content of concern. From the performance of Shakespeare’s plays on the American theatrical stage in the 19th century, it is obvious that it focuses on plays such as Richard Ⅲ, Hamlet and Julius Caesar. The emergence of this situation is not only due to the personal growth experience and personality traits of American actors, but also closely related to the American social reality in the 19th century. Behind it, there are profound American social roots and distinctive marks of the times. At the same time, the 19th century was the awakening era of the consciousness of American national drama. Because American drama was insignificant in local drama creation, the achievements of American national drama were mainly reflected in the drama performance represented by Booth family. Booth family’s performance on Shakespeare’s plays broke the situation that British troupes and actors dominated and monopolized the American theatrical stage in the early stage of American drama development, consciously integrated American local elements into the performance of Shakespeare’s plays, opened and formed a highly personalized and American local performance style, representing the highest achievement of American national drama in the 19th century,Thus, it established its lofty historical status in the development history of early American drama.