Tao Qingmei and Hou Suyi (Taipei: China Times, 2003)

In the Moment: The Theatre Art of Stan Lai

From Chapter 1

In the early 1980s, the sealed atmosphere of Taiwan’s society emitted the anxiety that comes before change. Martial law, repression of the press, control of news and thought, Taiwan’s society longed for democracy, but needed a medium through which to conduct the collective social emotions.

This is the “social geographical background” when Stan Lai began making his theatre. In Taiwan, from martial law to its easing, from dictatorship to democracy, there were many who worked hard to cultivate the theatre. They broke from convention, lighting many little lights of life. It is hard to imagine that the medium, through which the collective social emotions could be conducted, was this theatre.

In those years, everyone used the theatre as a place to discuss social problems. Though feisty, it was at the same time tolerating. The theatre didn’t seek to exclude anyone, but included all who came. Audiences came to the theatre to see a good play, and at the same time, take part in a social forum. Stan Lai’s earlier plays, like Plucking Stars, That Evening, We Performed Crosstalk, and The Peach Blossom Land, all dealt with topics that were very sensitive at the time: the failure of the social welfare system, the death of traditional values, the hesitation to open up dialogue with China. Most essentially, these plays dealt with the issues of cultural and national identity. These explorations were left for after the laughter in the theatre, and served as an accompaniment to the ensuing turbulent change in Taiwan society.

Perhaps this is the ideal situation: Theatre is art; it can give the people sensual and spiritual pleasure; yet it also is a social forum, focusing on the issues of society, faith, thought. It lets everyone think together, explore important social issues. Athens in the 5th century B.C. was like this; Taiwan in the late 20th century once blazed like this, however short the time was.

Of course, we cannot bring back the splendor of the ancient Greek theatre in our contemporary society. In our social geography, society is so large, where is there place for theatre? Theatre is so small, how could it possibly hold so large a society? For Stan Lai, his method of communication is culture and spirit. He seeks to awaken the collective cultural consciousness in each individual, in order to build a social forum. Concretely, he speaks of each individual living in this society, he listens to each person’s story, examining each special feeling. Through these fragments of emotion, he displays the disease enveloping society. It is as if he only touches on the small pulses that each individual is concerned with, but at the same time he makes the whole society tremble with shock.

And so, for people a hundred years from now, if they want to know the face of late 20th century Taiwan, instead of going to old newspapers or photos, it would be better to see a play by Stan Lai.

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, U.S.A.

New Drama of Freedom Opens Taiwan to the World of the Stage

Paul Hodgins, December 9, 1994

Few theater artists can claim the kind of far-reaching impact Stan Lai has achieved. The Taiwanese playwright and director, 40, has almost single-handedly created contemporary Taiwanese theater. Since its inception 10 years ago, Lai's Performance Workshop of Taipei has been the catalyst for a vibrant, burgeoning theatrical culture in a country that, for decades, had virtually no dramatic tradition....

BEIJING DAILY

Ni Mingran, Stan Lai, and People’s Art

Xu Jiang, May 17, 2005, p. 14

The establishment of Stan Lai’s theatre model has changed the old passive way that people used to go to theatre. It cleverly shifts and lets out the audience’s understanding of and dissatisfaction with things happening around them in everyday life. Within the process of shifting and letting out, the people’s attitudes toward life and theatre have been upgraded, they become once again participants in the serious world view of the theatre. This is of utmost importance. To be able to make the common masses find again for themselves a feeling of self-importance, and yet not become overly-arrogant – even for one evening – this kind of art is high class. It is avant-garde, it is democratic. If we can go back to the original meaning of the term “People’s Artist” and choose a new “People’s Artist” who is alive and well, I would choose Stan Lai. Because he has returned the power of theatre back to the people, and he has returned the direct passion of life back to the theatre.