My love of kung fu movies began in the mid-70s. In the days before DVDs and VCRs, this meant going down to now-defunct Chinatown movie houses like the Pearl, the Shaw, and the Golden Harvest.
As a seven year old, I marvelled at the seemingly superhuman abilities of performers such as Gordon Liu, Ti Lung, Philip Kwok, and, of course, Bruce Lee (already elevated to legendary status just a few years after his death). Thirty years later, I have clear memories of their amazing speed, agility, and precision. I also remember that back then, they were the only people on a movie screen who looked liked me.
The Five Vengeances is my theatrical homage to the heroes of my youth. It is a free adaptation of Thomas Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy now retold in the style of a kung fu movie. The Five Vengeances retains the Jacobean flavour of the original play and adds high-flying kicks and chop-sockey sound effects performed live as our actors fight on-stage.
It should come as no surprise that Jacobean tragedy and kung fu fighting form a harmonious union. First, revenge is a central element in both forms of storytelling. In plays such as The Spanish Tragedy, The Changeling, and The Jew of Malta; and films such as The Five Deadly Venoms, The Crippled Avengers, and The Bride with White Hair, we see recurring themes of vengeance, betrayal, murder, and cruelty.
Also, kung fu cinema lends itself well to stage adaptation because it actually derives from theatrical forms. Chinese opera typically presents great feats of athleticism, acrobatics, and martial arts. Many Hong Kong kung fu stars emerged from the ranks of Peking opera rather than through fighting schools. Legends such as Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Corey Yuen were all disciples of Master Yu Jim Yuen at the Peking Opera School in Hong Kong. Though Bruce Lee studied Wing Chun at an academy, his father was a Cantonese Opera star.
Here’s why I love the conceit of using kung fu conventions on stage: it allows one to present extraordinary people with extrordinary conflicts. In the beginning, all theatre was like this. We wrote about exclusively about gods and heroes and how they warred with other gods and heroes. Centuries later, we figured out that ordinary people could have extraordinary problems and that’s what we wrote about. Fast forward a few more hundred years, and the age of naturalism was born where we wrote about ordinary people with ordinary problems.With The Five Vengeances, I’ve attempted to return to a mythological world where people can be propelled through the air, bare hands can stop swords, and virtue can defy insurmountable odds to conquer evil. Our heroes and villains all have extraordinary powers and their conflicts are literally life-and-death affairs.
If this adaptation is starting to sound somewhat earnest, rest assured that The Five Vengeances retains what good ol’ Wikipedia calls “the earthy—even obscene—style, irreverent tone, and grotesque subject matter that typifies Middleton’s comedies”.
If you enjoy kung fu movies, Jacobean Tragedy, Grand Guignol, or you basically like your drama over-the-top (like Knots Landing, for example), come and check out Cahoots’ workshop presentation of The Five Vengeances.
The details of when and where are below.It’s got kung fu, it’s got sex, it’s got Englebert Humperdinck. What more could you ask for?
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CrossCurrents Festival 2007 presents a reading of
THE FIVE VENGEANCES
written and directed by Jovanni Sy
dramaturged by Guillermo Verdecchia
featuring: Ella Chan, David Collins, Darrell Dennis, Kevin Hanchard, Michelle Latimer, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Richard Lee, Keira Loughran, John Ng, Jordan Pettle, Julian Richings, and Camilla Scott.
Factory Theatre Studio
125 Bathurst Street
PWYC admission
ONE-NIGHT ONLY!!
Sunday May 6 at 8:00 p.m.
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