散文佳作108篇 第16期:盲演員 A Blind Actor

A Blind Actor

周志俊

Zhou Zhijun

“別動!……叫你別動就別動!”

"Don't move it! Don't move it, I tell you!"

“動一個“褲腳管’有什么?”

"I've just moved 'the trouser legs' a little. What of it?"

“什么‘褲腳管’?!”

"What ‘trouser legs’?! "

我不知道是哪根神經的傳導，使這位雙目失明的演員知道我在偷偷撩動翼幕。我習慣叫翼幕為“褲腳管”，這使他很生氣，粘著的胡子簌簌發(fā)抖，要不是化了妝，肯定是張鐵青的臉。

I didn't know which of his nerves told this blind actor that I was stealthily moving the sidecurtains. My habit of calling the side curtains "trouser legs" irritated him to such an extent thathis artificial whiskers quivered. I was sure that under the make-up his face must be black withanger.

以他的藝齡，完全可以做做劇院藝術顧問的事了，多省心!但他說一個演員不能離開舞臺，也許到死!于是每逢他演出，院長派我負貴他的安全：上場、下場……

He deserved the position of art adviser in the troupe for the long years he had been workingthere. What a comfortably easy job it would have been for him! But ire claimed an artist shouldremain on the stage till death. So I was appointed by the director to see to his safetywhenever he went on stage.

舞臺上的翼幕，什么時候開始被叫做“褲腳管”，無人能回答亡但的確有這樣的事，有些演員常在吃食后，便把它當做抹布擦手;下場時，為了少走兩步，把“褲腳管”一撩，走個斜線就下妝去了。這些他現在已看不到了。這一次為了怕翼幕絆住他的腳，我才撩了一下，不幸落在我的身上，我心里嘟嚷著：“摔著活該!”

No one could say when the side curtains on the stage came to be called the "trouser leg." Infact, some actors would use them as napkins after snacks, and others would lift them to take ashort cut off the stage. All this he could no longer see. I had held u the side curtain just intime to keels him from tripping over it, and this was what I got in return from him." It servesyou right if you stumbled on it!" I cursed to myself.

他很生氣地問起是誰給神圣的舞臺上的翼幕取了“褲腳管”的名字，他那無光卻仍有魅力的眼睛，突然涌出兩顆淚珠，掛在眼角上，不落下來……

With tears brimming in his sightless yet still attractive eyes, he angrily demanded to knowwho nicknamed the sacred side curtains "trouser legs."

那是在他還未失明時候的事了，劇院門口貼著“廟小妖風大，池淺王八多”的對聯，橫批是“老朽滾蛋”。可是幾個年輕人，演出就困難了。于是打著“落實政策”的幌子，把他解放出來，當舞臺監(jiān)督兼跑個不出聲的群眾。但他的好年月儀僅不到一個月，也就為了這條“褲腳管”，有人當主角，一出場就把翼幕一撩，亮相，下場一撩，表示帥勁兒。這些被池看在眼里，忘了“老老實實改造”的訓示，在大庭廣眾面前就吼了起來，造反派組織了“現場批斗會”，狠狠斗這條“翻天”的“牛”。

This incident occurred during the Cultural Revolution when he still had his eyesight. At the doorof the theater hung a couplet which read: "A small temple with strong evil wind; A shallowpond with many bad tortoises." Between the vertical couplet stretched the horizontalstreamer which read: "Away with old scoundrels." At that time only a few young actors wereallowed to perform on the stage. It was almost impossible for them to give any goodperformances. So this veteran actor was soon "liberated" under the pretest of "implementingthe policies" and was made stage manager with the concurrent job of playing silent minor roleson the stage. However, this job which kept him free lasted no more than a month. It was ailbecause of "the trouser legs" incident. Some leading actors used to hold up one of the sidecurtains to strike a pose when going on the stage and hold it up again to show off whenleaving the stage. When he saw such behavior he forgot the directive of "remoulding in realearnest' and roared with indignation at these actors. A public meeting wits held on the spot bythe rebels to severely denounce this "ox" who wanted to "overturn heaven.”

“打倒斯坦尼的孝子賢孫!”

"Down with the filial son of Stanislavsky!"

他心愛的學生，還把老師在牛棚里偷偷寫成的《論舞臺藝術的整體性》霍地甩了出來，于是現場像熱油鍋里掉進鹽粒，沸起來了。

Then suddenly one of the old actor's favorite students flung out the article, On the Integrity ofStage An, which the old actor had written in secret when he was confined in the "ox shed".This set the whole audience boiling as if salt had been poured into a pot of hot oil.

“在牛棚里還寫黑文毒害人!”

"He even dared to write reactionary articles in the 'ox shed' to poison people's minds!"

一張張的地下文字，變成了碎片，在他腳下飛舞，他低著頭，看見紙片上的字漸漸小去，小去，他復發(fā)了青光眼……

Viciously they tore up all the streets of his article and scattered the pieces swirling around theold actor's feet. Bending his head, he watched the words on the scraps of paper becomingfainter and fainter until he could see no mare because of a relapse of glaucoma.

他對我抱歉地說，他看不得別人對藝術事業(yè)的糟蹋。他伸手摸起桌上一個照相架，里面是一張他扮演老工人的劇照，相框是古銅色雕花的。

The old veteran then told me as if in apology that he couldn't bear to see art maltreated.Fumbling on the table, he took up a carved bronze-colored photo frame containing a stagephoto of himself as a Veteran worker.

“一個完整的藝術品，應當包括這個框架。翼幕就是舞臺框子。假使把翼幕當成‘褲腳管’，隨便破壞它，那我們怎么能稱得上是人類靈魂的工程師呢!”

He said to me, "A complete work of art should include the frame as well. The side curtains are apart of the stage frame. If we treat them as 'trouser legs' and abuse them at will, how can weactors deserve to be referred to as 'the engineers of the human soul'?"

我真希望他現在能眼睛豁亮起來，讓他看到我的淚水，我的懺悔。他看見了，因為他沒有再說下去。

How I wished he could see again! He would see my regretful tears. Yes, he did see all tooclearly, for he abruptly broke off.