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Some plays were produced for the moment, some plays you watch and soon forget, while others are worth staging and staging again, watching and watching over and over again.
"Wet Paint" falls into the latter category. When it was performed in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin in the mid-1930's, in 1983 by the Central Experimental Drama Theatre -- now the China National Theatre Company -- and last year by the Beijing People's Art Theatre, it appealed to theatre-goers as well as to the play's directors themselves.
For that reason, Ren Ming from the Beijing People's Art Theatre, who directed the very funny satirical comedy about money and cupidity last June, presented his second version at the Capital Theatre this year.
Although it was the play's eighth run in China, the show that finished last Monday has nevertheless been highly praised.
Adapted from the French playwright Rene Fauchois' "Prenez Garde a la Peinture," the British playwright Emlyn Williams created the comedy "The Late Christopher Bean" in 1933. Ouyang Yuqian (1889-1962), one of the most renowned Chinese dramatists, was impressed by the play when he saw it in London and soon translated it into Chinese, calling it "Wet Paint," and staged it in Hong Kong.
The story centres on Doctor Haggett's family, which has fallen on hard times but is still keeping up appearances.
The Haggetts, who live in a small village in England, take in Christopher Bean, an obscure painter who shows no promise of artistic greatness, as a lodger. The snobbish family look down on Bean, tolerating his presence only for the rent he pays. One of his paintings is pressed into service to patch a leaky roof.
Bean's only friend, and his lover, is Gwenny, the kind-hearted maid, but nobody knows it. Eventually Bean dies, broke and obscure. He bequeaths her his last painting -- a portrait of her. The maid treasures the seemingly worthless artwork as a memento.
All of the above takes place before the play even starts. Ten years have passed and Christopher Bean's artistic talents have been posthumously recognized, making his paintings very valuable.
A number of visitors call on the Haggetts to collect any paintings Bean may have left there. The doctor and his wife, who never had any use for Bean when he lived under their leaky roof, now decide his paintings should belong to them rather than to Gwenny, who is to be sent away. Heart-of-gold Gwenny has no interest in money -- she wants to keep the painting because it is a treasured present from her lover.
Many theatre critics recommend the play because it is one of the few being currently staged that strictly adheres to the "Three Unities" -- the rules for drama derived from Aristotle's "Poetics."
Neo-classical Renaissance critics codified Aristotle's discussion, claiming that all plays should follow these three precepts -- Place Unity, the setting of the play should be one location; Time Unity, the plot should recount the events of a single day, and Action Unity, a play should have one main set of actions that it follows, with no or few subplots.
"As the forms of drama have been developed greatly, today people can see few theatre examples of the 'Three Unities,'" said director Ren.
"This play offers us a good example that keeps strictly to the rules. The story happens in eight hours from 9 am when the first visitor to the family looking for Bean's paintings arrives to 5 pm when Gwenny leaves with her portrait by Bean. It is pretty tight and full of suspense," he said.
The play is an interesting satire on greed, which drives the Haggett family and treacherous characters that make money from artists and their paintings. The themes are just as relevant as time passes.
"People in the 1930s, 1980s and now 2005, and people in Paris, London and Beijing may have different views of merits, but concerning the play, I believe they will all admire Gwenny and Haggett's younger daughter Susan but look down upon doctor Haggett, his wife and his older daughter," said Ren.
"I am not intentionally making them ugly but trying to bring out their real personalities on a special occasion and letting the audience judge for themselves," he added.
Liao Ben, a playwright, heaped praise on actor Li Hongtao as doctor Haggett and actress Wu Shanshan as Gwenny.
"Gwenny looks like a nobody in the first scene, a maid who will leave the family this afternoon," he said. "But as the story unfolds she becomes more and more important, the most crucial role in the end. Wu balances her action well in every scene, successfully leaving the audience questioning her role."
Actor Li commands the stage. He vividly portrays a poor village doctor's changing attitudes when faced with the unexpected prospect of a huge sum of money. He is uncertain whether he can get his hands on the loot, greedily bargaining with visitors who want to buy Bean's paintings, racking his brains to come up with a way to take the paintings from Gwenny and depressed when the illusion of fortune falls flat.
Yang Guixiang plays a snobbish and vulgar housewife, Fu Yao is the vain and flighty older daughter Ada while Bai Hui is the kind and honest younger daughter Susan. Zhang Yongqiang and Ban Zan vividly portray two sly businessmen with the paintings in their sights.
(China Daily HK Edition July 25, 2005)
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