| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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Wei has also adapted Western literature, such as novels, poetry, and drama, for the stage. The performance Six Memos for the Next Millennium—Movements is revised from the six speech articles written by the Italian novelist Italo Calvino (1923–1985). However, in Wei’s production, there is no obvious plot, no language, and no obvious emotion. Wei intentionally breaks Aristotle’s theory of the trinity. There is no exposition, no climax, and no conclusion in this performance. In Wei’s production of Six Memos for the Next Millennium—Movements, there is no dialogue but only bodily movements as Wei’s subtitles indicate. Nevertheless, the costume and wigs, which the five performers wear, splendidly suggest the flamboyant language of Calvino’s novel. In this performance, there is no language but only gestures and images. The faces of the five performers (four actresses and one actor) are painted like cats and dogs. They move partly like humans and partly like puppets. In this performance, the distinction between mime, drama, and dance movement is slight.
Wei has also adapted English and American literatures for the stage. Adapting Emily Dickinson’s poetry and her diary, Wei’s production of Emily Dickinson was performed in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Jill Dolan argues that materialist feminism can be viewed as textual interventions from a materialist base. Dolan inspects Hélène Cixous’ play Portrait of Dora (1979) to indicate that Cixous’ theoretical writing and her texts are between the neo-femininity proposed by l’écriture féminine and a more materialist analysis of representational practice. (Dolan, 101) To apply Dolan’s argument to Wei’s production of Emily Dickinson, one of the greatest American female poets, we might see Dickinson’s l’écriture feminine represented by Wei’s mise-en-scéne. Representing l’écriture feminine and gender issues through Emily Dickinson’s female writing, Wei stages her production from a materialist analysis of representational practice based on Emily Dickinson’s biology, diary, and poetry.
In Wei’s production, the actresses represent Emily Dickinson’s solitude, her isolated and mysterious life, suicide, anxiety, and immortality. The four actresses wear white skirts like ballet dancers in this poetic drama performance.