Snow in Midsummer , by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig. Based on the Classical Chinese Drama The Injustice to Dou E That Moved Heaven and Earth by Guan Hanqing. U. S. Premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland Oregon, August 2–October 27, 2018

Abstract

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: SNOW IN MIDSUMMER, BY FRANCES YA-CHU COWHIG. BASED ON THE CLASSICAL CHINESE DRAMA THE INJUSTICE TO DOU E THAT MOVED HEAVEN AND EARTH BY GUAN HANQING. U. S. PREMIERE AT THE OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL, ASHLAND OREGON, AUGUST 2-OCTOBER 27, 2018. CATHERINE SWATEK The University of British Columbia Snow in Midsummer (hereafter “Snow”), a very free adaptation of the Yuan drama Injustice to Dou E (Dou E yuan, hereafter “Injustice”) in two acts, is the first fruit of a project initiated in 2015 by the Royal Shakespeare Company, to commission new translations of Chinese classic plays and inspire adaptations of them by contemporary playwrights.1 The play had its first run at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon from 23 February to 25 March 2017, and a second run, in a new production with a different cast, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from 2 August to 27 October of 2018. This review is based on the production in Ashland, where I attended two performances near the end of its run. Cowhig was attracted to a play about a female ghost seeking revenge because, in her words, “I was drawn to the idea of a wronged woman going on a quest to clear her name.”2 Having lived in China and Taiwan, off and on, for more than ten years (her mother is Chinese, her father served in the State Department with postings in China), she also drew inspiration from ghost films when adapting a Yuan dynasty play to explore contemporary issues having to do with environmental degradation, the ravages of global capitalism, and the particular difficulties faced by women, in this case marginalized rural women in China. These issues emerge in the play in an urban setting, an industrial town called New Harmony located somewhere in China’s north, but they resonate beyond China.3 To judge by production photos posted at the Royal Shakespeare Company website, the set design for the Stratford production was a brutalist but vibrant 1 For this project and its history, go to https://www.rsc.org.uk/about-us/our-work-in-china/ chinese-classics-translation-project/research-and-development-for-the-chinese-classics-project. 2 For this interview with the playwright, go to: http://sincerelyamy.com/2017/02/28/ interview-rscs-snow-in-midsummer-writer-frances-ya-chu-cowhig/. 3 In the words of one critic, “Cowhig mobilizes the play’s Chinese setting to invite audiences in Britain (where the play was first staged) and the U.S. to make critical connections to their own CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature 37. 2 (December 2018): 161–170© The Permanent Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature, Inc. 2019 DOI 10.1080/01937774.2019.1589665 evocation of a teahouse-cum-bar, constructed of rough beams embellished with neon signs in Chinese.4 The cast of eleven (nine for the Oregon production) included actors of Asian heritage for most of the lead roles,5 mostly wearing modern clothes but with some use of more traditional dress. In Ashland the set was a largely bare stage, with actors also in modern dress most of the time. Its use of several key props in a minimalist setting struck me as more in keeping with traditional xiqu staging, and suited the play’s dystopian theme. The props included a table of Chinese design, a hospital bed, a grill for broiling lamb skewers, a giant statue of the goddess Guanyin, several plastic chairs, and modern funerary objects (floral wreaths and paper items for burning that included a sportscar, tv set, video game, and bottle of beer). The bright colors of these funerary objects, and of some of the costumes, contrasted with the drabness of a set consisting of a gray brick building at stage left with leaves piled up against it. This use of color to enliven a bare stage is also reminiscent of traditional Chinese drama (fig. 1). Cowhig’s adaptation takes the form of a sequel, set three years after the death of the female protagonist of Guan Hanqing’s play, Dou E (now Dou Yi, pronounced “Yee”). A brief prologue—reminiscent of the opening wedge of Yuan drama—introduces Dou...