一个关于感受“家”的故事：抓马宝贝《土地》作者笔记

2020年3月，本应和少年剧场一起展开探索的新项目《土地》，像很多蓄势待发的项目一样被一再延后，虽然充满了遗憾，但也给了抓马团队更多的时间去挖掘这个新项目中的更多可能性。

创作者Chris在年初故事创作接近尾声时，面对席卷而来的疫情，他感受到在当下的社会境遇的影响下，一个崭新的创作灵感让他对故事的走向做了大胆的调整。当我收到这个故事，我立刻感受到了故事对我的邀请和吸引，我意识到作为这个项目的参与者，我们将从中得到的感受与思考、讨论与疗愈。

于是，我在想，即便现阶段我们不能以沉浸式教育戏剧的方式参与到这个项目中来，但在这段时间，我将持续不断的以「创作者阐述」、「作者笔记」、「导演日记」等视角，通过文字、音频、视频等形式记录和分享这个项目从出发到一路进行中的点滴。

——少年剧场导演冯雪

作者笔记

抓马首席文化官Chris站在一个创作者的角度，给我们分享了《土地》的作者笔记。《土地》也是继《考试》、《旅途》之后，《皇帝的孩子》三部曲中的最后一部，敬请期待少年剧场.Eliot班！

△抓马.少年剧场《旅途》

人们总是害怕三件事：死亡、他人、和自己的思想

《土地》是《皇帝的孩子》三部曲中的最后一部。创作这个三部曲的灵感正如以往一样，来自于一群在抓马宝贝成长和学习的不同寻常的年轻人。

我想到在发展这个新项目同时，毫无疑问他们的学校时光对于他们自身的成长是决定性的。这让我们开始思考和探索这系列剧目，特别是第一部《考试》。

The Soil is the final part of The Emperor’s Childrentrilogy. The inspiration and idea for the plays came, as it usually does, from the remarkable young minds that learn and grow at Drama Rainbow.

In reflecting on their experience of growing up as part of the process of developing this new project, it was inevitable, given the amount of time they spend in education, how prominent their experiences at school was in their lives. This led to further discussion and exploration, the result of which was Part I, The Examination.

△抓马.少年剧场《考试》

这部剧的场景设定在古代皇帝的宫殿，一群来自不同地方的最智慧的年轻人被送到这里学习，通过考试成为学者，并用一生的时间服务于皇帝。

在创作这部戏剧的过程中，需要创作一个三部曲系列故事的想法变成了我无法抗拒的必然结果。这是因为我意识到孩子们分享的关于教育的经验和中国文化中的三个基本维度有关：教育、家庭和社群以及传统和仪式在其中扮演的角色。

于是《皇帝的孩子》三部曲便诞生了。而当我们的英雄晨曦和代北在第一部剧的最后从宫殿离开时，孩子们非常明确地想要继续跟随他们去探索翻过城墙后的旅程。

The play is set in a school in the Emperor’s Palace in an ancient Kingdom, where the most brilliant young minds are brought from all corners of the land to study for the examination that would qualify them as scholars and a life time of service to the Emperor.

In the process of writing this play that the idea of creating a trilogy became an invitation that I could not resist. This was because I realised that what the children had shared with us about education also touched on three fundamental aspects of Chinese culture: education, family and community and the role that tradition and ritual plays in governing all of them.

And so the concept of the Emperor’s Children trilogy was born. And when our heroes Chen Xi and Dai Bei fled from the palace at the end of the play, it was clear that our children wanted to follow them on their journey on the other side of the palace walls.

△抓马.少年剧场《考试》

在第二部分《旅途》中，晨曦和代北发现王国正在遭受战争和干旱的蹂躏。

他们在旅途中挣扎着寻找他们被摧毁的家园和村庄，寻找他们的过去和他们自己。在这个过程中，他们遇到了王国中被遗弃的孩子，以及一个神秘的、操纵一切的母亲形象。这是一种家庭价值观的扭曲，他们利用儿童需要得到关照和养育的诉求，换取孩子们完全的顺从和屈服。

晨曦和代北又一次成功了，他们决定与同伴们继续他们自己的旅程，去寻求宁静和一个崭新的开始，寻找一个他们可以定居的地方，并建立一个家园。

In Part II, The Journey, Chen Xi and Dai Bei find that the kingdom is ravaged by war and drought. They struggle along the road in search of their families and villages, which have been destroyed, their past and themselves.

In the process they meet the abandoned children of the kingdom and also the mysterious and manipulative figure of the Mother, an embodied distortion of family values who exploits children’s need to be nurtured and mothered in return for complete obedience and subservience.

Once again, Chen Xi and Dai Bei triumph and they decide to continue on their journey with their companions in search of peace and a new beginning; a place they can finally settle and build a home in together.

△抓马.少年剧场《旅途》

土地，三部曲中的结尾部分。晨曦和代北跌跌撞撞的走进了一个隐藏在山谷脚下的村庄。中国有句古话叫“天高皇帝远”，社群生活建立在祖祖辈辈辈建立起来的传统和仪式之上，这些传统和仪式根植于远古时代的土壤之中。

《土地》探索了中国文化的第三个基本维度：社群。这当然也是作为中国人的核心所在，随着故事的展开，我们看到天下的希望是在土壤里，经验在两个年轻脆弱的身体中积累了巨大的力量、领导力和智慧。通过感受脚下的土地，他们能够面对人类的三大恐惧：死亡、他人和自己的思想。这是一个关于在这个世界上感受到家的故事，关于建设社群的“土壤”：养育和成长、自我与社会的关系、面对我们真正是谁、牺牲、最终、爱。

——Chris Cooper 2020-07

In The Soil, the concluding part of the trilogy, Chen Xi and Dai Bei stumble into a village hidden away at the foot of a valley. As the old Chinese saying goes “heaven is high and the the Emperor is distant”, and life of the community is built upon traditions and rituals that are rooted in the soil that has fed the people for time immemorial.

The Soil explores the third fundamental aspects of Chinese culture, community.This too of course is at the very heart of being Chinese. As the story unfolds we see that Tianxia does not lie with the Emperor, or his corrupted kingdom, but in the soil. Experience has accumulated great power, leadership and wisdom in two young fragile bodies. By feeling the earth beneath their feet they are able to confront the three great fears of humankind, according to R D Laing; death, people and their own minds. The Soil is a tale about the struggle to be at home in the world.The ‘soil’ of building community: nurturing and growing, the relationship between self and society, facing who we really are, sacrifice and ultimately, love.

——Chris CooperJuly 2020