'Make Sense Who May, I Switch off': The Acoustic Space of Theater in Samuel Beckett's Ohio Impromptu

「聽吧－我關閉作者之聲」：薩繆爾．貝克特《俄亥俄即興之作》的聲音劇場

陳宛利(Wan-li CHEN)

《戲劇研究》 27期 (2021/01) Pp. 117-134

https://doi.org/10.6257/JOTS.202101_(27).117

摘要

In What Where Beckett firmly claims, ＂[m]ake sense who may, I switch off.＂ It is not only a prompt response to the proliferation of criticism surrounding his works, but also an overt expression of sound as a fundamental element of his art. This paper targets Ohio Impromptu to further the investigation of this issue. This paper delineates the rich theatrical sounds in this minimalist play-performative voice, sound effects accompanied by theatrical actions, theatrical echoes, physical language, or even sounds of silence-and how they accentuate theater as a visual and acoustic imaginative space. The first part of this paper illustrates the juxtaposition of literacy and orality in Ohio Impromptu and how it stages the dual identity of drama as both a scripted text and an oral performance. The second half of the paper employs Walter Ong's secondary orality to explicate how the complementary relationships between the documented text and the performed action in the play enrich theatrical sounds. The medium of orality possessed by Beckett's character in Ohio Impromptu not only renders him free to perform the reading ritual with certain variation, but also opens up what seems to be the impasse in the completed, printed text. It is hoped that the attempt to incorporate Ong's theory of secondary orality while accommodating Beckett's strong emphasis on sound may contribute to the reading of Ohio Impromptu, one of his most compact plays with vague characterizations and nonlinear rhythmic narration.

關鍵字

Samuel Beckett ； sound ； drama's dual identity ； secondary orality ； mediation

並列摘要

對於自己作品衍生的諸多評論，薩繆爾．貝克特在《何事何處》明確宣稱：「聽吧—我關閉作者之聲」。劇作家公開表達作品中聲音的本質，本文將透過《俄亥俄即興之作》進一步闡述。本文揭露貝克特《俄亥俄即興之作》雖為文字精簡的短劇，卻容納豐富的聲音：人聲演示、動作聲響、劇場迴聲、肢體語言，甚至寂靜之聲。充滿聲響的劇場，帶來極富想像力的劇場空間。論文第一部分闡明《俄亥俄即興之作》將書寫與口語敘事並置，於舞台演出呈現戲劇同時是文字劇本及舞台演出的雙重面貌。第二部分援用沃爾特．奧格的二度口述理論，進一步說明口語表演與文本的互通、增補關係如何豐富劇場聲音。口頭媒介的使用不僅讓劇中角色保有一定的自由度進行閱讀儀式，而且表演改變了原書寫敘事結構，並在書寫敘事陷入了僵局後，蘊藏開放性結局。《俄亥俄即興之作》是貝克特最緊湊、角色定位最模糊的作品之一，並具有高音韻性、非線性敘事的特點。本文融入奧格的二度口述理論並強調貝克特聲音劇場的特性，期盼對解讀此文本作出貢獻。

並列關鍵字

薩繆爾．貝克特 ； 聲音 ； 戲劇的雙重性 ； 二度口述 ； 媒介

參考文獻

Ackerley, C.J. and S.E. Gontarski. The Grove Companion to Samuel Beckett: A Reader’s Guide to His Works, Life, and Thought. New York: Grove Press, 2004.

Beckett, Samuel. Krapp’s Last Tape. The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett. London: Faber, 1986, pp. 213-24.

Beckett, Samuel.. Ohio Impromptu. The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett. London: Faber, 1986, pp. 444-48.

Beckett, Samuel. What Where. The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett. London: Faber, 1986. pp. 467-76.

Bennet, Michael Y. The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre and Literature of the Absurd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.