拉提根之谜（2011）

那么 他在哪呢
Now, where is he?
他入学的时候是 19
He starts in, er, 19…
1927年
1927.
在哪呢
Where is he?
拉提根 在那
Rattigan. There!
天哪
Gosh!
很严肃的 也是标准的中分头
Very stern. Very severe centre parting, as well.
这是他入学第二年 1928年
This is the second year, ’28.
你很容易就能找到他 就在最右边
You can pick him out very easily. Right on the end here.
他已经开始穿镶边的上衣
He’s already got some kind of piping on a blazer,
我猜是彩色运动衫
which I presume is a sports colour.
所以说他已经在
So he was already achieving
学校体育圈崭露头角
something in the world of sports.
接下来 1929年
And then…’29.
全身穿着法兰绒的衣服 应该是为了打板球穿的
Then he’s in his full flannels, and that would be for cricket.
成功有为 年纪轻轻就衣冠堂堂
A high achiever, and a very dapper dresser at a young age.
他看上去就是这样
He certainly looked the part.
但实际上 要是没有奖学金的话
But in reality, without a scholarship,
他根本就不能在哈罗上学
he wouldn’t have made it to Harrow at all.
拉提根出身于一个公务员家庭
Rattigan was born into a civil-service family
1911年他出生在伦敦的肯辛顿
in Kensington, London, in 1911.
他的父亲 弗兰克 是一位外交家
His father, Frank, was a diplomat,
从两岁起
and from the age of two,
泰伦特就和祖母一起生活
Terence spent much of his time with his grandmother,
而他的父母却在国外过着令人称羡的生活
whilst his parents lived a glamorous life overseas.
但在1922年 与外务大臣争吵了之后
But in 1922, following a row with the foreign secretary,
他的父亲被迫拿着极低的抚恤金离职
his father was forced to retire on a small pension.
真的是一个巨大的羞辱
It was a huge humiliation.
但是 有了哈罗的奖学金
But, by winning the scholarship to Harrow,
他儿子就仍有机会
his son Terence could still have the opportunity
沿着父亲的足迹
to follow in his father’s footsteps
走上外交家的道路
into the diplomatic service.
但小泰伦特·拉提根主要的热情在戏剧上
But young Terence Rattigan’s main passion was for drama.
我收到的第一个剧评
The first dramatic criticism I ever received
来自哈罗的一位男导师
came from a master at Harrow,
泰伦斯·拉提根1967年接受BBC的广播采访
用红墨水以很生气的口吻写得很潦草
and was scrawled rather angrily in red ink,
写在那一页纸的法语小短剧的最顶上
across the top of a one-page playlet in French
他的评语伴随我度过了整个低年级
which I, with the rest of a very junior class,
让我能在课间静下心来 潜心写作
had been set to compose during prep.
是这么评价的 法语糟糕透顶 戏剧感倒是一流
It ran, “French execrable. Theatre sense first-class.”
满分十分 我只得了两分
I was awarded two marks out of ten.
学校的图书馆 沃恩图书馆
The school library, called the Vaughan,
收藏了大量的剧作
had a large collection of plays
使得这个将来的剧作家获益良多
to keep the budding playwright inspired.
拉提根在沃恩图书馆度过了大量的时光
Rattigan spent hours here in the Vaughan library,
研读经典著作 当然也看现在剧作
poring over classical texts as well as modern playwrights,
(这三个都是英国著名剧作家的姓氏 并且他们均
生于19世纪五六十年代卒于20世纪三十年代)
比如高尔斯华绥 及其他剧作家如 巴里 皮尼洛的著作
Galsworthy and other authors, Barrie, Pinero.
我认为激发他对戏剧兴趣的一个主要人物是柯克-诺里斯
I think his interest was sparked mainly by Coke-Norris,
一个上课枯燥的古希腊古罗马文学的老师
a very dry classics teacher,
他教拉提根埃斯库罗斯的《阿伽门农》
who was teaching him Aeschylus’s the Agamemnon.
上这个课(对别的学生而言)真的是个非常煎熬的经历
In class it was a very arduous exercise,
但是拉提根来这课是为了研读剧本
but he came to read the play here,
并且他的确被《阿伽门农》这个戏剧纯粹的力量和情感所感染
and was just blown away by its sheer power and emotion.
然而他的古希腊古罗马文学老师
Whereas his classics teacher
却只是把这个希腊的《阿伽门农》的故事
had treated the Greek story of Agamemnon
用做翻译的练习
purely as an exercise in translation,
拉提根却读了这个剧作 因为它值得一读
Rattigan read it as it was meant to be read –
是一个极具感染力的戏剧
as a powerful drama.
(此处《阿伽门农》选段参考了翻译家罗念生的翻译)
你们看见那些坐在屋前的
“Do you see those who sit before the house,
像梦中的形象一样的小东西没有
children like the shapes of dreams,
那些孩子好像是被他们的亲人杀死的
children who seem to have been killed by their kinsfolk,
他们手上全是肉 孩子们的肉
filling their hands with meat, flesh of themselves,
还有内脏 惨不忍♥睹的一大堆
guts and entrails, handfuls of lament?
现在清楚他们手上拿的了 他们的父亲吃的就是这个
Clear what they hold – the same their father tasted.”
真的很难想象这样一种激♥情♥
It’s hard to see how that kind of passion
在古希腊古罗马文学课上就变得枯燥乏味了
could have been made dry in a classics classroom.
对吗
Or is it?
拉提根很快就成为了学校
Rattigan would soon become a central figure
戏剧活动的领军人物
in the theatre life of the school.
弗兰克·拉提根鼓励他儿子进行剧本创作
Frank Rattigan encouraged his son’s playwriting,
但只能作为一个业余爱好
but only as a hobby.
他父亲认为剧作并不值得
It wasn’t looked upon as something
被严肃认真地视作一项职业
to be taken seriously as a profession.
许多家长把他们的孩子送到
A lot of parents who send their children
像哈罗公学或是伊顿公学这样的学校
to a place like Harrow or Eton
希望他们的孩子要么能够子承父业
expect their sons to either follow in their footsteps,
拿像弗兰克·拉提根举例 希望儿子也外交领域任职
if they are, like Frank Rattigan was, in the diplomatic corps,
要么去从事着医学或法律方面的工作
or perhaps medicine or the law.
也许是看了学校的
Something, watching this school rehearsal of
(莎翁的喜剧)《皆大欢喜》之后 一些东西引起了我的共鸣
As You Like It, resonates with me.
虽然我的父母都是演员
Both my parents are actors,
但他们一点都不希望我成为演员
and wanted me to do anything but become an actor.
可很不巧的是要当演员这个想法早就有了
But unfortunately the bug bit quite early,
我很早就投身这样的校园戏剧的创作中去了
and involving myself in productions like this
我14岁的时候就(反串)演了罗莎琳德一角
where I played Rosalind, when I was all of 14…
我试图说服我的父母 演员
I tried to persuade them that it was
对我来说已是一项足够好的职业了
a good enough profession for me,
嗯 幸亏拉提根也去说服他的父亲他要当剧作家
and, um, thank God, Rattigan did the same.
我曾被告诫 我不能靠写剧本为生
I was told that you couldn’t make a living out of playwriting.
我不能够靠任何形式的写作维持生计
You couldn’t make a living out of any kind of writing,
除了新闻工作或许还有可能
except possibly journalism,
但我绝不要把自己培训成新闻人
and I wouldn’t have been trained for that.
我记得我父亲无休无止
And I remember the argument, endlessly,
反复强调的论点是
endlessly, used by my father
臭小子 你可以利用闲遐时间去写剧本
“You can do it in your spare time, old boy.”
当然咯 我后来发现这个观点荒谬透顶
Of course, I later discovered this was absolute nonsense.
只用闲暇时间哪能写好剧本
You can’t write in your spare time.
马丁·泰瑞尔
Martin Tyrrell,
是我在哈罗上学时教我英语和戏剧的老师
who teaches English and drama studies at Harrow,
他曾对年轻的时候活跃在学校舞台上的我进行指导
directed me in my early days on the school stage,
并且也是他向我介绍了拉提根的剧作
and it was he who introduced me to Rattigan’s work.
您认为拉提根创作剧本时到底
What in particular do you think Rattigan drew on
从他所在的时代
from his time here,
从他校里校外的人身上吸收了什么
from the people and environs of this school?
我很确定他那时候觉得
I certainly think he would have found
他周围的世界很精彩
the community very exciting,
几乎像肥皂剧一样
almost like a kind of soap opera,
曲折离奇
with mini-tragedies playing out.
他肯定注意到了
And he would have seen the marriages of
学校一些老师的婚姻关系飘摇不定
some of the schoolteachers teetering on the brink.
他也肯定注意到所有这些为了
He would have seen all the politics that make for
寄宿学校的教育 为了阶级而制定的政策
a boarding-school education, and hierarchies,
青少年间脆弱的友谊
and the drama of adolescent friendship
还有陡增的敌意
and sudden enmities.
我认为对这些事情的描写是
It would really have been an extremely good training
一个剧作家极好的训练
for a playwright, I think.
在哈罗期间 我有幸
While at Harrow, I was fortunate enough
扮演了许多角色
to play many roles,
但其中最难忘的经历是
but one of the most memorable experiences
扮演亚瑟·克罗克-哈里斯
was that of playing Arthur Crocker-Harris
拉提根最具知名度的戏剧之一
in The Browning Version,
《布朗宁·版本》的主角
one of Rattigan’s best-known plays.
故事的背景设在一所男校
It’s set in a boys’ public school.
人们认为克罗克-哈里斯一角是根据拉提根的
Crocker-Harris is thought to be
古希腊古罗马文学导师 柯克-诺里斯为原型改编的
based on Rattigan’s classics tutor, Coke-Norris.
一个失意的老师 被迫提前退休
A failed teacher, he’s being forced into early retirement,
而家中又有悍妻不贞 甚至视之无物
while at home, his unfaithful wife describes him as “dead”.
威尔逊
Wilson…