拉提根之谜（2011）

Most relationships are so complicated.
有的是一方迷恋着对方 有时候一方
One’s more keen on the other, or one’s not sure
爱上了对方而不自知 就那么回事
of themselves with the other, whatever it is.
你在和他聊天时把这些都和他说了吗
And did you share that in conversation with him?
当然咯 我们还一起分♥析♥呢
Oh, yes, and we would analyse it all,
女人的心里想些什么
“Oh, what a woman feels.”
每次他都会问我 你男朋友怎么说的
All the time, he would always ask me, “What did he say?”
要是我和男友吵架的话 他就会问
If I had an argument with a boyfriend,
他讲了什么惹恼了你
“What did he say that made you so cross,
还是你做了什么事惹恼了他
or you made him so cross?”
我对他知无不言 我们
I could tell him anything, and we would
随时随地都可以交流 也许你不能理解
talk about every situation. You don’t understand.
很有意思 向他倒苦水就好像是在告解
It was lovely. It was like going to a father-confessor.
你们就像是最般配的夫妇
You must have seemed like the perfect couple.
我猜你们从来没吵过架吧
I imagine you never had arguments.
我们相处得真的很愉快 我想
We were so happy. I mean really if one
如果一个人真能有那样的恋爱关系的话
could have a relationship like that…
非常理想化 是的
It’s ideal. Yeah.
要知道 他呢 他是个同性恋者
You know, he was…oh, homosexual.
现在看来自然是很寻常
And, of course, now it’s quite natural,
但在那时候喜欢同性被认为是不正常的
but those days it was not at all considered natural,
人们会因此入狱 你能想象吗
and they put people in prison. Can you imagine?
真是难以置信呢
I mean, it’s unbelievable.
但当时的情形就是如此 所以同性恋者
But it did cause people had to, sort of
不得不表现出喜欢异性的样子 不让别人知道性向
turn the other way, as if you didn’t know.
所以我经常也在猜测
And that’s why I often wonder
他母亲是否知道他的性向
if his mother knew about it. Mm.
说实话 我不知道是他母亲拒绝承认呢
I honestly don’t know whether she refused to admit it,
还是根本就不知道
or didn’t know,
因为那时候的人们根本就想不到这些
because sometimes people were very innocent then.
# Here we are #
Al Bowlly演唱 Two Sleepy People
Frank Loesser作词 Hoagy Carmichael作曲
# Out of cigarettes #
# Holding hands and yawning #
# Look how late it gets #
# Two sleepy people #
# By dawn’s early light #
# And too much in love to say good night #
参观了拉提根在伯克郡郊外的故宅
Visiting Rattigan’s house in the Berkshire countryside
以及与瑾的交流 我对拉提根在上世纪
and chatting to Jean has given me a real sense
五十年代早期的生活有了一个直观的印象
of his lifestyle in the early ’50s.
显然 他花了很多时间在此写作
He obviously spent lots of time writing here,
同时他也知道如何享乐 看起来
but also knew how to enjoy himself, and it seems
他的生活中充满了社交活动以及聚会
his diary was pretty full of socialising and parties.
然而瑾也告诉我 在面对公众的那层面具下
But as Jean told me, behind the public persona,
隐藏着许多秘密
there were secrets.
他不得不对公众隐瞒真正的感情生活
He had to keep his intimate relationships private.
你好 本尼迪克特 你终于找到这了
Hello, Benedict. You found your way.
下午好
Good afternoon.
幸会啊
It’s good to see you.
见到你真开心
Lovely to meet you.
进来吧 我们可以在客厅聊一聊
Come in and we’ll have a little talk in the saloon.
艾德里安·布朗是拉提根五十年代时的情人之一
One of Rattigan’s partners at this time was Adrian Brown.
艾德里安在22岁的时候与时年
Adrian started a six-year relationship with
44岁的拉提根开始了长达六年的关系
the 44-year-old Rattigan when he was just 22.
我问他隐瞒他们的恋情
I asked him how difficult it was
有多么困难
to keep an affair like theirs secret.
对于同性恋者来讲这一点也不难
Well, it wasn’t hard if you were gay,
原因是多方面的
because there were all sorts
我们参加的是私人的社交活动 私人的俱乐部之类的
of private societies, private clubs and this sort of thing.
实话说吧 非常有意思
It was great fun, to tell you the truth.
没人有必要知道这个 毕竟那时候这是不正经的
No-one must know about it, because it wouldn’t be nice,
那个时候人人都要做出一副正经的样子
and everybody had to be nice.
你见过维拉·拉提根吗
And did you ever meet Vera Rattigan?
你见过他的母亲吗
Did you ever meet his mother?
没 从来没见过
No. I never met her at all.
其实我十分期待举办一些茶话会
I had quite expected that tea parties would take place,
之类的 但从来就没有过
that sort of thing, but they never did,
所以我没见过那位女士 也没见过他的其他密友
so I never met the good lady, or did any of his other chums,
因为如果见面的话 他母亲可能会发现
because Mother then might discover that
他不是直男 你明白吗
he was not quite nice, you see.
他有倾向与不告诉他的母亲
He had these strange proclivities,
以免她受到伤害
and Mother must be protected.
在公众眼里 拉提根家教极好 是个养尊处优的花♥花♥公♥子♥
The man of great sophistication and ease and bon viveur,
聪明睿智 并且他自己
and the wit, the person who is
对这一形象也欣然接受
comfortable in his skin in public –
而私下里她是个完全不同的人吗
was he at all different in private?
不 并非完全不同 他总是诙谐机智 穿着得体
No, not really. He was always very witty and well dressed.
谈吐不俗
He had a good tournure de phrase.
对任何问题他都能给出精妙的答案
He could bring back a repartee to any question.
他经常就像这样夹着香烟很长时间
It was this, and the cigarette would be held up there
才去抽一口
until he was ready to smoke it again,
这种情形下他通常另一只手上还端着一杯杜松子酒补剂
and there would usually be a gin and tonic in the other hand.
抽烟喝酒两不误
Dosing with both hands all the time.
对
Yes.
在社交界的游刃有余绝对是
The social-butterfly image of Rattigan is certainly in
拉提根创作剧本时放松娱乐的方式
keeping with his desire to entertain within his plays.
然而 他并不满足于像剧作家
However, he was not content to
诺埃尔·考沃德一样安于现状
purely be a Noel Coward figure.
除了享乐之外他还有别的抱负
There was another side to him,
他想成为受认可的剧作家
which wanted to be seen as a serious dramatist.
他更希望人们认可他作品中
He preferred to be thought of for the undertones and the
契诃夫式的隐喻及潜台词
subtext writing that he could do in the Chekhovian manner.
他写的喜剧比不上
He was not quite as good at the comedies
诺埃尔·考沃德 但他的
as Noel Coward was, but he was better at
正剧写得比诺埃尔·考沃德要好
the serious plays than Noel Coward was,
所以他在几部正剧中发现了自己的价值
so he valued himself on the serious plays
如《文斯洛男孩》《布朗宁版本》一类剧
like The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version.
这些是他自己不断前进的方向
Those were where he thought he was going.
# I’m sitting on top of the world #
Dean Martin 演唱 I’m sitting on top of the world
(作词 Sam Lewis/Joseph Young 作曲 Ray Henderson)
# Just rolling along #
# Just rolling along #
和诺埃尔·考沃德一样 拉提根迅速
Alongside Noel Coward, Rattigan was fast
崛起 成为英国剧作家的领军人物
becoming one of the UK’s leading playwrights.
在那个年代 剧院是由一小部分人
At the time, the theatre establishment was run by
统治的 一个精英团体 为首的
a small group of men, an elite group, and at the head
是一个叫宾奇·博蒙特
of that was a man called Binkie Beaumont,
他是个在戏剧界有着遮天能力的人物
a theatre manager of notorious influence and power.
他掌控着整个伦敦西区的剧场
He was the puppet-master of the West End,
掌握着剧场里要上演的戏剧的生杀大权
controlling exactly which productions would get the go-ahead.
他是个同性恋者 而他那喜欢与
He was homosexual, and his preference for
其他同性恋合作的习性臭名远扬
working with other homosexuals was notorious.
如果你不能适应宾奇的这一习性
If you didn’t fit into Binkie’s set,
那么你在伦敦西区将永无出头之日
you had no chance in the West End.
他肯定对拉提根的命运产生了重大影响
He would have a big influence on Rattigan’s fate.
据说他儒雅而事故
He was said to be suave, sophisticated, incredibly
衣着华丽 举止得体
well dressed and well mannered, with a smile
是一个不折不扣的笑面虎
always on his face even at his most ruthless.
拉提根是个同性恋并且颇有成就
With his background and his success,
正对宾奇的胃口
Rattigan fitted naturally into Binkie’s set.
虽然拉提根自己希望成为受人认可的
And although he wanted to be considered as a serious
严肃的剧作家 但他在1950年写的一篇文章
playwright, he wrote a controversial article in 1950
却让人们认为他更像是
which linked him even more closely with
博蒙特麾下写娱乐性商业戏剧的剧作家
the entertainment-driven commercial theatre of Beaumont.
英国戏剧界有个传统
There was a long tradition in British theatre,
始于萧伯纳时代
going back to Bernard Shaw,
就是剧本创作是与社会问题密切联♥系♥的
of writing plays which engage with social issues.
而在拉提根的这篇文章中却抨击了
But in his article, Rattigan attacked what he called
这种被他称为”有观点的戏剧”
“the play of ideas” for being too concerned
过于关注时事
with contemporary problems.
拉提根认为 那些涉及到社会
Rattigan says, “I don’t think that ideas, per se,
政♥治♥ 以及道德的看法
social, political or moral,
在戏剧里面根本就不重要
have a very important place in theatre.”
总之他们那样刻画人物和
“They definitely take third place
叙述故事实在是很蹩脚