文/伊麗莎白·斯坦威 譯/丁占罡

The role of Desdemona, the devoted,loving wife murdered by her husband in “Othello,” wasn’t performed by a woman until 1660—about six decades after Shakespeare wrote the play.This is because when Shakespeare was writing for the early modern stage, young men and boys performed all the women’s parts.

《奧賽羅》中，深愛丈夫的苔絲狄蒙娜被丈夫殺害。這一角色在1660年之前，也就是莎士比亞創(chuàng)作完成該劇之后的60年間，都不是由女性扮演的。這是因?yàn)樵谏勘葋啚樵缙诂F(xiàn)代舞臺創(chuàng)作的年代，所有女性角色都由男青年和男孩子扮演。

2Numerous English theatergoers1theatergoer戲迷，戲院?？汀onsidered seeing women on the public stage for the first time a pivotal moment, including the civil servant and diarist Samuel Pepys2（1633—1703），17世紀(jì)英國作家和政治家，英國歷史上最偉大的文官之一，其著作《佩皮斯日記》被譽(yù)為“17世紀(jì)最豐富的生活文獻(xiàn)”。.It was just one month after the first female actress played Desdemona that Pepys recorded“the first time that ever [he] saw Women come upon the stage.”

2眾多英國戲迷第一次看到女性登臺公演時(shí)，都認(rèn)為這一刻意義非凡，這其中就包括當(dāng)時(shí)的文官、日記作者塞繆爾·佩皮斯。首位女演員飾演苔絲狄蒙娜剛過一個月，佩皮斯就記錄道：“（他）有生以來第一次看到女性登臺演出?！?/p>

3后來，國王查理頒布王室公告，正式宣布：“朕……準(zhǔn)予上述兩家公司此后出演的所有女性角色皆可由女性扮演。”

3King Charles subsequently issued a royal proclamation to make it official:“Wee doe … permit and give leave That all the woemens part to be acted in either of the said two Companies for the time to come maie be performed by woemen.”3此句引文中多個單詞為早期現(xiàn)代英語的拼寫形式，例如Wee在現(xiàn)代英語中拼寫為We，其他的也一并列舉如下：doe = do，woemen = women，maie = may，playes =plays，sinfull = sinful，lewde = lewd，第8段的baudie = bawdy。這里的we為the royal we的用法，舊時(shí)國王或女王自稱時(shí)，用we替代I。

A puzzling situation

4I have thought a lot about why men performed women’s roles because I research how pregnancy was represented on the early modern English stage during this period of all-male casts.The restriction has long puzzled scholars, mostly because no clear legal statute prohibited it, and women acted professionally in other countries during this period.

難解之謎

4我對緣何男扮女角思考很多，因?yàn)槲已芯康氖牵涸谘輪T都是清一色男性的早期現(xiàn)代英國舞臺上，懷孕該如何表現(xiàn)。長期以來，這種性別限制讓很多學(xué)者感到費(fèi)解，主要是因?yàn)闆]有什么法規(guī)明令禁止這一做法，而在同時(shí)代的其他國家，已有女性以職業(yè)演員的身份登臺表演。

5Also, women could perform in other venues, such as masques4masque假面?。?6至17世紀(jì)盛行于英國的一種詩劇，常伴以音樂和舞蹈）。, where dance,music and spectacles were enjoyed by aristocrats in England during the 16th and 17th centuries, and country house5country house（尤指有地位富人家庭的）鄉(xiāng)間宅第，別墅。entertainments—short plays that were staged for the queen and performed at country estates.

5不僅如此，女性還獻(xiàn)演于其他場所，比如16和17世紀(jì)的假面劇，英國貴族可從中欣賞到舞蹈、音樂和壯觀的場面；她們也會到鄉(xiāng)間宅第參與娛樂演出，在鄉(xiāng)間居所為女王獻(xiàn)上舞臺短劇。

6It’s possible that women were allowed to perform in these settings because they were more private and associated with an elevated class status.There was something inappropriate,however, about women professionally acting on the public stage.

6準(zhǔn)許女性在此種場合表演是有可能的，因?yàn)檫@些地方更為私密，且觀眾來自社會頂層。然而，女性若是以職業(yè)身份登臺公演，就有些不合時(shí)宜。

7這種對女性的限制或許與人們對劇演總體上持有的一些負(fù)面看法有關(guān)。清教徒作家威廉·普林在其書面聲明中總結(jié)道：“大眾化舞臺劇是邪惡、野蠻、下流的，是褻瀆神靈的表演，是最具危害的墮落?！痹诤芏喾磩鲋髁x者看來，戲劇是“邪惡的”，因?yàn)樗鼈冎L享樂，鼓動人們觀看“褻瀆神靈的表演”，而不是去工作或到教堂做禮拜。尤其是對女性而言，參與戲劇公演并從中獲利通常被視為有傷風(fēng)化。

7These restrictions on women may be related to some of the negative views of acting in general, summarized in Puritan writer William Prynne6（1600—1669），英國律師、作家、辯論家、政治人物，1634年撰寫小冊子攻擊傷風(fēng)敗俗的劇演，批評戲劇、女演員和觀眾的不雅行為，很快便以誹謗和“尋釁滋事”罪被判監(jiān)禁并被割去雙耳。’s declaration that“popular stage-playes are sinfull,heathenish, lewde, ungodly spectacles,and most pernicious corruptions.”According to many anti-theatricalists,plays were “sinfull” because they promoted pleasure and encouraged people to watch an “ungodly spectacle”rather than working or attending church.For women in particular, it was generally deemed indecent to participate in and make money from such public performances.

8Others commented on the difference between English theater and the theater in continental Europe, where women did act professionally.The writer Thomas Nashe7（1567—1601），英國小冊子作家、劇作家、詩人，伊麗莎白時(shí)代活躍于倫敦戲劇界的“大學(xué)才子”之一。wrote: “Our Players are not as the players beyond sea, a sort of squirting baudie Comedians.”

9Even though many writers condemned the practice of men’s wearing female attire on stage, to them it was still preferable to having women become public spectacles on the professional stage.

8英國劇場與女性能以職業(yè)身份登臺的歐洲大陸劇場之間存在差異，也有人對此發(fā)表評論。作家托馬斯·納什寫道：“我們的演員跟大海那邊的演員不一樣，那就是一些動作猥褻、下流的滑稽演員?！?/p>

9盡管很多作家對男著女裝登臺表演予以譴責(zé)，但在他們看來，比起讓女性在職業(yè)舞臺上公演，這一做法更為可取。

10在莎士比亞生活的時(shí)代，女性雖然不能出現(xiàn)在舞臺上，卻可以通過其他方式參與戲劇制作。比如，她們可以縫制或改制戲裝、收入場費(fèi)、出售食品或在劇場內(nèi)使用的其他用品，甚至還可以做劇院老板。

10Although women weren’t on stage during Shakespeare’s lifetime,they were involved with theatrical productions in other ways.For example,they made and altered costumes, collected admissions fees, sold food and other goods used in the theater, and even owned playing houses.

11Since Charles’ declaration that women’s parts “maie be performed by woemen,” women have played an increasingly diverse role in Shakespearean theater—including playing lead male roles.

12In 1899, Sarah Bernhardt8（1844—1923），19世紀(jì)和20世紀(jì)初法國舞臺劇和電影女演員，被譽(yù)為“世界上最著名的女演員”。performed as Hamlet.More recently, Jessika D.Williams9美國女演員，2020年在美國莎士比亞中心（ASC）推出的莎劇《奧賽羅》中飾演男主角奧賽羅。played the lead in “Othello.”

13These gender reversals are a reminder that much has changed since men and boys played all the women’s parts, and that much more will continue to change as society grapples with10grapple with設(shè)法解決（難題），努力應(yīng)付（困境）。questions about gender, identity and performance.■

11自國王查理宣布女性角色“可由女性扮演”以來，女性在莎劇中飾演了越來越多樣化的角色，包括男主角。

121899年，莎拉·伯恩哈特扮演了哈姆雷特。不久前，杰西卡·D.威廉姆斯在《奧賽羅》中飾演了男主角。

13這種角色反轉(zhuǎn)提醒人們：從前是男人和男孩飾演所有的女性角色，如今這一狀況已發(fā)生了很大變化，而隨著社會努力解決性別、身份、表演等相關(guān)問題，更多的變化還會到來。 □