“‘赤鬼’是人还是鬼？”

Reviewer: Lim Wei Bin | 林维彬
Performance: 12 March 2016

《赤鬼》故事奠基于日本民间的乡野传说“赤鬼”，是一部翻译之作。

观看《赤鬼》这部戏，令人深思。人往往在对待外来的人或事物，都事先有了某种刻板印象，带着有色眼光来看这些所谓的“异类”。故事中，从赤鬼还没正式登场，就已有赤鬼“吃人”的传言，危言耸听，使村民害怕。这部戏主要通过了三个步骤来传达如何处理赤鬼，分别从思想观念上，怎么判赤鬼死刑，直到村民想尽千方百计消灭他，最后毁灭他。从这个故事的整体面貌而言，令人深思的问题是到底真正的鬼是赤鬼还是人们心中的鬼？

华人的思想观念中，把任何产生敌意的对象妖魔化。人们时常把这些异类加上绰号如洋鬼子、日本鬼子、吝啬鬼、酒鬼等，每个名词都带有歧视和贬义。任何一个场合，村民们都深信赤鬼是来加害他们的。有一幕，村民的宝宝被赤鬼掳了去，他们对赤鬼如何处理宝宝的问题进行了妖魔式的想像。即使抱回孩子后，仍然对赤鬼带有敌意。这说明人一旦将外来对象妖魔化，思想便根深蒂固，难以改变。

整部戏里，从赤鬼的出现一直到他的死，整村人都对他进行各种压迫。吃醋男因为赤鬼和女人的友好，生发醋意，想尽办法压迫他，甚至利用并挑拨长老与村民的力量，一同将赤鬼搞垮。长老与村民因为对他的不了解，认为此人对他们有害，哪怕女人处处维护与辩解，始终无法改变大家所树立的刻板印象。任何场景，只要人一遇到外来而又不喜欢的异类，便会对他们进行各种压迫，把所有的罪名都叠在他们身上。这里村民目的明显，使出浑身解数将赤鬼逼走。

最后，他们还用尽所有法子来将他毁灭。当女人为赤鬼作证说话，长老下令将女人和赤鬼一起杀。吃醋男因为爱这女人的关系，用计带他们四人逃跑，本以为这样能让赤鬼逃生，但最后因为船上缺乏粮食，为了生存吃醋男将赤鬼给杀了，喂饱大家，使大家存活，这不但完成了他毁灭赤鬼的心愿，也印证了“人不为己，天诛地灭”这句话的意思。

由此可见，人才是真正的鬼。疑心生暗鬼。赤鬼反映的并不是真正的鬼，哪怕对方是善良的，只要刻板印象已定，便心生暗鬼，将对方排斥消灭。于此，赤鬼是人们心中那赤裸裸的鬼。

“A tale about man-eating demons and demon-eating men”

Reviewer: Jocelyn Chng
Performance: 3 March 2016

Red Demon, written by Japanese playwright Noda Hideki, first performed in English in 2003, is at once humorous, dark, and pensive, raising questions about human nature that are especially unsettling in light of recent global tensions over refugee crises and religious extremism. At this performance, I find myself laughing unrestrainedly at certain witty lines.  But it is tinged with guilt as the play encourages the audience to confront their own fears and prejudices against people whom they do not understand. By the end of the play, I am left with a lingering melancholy – it is not the catharsis of Shakespearean tragedy, but more of a dismal sadness at the thought that certain ugly facets of human nature can perhaps never be resolved.

This production of Red Demon by Nine Years Theatre is particularly interesting as it is a clear departure from the company’s previous work, which focuses on Mandarin-translated versions of plays from the Western theatre canon. The aesthetics of this production differ from Nine Years’ previous plays, introducing a much more physical approach to the acting style. This approach does not seem to have worked as well because in Red Demon, the actors seem a little uncomfortable with the workings of physical theatre.

The cast also seem to be thrown off by some of the scenes involving slapstick humour (the comic timing is just off). The performances are stronger in the slower, more reflective scenes where the ensemble members demonstrate their characteristically clear and purposed delivery. Scenes between Fuku (Mia Chee), or “That Woman” as the villagers mockingly refer to her, and Oni (Hang Qian Chou), the Red Demon, are touchingly funny; and Tay Kong Hui gives an especially endearing portrayal of Fuku’s elder brother, the village idiot.

There are issues of translation in this play (translated by Nine Years Theatre into Mandarin). I am uncertain about the decision for Oni to speak at times in gibberish and at times in English, even quoting exact lines from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s well-known “I have a dream” speech. Fuku seems to understand him better when he speaks gibberish than when he speaks English, about which a point can certainly be made. Beyond that, however, Red Demon is a play that would inevitably take on quite varied meanings depending on the language in which it is performed and the cultural context of the viewer.

Perhaps this itself is a message – that as humans we will perhaps never be able to fully understand each other, and that perhaps if we only understood that much, the Red Demon’s ultimate sacrifice would have been worth it.