The scene “Repartee of zithers”, is Scene 16 of the thirty-three-scene play <i>The Jade Hairpin</i>. <i>The Jade Hairpin</i> is the earliest work that dares to broach the subject of sexual love in a stage play, especially sexual desires of a Daoist nun. What is more, a liaison takes place in a Daoist nunnery, ironically named The Temple of Womanly Chastity. The female protagonist in this scene, Chen Jiaolian, takes refuge at the temple after being separated from her family during war time. She is forced to accept tonsure and observe chastity. Unbeknownst to her, she was betrothed before birth; the betrothal gift to her family was a jade hairpin. Meanwhile a young scholar, Pan Bizheng also seeks lodging at the same temple where the abbess is his aunt. He too, did not know that he was betrothed before birth. In Scene 16, Chen plays the <i>qin</i>, a seven stringed zither, on a moonlit night. She is overheard by Pan, who is also adept in the art of this instrument. They exchange performances and then he teases her by casting doubt on her religious sincerity. She rebuffs him vigorously, but is sexually aroused and predictably falls in love. Their affair is discovered by the abbess, whereupon she forces Pan to leave immediately to retake the examination which he failed earlier. Needless to say the story ends happily as Pan and Chen are discovered to be the originally betrothed pair. Pan Bizheng passes the examination with high honors. “Repartee of zithers” is one of the most popular stand-alone scenes today because of its lively action and universal subject matter: two young people falling in love. And, unlike many other Kunqu scenes, it has a rather simple musical structure: four variants of the tune-type <i>lan hua mei</i>, and four variants of the livelier tune-type <i>chaoyuan song</i>. Next I will demonstrate two play segments. One of them… I will follow up with what I just said about hands, eyes, body, stride etc… I didn’t talk about eyes. I will demonstrate in the play I will talk about the second verse of “<i>lan hua mei</i>”. (aria from “Repartee of zithers” from <i>Jade Hairpin</i>) This is the second entrance of Pan Bizheng (male lead). I am imagining that monastery where he is… One courtyard after another, and when he got to the inner one… Imagine a monastery at night… Faintly flickering lamps, tap of the wooden fish (fish head shaped wood block)… Reciting sutras sometimes sounds like chanting… like hymnal chanting. Therefore, when he makes his entry… He sings: “…devotional hymn of Xu Feiqiong” (a historical nun). His singing brings out this setting. I am in this monastery listening to Daoist music. (The music) has a literary allusion, a setting. His first song phrase tells us where he is… What is his surroundings. This entrance… The previous entrance is the first entrance. He came out slowly from his study. Now, he is going from one courtyard to another… How does he move? He wants to get close to where Chen Miaochang (the beautiful priestess) is. He is going in that direction. It’s evening. Everyone is in evening service. How should he enter (the stage)? Softly, quietly, stealthily. So he picks up his gown…. He picks up his gown with both hands and enters with quick steps. This is how he enters, taking seven steps. Because he must reach the (left) side of the proscenium (nine dragons entry). This place is too small… to get to the nine dragons entry… So you must keep control of the steps. Because you (should take exactly) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 steps just in time to <i>liang xiang</i> (strike a pose). He should not pick up his gown and walk straight up… Looks rather strange. Moreover you don’t feel the lightness. So how does he walk? He bends his knees. <i>Liang xiang</i> (striking a pose), that’s what we call this. He enters this way and then takes three <i>nuo bu</i> (shifting steps). “Hymn of <i>Bu Xu</i> …” (walking the void) There is no light in the night, only moon light. He looks at the ground of the monastery. He looks around and takes three steps. “Hymn of <i>Bu Xu</i> enlightens…” Three steps are followed by five small <i>rush steps</i>. “Xu Fei…” then one <i>teng bu</i> (rising step); this makes a set sequence. Namely three <i>nuo bu</i>, five small <i>cuan bu</i>, and a <i>teng bu</i>. What is <i>teng bu</i>? It means to rise up and then step over the left foot with the right foot. Then he bounces once, completing this prescribed sequence of steps. This is how he enters. The next time you see this show, if you can see (this sequence) clearly… You will feel that this actor is pretty good. If he muddles his way over here, you will feel that he is not a good actor. His <i>teng bu</i> does not look right. He is sloppy. He didn’t follow the prescribed moves. On “Xu Fei…” he swings one sleeve. And then returns to…. Why does he return to this place? Here is the stage, behind it is where Chen Miaochang (the beautiful priestess) is about to play the zither. He is in front of the stage… The stage has been divided in half. The stage is small like this, he cannot go further. He will run right into the audience; therefore, he has to turn back. This turning back is called realignment, realigning the stage. After he made an entrance, he turns back. On “<i>qiong</i>”. He begins to hear many sounds… Many sounds of the monastery, wooden fish tapping, hymnal chanting. He seems to hear the sound of music. “Qiong. Suddenly…” because that girl is sitting here. The audience will understand by my eye movement. He is looking for the sound. “<i>zha</i>” (suddenly) is very important. Because it’s “suddenly heard”. As my eyes move to this point, the audience immediately understands. If my eye movement comes here, it will not look good. If my eyes have no movement, I might as well give up. “Zha…” you feel that I am searching. Looking for what? Looking for the sound. “Hear…” I use small quick steps… Why? He’s a little excited. Why? He was just singing “bright moon…” So casual and calm. Now he is excited. He heard music first; now he wants to find that person. Among all the noise he hears a zither. So he’s a little bit excited. “I thought…” What is he thinking? After “hearing suddenly…” his eyes are searching for the sound. Where’s the sound coming from? The audience now understands that he’s searching. One search just then is not enough. “Hearing suddenly…” I still don’t know where the sound is coming from. Look at my eye movement. One, two, three… This is called <i>jiao dai</i>, “confirmation”. I want to make sure that the audience understands. Even though the audience might not know what you are singing, they will understand from your acting. “I think…” What is he thinking? The sound is coming from another courtyard. “Other”, he does this motion. “Another courtyard”, he is searching with his eyes. He cannot look too high and he cannot look too low. We know about how high monastery walls are. But because the stage is rather small, “the other courtyard”… I have to pass through the middle of the stage, making an <i>S</i>. These movements must be connected. He’s searching and excited; he found it. It's empty here. But when my eyes do this the audience feels that I found it. What am I doing? I am listening. When you see me like this, you know I am listening. Moving my eyes like this… there’s music. “<i>Miao!</i>” (wonderful) Look at my eyes. I heard. But if you don't appear to be listening, only moving your eyes, the audience still does not understand. I must act as if I am listening. “Wonderful!” This is the sound of her zither, not the wooden block, not the chanting. He feels that he is getting closer to the person he is looking for. So he said “wonderful”. He comes from this direction. Look at his eyes… What is he seeing? We might think he’s looking at this door. This eye movement is very important. If I just (sing) “wind from the other courtyard”… The audience won’t know if you are listening outside the wall… or somewhere else. The audience will not know. Therefore this eye movement is very important, this slight pause. The eye movement has to have power. The audience must believe that you really are looking. Not on “wind”, you did not see anything. You must believe that I really saw it. On “wind”, I am listening outside the door. You must feel that I am listening outside, and there is someone inside. “Wonderful, listening to the sadness”… If I do not act out this “sadness”… just sing… it is not enough. Not enough to demonstrate his feeling. He makes circles when he sings “the sadness”. If the fingers do not move, it is not quite expressive enough. “The sadness”, now you feel I am quite excited, as if my heart is pounding, in addition to my eye movement. We listen with our ears (in real life). But on stage we listen with our eyes. If the audience doesn't know that you heard, no one knows. “Listen to that sadness” with your eyes. Now the audience also heard that sound. I point to my mouth. The audience understood. “That sound”, what about that sound? I look at the door, “from the door”. The sound is coming from over there. He is curious. “Who is playing the zither in this moonlit night?” This is song and dance in Kunqu. He is very excited. He is very happy. Someone is playing the zither in this moonlit night. He is dancing and waving but very gracefully. Not like this. The breath must be under control. Just this little bit will tell the audience… “Counting thoughts of farewells”… I forgot the fan. He had a fan all along. Now I use the small <i>shifting steps</i>. “Counting thoughts of farewells.” Very romantic. If I don’t take this step, the expression dries up. He is singing about “counting thoughts of farewells”. He is feeling nostalgia of leaving home. On “<i>qu</i>” he thinks that he… Using eyes, hand, and head… What is he looking at “the unfinished refrain”. I walk over here and then over there. I looked at this door several times. The audience now knows… the importance of this door. He wants to go inside. Because he wants to go inside, he listens for a moment outside. How does he go inside? He takes a look first. Look at my back when I am looking. Now I see… “Sister Chen is playing the zither here.” I drop my sight. “The door is half closed, let me sneak in.” I put my fan here and go in. He sneaks in without letting her know. He doesn't let her know by draping his sleeve over his head. He changes the fan to this hand and bend his knees slightly… Picking up his gown expresses stealth. Stealthily, very quietly. If I don't pick up my gown, my walk seems very noisy. As if I broke in. With my hands like this, and pick up my gown using the <i>over </i>step, you will feel immediately that I am sneaking in. Then I make a turn as soon as I enter. When I pick up my leg you will feel that I went inside. As soon as I enter the door I take another step and turn around. One, two, three, four. I am hiding.
