The Monkey King in London 孙悟空在伦敦

点击此处听这篇英语小短文的录音
把下面这些东西加在一起你能想象出什么来呢？一部十六世纪的中国文学作品，一个知名的中国戏剧导演和一个英国的摇滚乐明星。
What do you get when you combine a 16th century work of Chinese literature, a renowned Chinese theatre director and a British rock star?

答案是《西游记》，一个结合了杂技，音乐，动画和武术的表演，来讲述孙悟空和他的伙伴们西行取经的故事。
The result is Monkey: Journey to the West, a show which blends acrobatics, music, animation and martial arts to tell the story of Sun Wukong and his travelling companions on their journey of redemption.

这个表演改编自知名的中国小说《西游记》，以普通话的形式在伦敦皇家剧院表演，门票被一抢而空。
Performed in Mandarin to sell-out crowds in London's Royal Opera House last week, the show is a stage adaptation of the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West.

“一个难以分类的艺术表演”监制这样评价这个表演。而另外一个评论家却说这是一个“几乎触及了所有艺术领域令人惊叹的表演”。
"An unclassifiable extravaganza" was how The Guardian described the show, while another reviewer said it was a performance that "left no genre untouched and whose scale of ambition could only be marvelled at."

对于导演陈士争来说，把这个充满想象力的中国神话带给21世纪的西方观众，的确是一个极具创造性的挑战，他和他的团队将各种感官体验结合在一起。
Indeed, for director Chen Shi-zheng, bringing the wildly imaginative Chinese tale to a 21st century Western audience was a creative challenge that allowed him and his team to mix together a wide range of influences.

配乐是由英国的大音乐家amon Albarn作曲的，他同时也是Blur乐队的主唱和虚拟动画乐团队大猩猩的创始人之一，由一个既使用西方乐器，又使用中国传统的琵琶，古筝和中阮的乐队演奏。
The score was composed by British musician Damon Albarn, lead singer of Blur and co-creator of the virtual cartoon band Gorillaz. It is played by an orchestra that uses both Western instruments and the traditional Chinese pipa, guzheng and zhongruan.


另一个使这个表演凸显出来的方面是动画的使用，动画被投射在一个巨大的萤幕上。陈导说动画和声音的结合简直一个天才作品。
Another aspect which makes this show stand out is the use of animation, which is projected onto a large screen behind the stage. Director Chen said "the integration of animation and sound was really a work of genius."

美猴王孙悟空，以及猪八戒、沙僧以及其他一些被来自大连马戏团的演员们表现的活灵活现的角色和妖怪在英语中已经被孰知。
The Monkey King, as Sun Wukong is known in English, as well as Pigsy, Sandy and a host of other characters and monsters are brought to life by 40 acrobats from the Dalian circus troupe.

虽然很多北亚的人都不知道美猴王，但很多英国人却对一部70年代的被称为猴的极受欢迎的电视剧还有美好的记忆。
Even though The Monkey King is less well-known outside North-East Asia, many British people fondly remember a cult 1970s TV series called Monkey.

这将不会是英国观众最后一次在这个夏天看到The Monkey King 这个表演。
And this isn't the last British people will be seeing of The Monkey King this summer.

这个表演的幕后工作人员特意为BBC的奥运新闻制作了一个动画花絮，这个动画展示了美猴王和伙伴们在他们去奥运会体育场的路途中与怪兽们厮杀的画面。
The team behind the stage show have produced an animated title sequence for the BBC's Olympic coverage which shows Monkey and his friends battling monsters on their way to Beijing's Olympic Stadium.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

renowned
有名的
animation
动画
sell-out crowds
（被）观众一抢而空
unclassifiable extravaganza
不能被分类的（带有华丽服饰的）娱乐表演
marvelled
（感到）惊奇
creative challenge
集聚创造性挑战的
co-creator
合伙创始人
integration
合成
brought to life
被活灵活现的重现
title sequence
片头，开片
acrobatics
杂技
redemption
拯救，弥补
stage adaptation
改编成舞台剧
left no genre untouched
囊括所有艺术表现手法的
wildly imaginative
极富想象力的
score
（音乐剧）配乐
virtual
虚拟的
a work of genius
天才制作
cult
（被）崇拜
coverage
覆盖


补充：
在这里提到的BBC奥运新闻的动画短片，我很早以前已经观赏过了。动画中的孙悟空确实借鉴了上世纪70年代风靡英国的一个动画片主角的形象，其龇牙咧嘴、满嘴獠牙的形象与我们熟悉的六小龄童版的孙悟空形象相去甚远，而其中的观音菩萨的造型也完全是出自西方人的审美观念。不过动画制作的还是比较精美，值得一看，虽然只有短短两分多钟。据了解这个短片将在奥运期间在各个项目期间被滚动播放。在这里给出一个链接，大家可以先睹为快。





另外，这里提高的英国版本的舞台剧西游记确实非常震撼，这里给大家介绍一点这部剧的花絮。


部分内容转自BBC中文