超級好工作：在舞臺上無所事事地忙活

文：司馬勤（Ken Smith） 編譯：李正欣

我人在香港，安安分分地在劇場大堂排隊入場，碰巧導(dǎo)演探出頭來看見我，突然就把我拉進了后臺。在那里，一個穿著禮服的男人告訴我，“你的餐桌已準備好了”。拉開帷幕的時候，我坐在了舞臺上，身邊還有十來個人和我一樣。

左頁：筆者在彼得·戈登執(zhí)導(dǎo)的《女仆作夫人》中被拉去做了臨時演員（作者提供）

彼得·戈登（Peter Gordon）是歌劇劇本與字幕翻譯家，他也撰寫了不少關(guān)于香港本地制作或是引進劇目的導(dǎo)賞文章與演后評論。這一次，彼得擔(dān)任導(dǎo)演，執(zhí)導(dǎo)的作品是佩爾戈萊西（Pergolesi）的幕間劇《女仆作夫人》（La Serva Padrona）——這個制作加了個副題，“女侍應(yīng)在上（Waitress on Top）”。香港的演出版本源自彼得早前在澳門崗頂劇院（Dom Pedro V Theatre）執(zhí)導(dǎo)的制作，他把故事原型的兩位人物——易怒的單身男主人與他工于心計的女仆人——改編為意大利餐廳里懊惱的老板及富有進取心的年輕女服務(wù)員。在這一刻，我跟我的11位新朋友一起在舞臺上充當了食客。

上：彼得·戈登執(zhí)導(dǎo)的《女仆作夫人》劇照

那個晚上真的令人尷尬。演出詼諧的段落時，我可以跟得上對白，因為演員在臺上說的是英語?？墒?，當艾樂冊（Isaac Droscha）與馮曉楓（Etta Fung）開始用意大利語歌唱的時候，我就抓不住唱詞與細節(jié)了。有幾次，我把頭轉(zhuǎn)過來偷看身后的投影字幕，幾乎要忍不住笑了出來。字幕的設(shè)計十分有創(chuàng)意：有時候出現(xiàn)漫畫畫框或傳情泡泡，有時候又看似微信的推文界面?；旧?，坐在舞臺上的十幾人都懵懵懂懂，無法跟得上故事發(fā)展。我們在臺上遇到的經(jīng)歷如下：不但沒有人幫我們點菜，只有餐廳老板拿著一瓶餐酒東奔西跑，可他從來都沒有幫我們倒過酒。餐桌上唯一擺著的就是幾瓶圣培露礦泉水（San Pellegrino）。

歡迎你來到充滿激情也令人沮喪的——歌劇臨時演員（supernumerary）的職業(yè)生涯。

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要是在電影中或劇場里，臨時演員都統(tǒng)稱為“extras”（額外演員）。放到歌劇領(lǐng)域當然是要奢華一點——“supernumerary”這個專有名詞都要多幾個音節(jié)。編制外臨時演員在舞臺上沒有任何指定的工作：不用歌唱、跳舞，或是任何算得上“演戲”的成分。你可以這樣想——很多導(dǎo)演都是這樣想——他們只不過是布景的一部分。你看到舞臺后方拿著長矛的宮廷衛(wèi)士嗎？他就是一位編制外臨時演員。

在任何情況下，當一臺戲需要把氣氛搞得熱熱鬧鬧——像是《茶花女》晚宴中的賓客及《波希米亞人》咖啡廳里的顧客，或是《戰(zhàn)爭與和平》臺上的幾百個士兵——制作組會到處招募一些渴望在舞臺亮相、與大明星可以近在咫尺接觸的“戲迷”。比如說，華盛頓國家歌劇院在自己的官網(wǎng)里放上了電子表格供下載，鼓勵“年齡介于18至50歲的男士”參加演出。當芝加哥抒情歌劇院要物色《特里斯坦與伊索爾德》劇中的眾多船員，招募廣告里強調(diào)了演員的必備條件：“體形魁梧、光頭或剃去毛發(fā)的健美先生”。有時候，如果這些臨時演員需要在臺上搬動道具，或是必須接受某種特殊訓(xùn)練，他們還可以賺一丁點象征性的工資。因為大都會歌劇院龐大的規(guī)制作和演出規(guī)模，院方常年聘請了9位編制外的臨時演員，他們每年的工資依據(jù)演出劇目所需而定。其他歌劇院沒有這樣豐厚的待遇：編制外的臨時演員能夠分得一瓶礦泉水，就已經(jīng)很好了。

通常，臨時演員們都會參加幾場排練。但這一次《女仆作夫人》找來的“食客”純屬“臨時”。作為臨時演員的主要職責(zé)之一是，除了不搶走觀眾的注意力，還要跟觀眾一起專注于舞臺上的情節(jié)發(fā)展。因此，他們對于故事情節(jié)，應(yīng)該有一定的概念?！杜妥鞣蛉恕穮s屬于例外：舞臺上的群眾演員越蒙在鼓里，越能凸顯故事的戲劇性效果。

左頁：大都會歌劇院《波希米亞人》中的群眾場面

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歌劇院的規(guī)模越大，就越需要專職的行政人員來負責(zé)編制外臨時演員的編排。不同歌劇院有著不同的行政架構(gòu)：這種工作有時候落在藝術(shù)部，或由公關(guān)部管轄。

大都會歌劇院邀請來的導(dǎo)演經(jīng)常要求臨時演員具有特殊技能，所以這份差事由藝術(shù)部門來管理。數(shù)年前，負責(zé)這份差事的總監(jiān)喬·巴恩斯（Joe Barnes）在大都會的博客里清晰地列出威廉·肯特里奇（William Kentridge）要求招募受過同樣肢體動作訓(xùn)練的臨時演員的條件；而為了肖斯塔科維奇的歌劇《鼻子》的演出，又要招聘懂俄語的臨時演員。

上：露絲·貝德·金斯伯格（中）在《軍中女郎》里擔(dān)任了臨時演員

不過，在美國首都華盛頓的歌劇院，許多被招募上臺的臨時演員都是公職人員，公共關(guān)系是這項工作的重要組成部分。最令人津津樂道的一次，大概是最高法院的法官露絲·貝德·金斯伯格（Ruth Bader Ginsburg），一位資深的歌劇迷，于2016年在歌劇演出中擔(dān)綱臨時演員，甚至她還有一兩句對白。當年她83歲，在歌劇界“初試啼聲”，演出的劇目是多尼采蒂的《軍中女郎》。

幾十年前，在俄勒岡州尤金市（Eugene）的一家小型歌劇院里，發(fā)生過一宗更離奇古怪的選角個案。歌劇院請來了著名幽默作家戴夫·巴利（Dave Barry）擔(dān)任臨時演員——巴利當年的專欄在全國各大報紙轉(zhuǎn)載。他曾發(fā)表過一篇文章，描述丹麥動物園里有一只動物，因為整天聽著歌劇演員排練，引至焦慮過度而死。于是他斷言，歌劇可能是致命的，應(yīng)該像海洛因一樣列為違禁品。

左頁：筆者在彼得·戈登執(zhí)導(dǎo)的《女仆作夫人》中被拉去做了臨時演員（作者提供）

他的文章引來眾多歌劇迷攻擊他的信件；尤金歌劇院的總經(jīng)理卻特意邀請巴利參演普契尼的《賈尼·斯基基》（Gianni Schicchi），在劇中飾演布奧索·多納蒂（Buoso Donati）一角。巴利欣然應(yīng)邀，來到歌劇院參加演出，卻赫然發(fā)現(xiàn)扮演的角色正是躺在床上的尸體！他很搞笑，要求跟仿造人（android）見面。顯然，他把《斯基基》與電影《終結(jié)者2：審判日》（Terminator II）的橋段混淆了。

演出過后不久，國內(nèi)多家媒體刊登巴利撰寫的參與歌劇演出的親身感受。盡管他在舞臺上扮演尸體接近一個小時，但這次經(jīng)歷改變了他的看法，證實“歌劇一點都不會致命”。巴利更坦言說，他十分享受那個經(jīng)驗，但他提醒讀者，倘若被邀請在歌劇里扮演尸體，必須預(yù)先提出以下幾個問題：

1．“尸體”在演出期間，會被一班用意大利語大聲叫喊的人推推搡搡，頭部會撞到地板嗎？

2．“尸體”穿著的睡袍可能因為身體倒立、兩腳朝天而滑落下來，那么幾百名素未謀面的觀眾會在有射光燈照明的情況下，看到這種丑態(tài)嗎？

3．有沒有方法，避免在眾目睽睽之下露出“尸體”的臀部？

尤金的演出應(yīng)該貢獻了不少藝術(shù)成分，但我猜，這場《賈尼·斯基基》在公關(guān)方面取得了最大勝利。

So there I was in Hong Kong, waiting in line at the opera, when the director stuck his head in the lobby.Suddenly I was whisked to the back of the theatre,where a man in a dinner jacket told me my table was ready.When the curtain finally went up, so to speak,I found myself sitting on the stage with a dozen or so others.

上：《戰(zhàn)爭與和平》中的群眾場面

Peter Gordon, who usually limits his operatic work to English-language translations and commentaries on various international shows and local productions, was this time sitting in the director’s chair for Pergolesi’sLa Serva Padrona—or as it was additionally titled here,Waitress on Top.Based on a production he’d staged earlier at Macau’s Dom Pedro V Theatre, Gordon had turned the story’s cranky bachelor and his calculating maid into a harried Italian restauranteur and an enterprising young waitress.And now 11 of my newfound friends and I were sitting in their restaurant.

It was an awkward evening, to say the least.I could follow most of the comic bits, since they were in English, but when Isaac Droscha and Etta Fung started singing in Italian I had no idea what was going on.The few times I could steal glances at the projected translations behind me, I nearly laughed out loud.Sometimes they were projected as cartoon speech balloons and thought bubbles, other times like a Twitter feed.Basically, no one on stage could tell what was happening.All we knew was that no one was taking our order, and the restaurant owner kept coming around with a bottle of wine that he never got around to pouring.All we had on the tables were some bottles of Pellegrino.

Welcome to the exciting, and frustrating, life of an opera supernumerary.

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In film and theatre they’re usually called extras,but opera—being grander—requires a few more syllables.Supernumeraries are those people on stage with no obvious role, neither singing, nor dancing, nor doing much that anyone would properly call acting.You can—and at least many directors do—think of them more like part of the set.See that guy at the rear of the palace holding a spear? He’s a supernumerary.

歌劇《茶花女》中的賓客場面

Any time a show needs to fill the stage—a few dozen partygoers inLa Traviata, some café diners inLa Bohème, a few hundred soldiers inWar and Peace—a casting call goes out to find people craving the proverbial 20 feet from stardom.Many established opera companies have a regular list of people they call on.Washington National Opera, for example, has an application form on its website,specifically encouraging “men between the ages of 18 and 50.” When the Lyric Opera of Chicago was looking to man the ship inTristan and Isolde,they sent word out for “big, buff, bald or shaved bodybuilders.” Sometimes—if there’s really heavy lifting involved, for example, or if a role requires particular training—people may even get some token payment.The Metropolitan Opera, being the Met, actually has nine supernumeraries on staff,with payment depending on the season’s repertory.But most of the time, supers are lucky to get a bottle of water.

They do, however, generally attend a set number of rehearsals, which is more than we got inLa Serva Pedrona.One of the principle duties of a supernumerary, besides not calling attention to yourself, is to focus the audience’s attention on key developments on stage, which requires a certain knowledge of what’s happening at all times.Except,of course, forPedrona, where not knowing what was going on was precisely the point.

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The bigger the company, the greater the likelihood of its having a dedicated administrator to deal with supernumeraries.What also varies from house to house is whether that position is aligned with the artistic staff or considered part of public relations.

At the Met, where directors often come with demanding concepts requiring supers with specialized skills, the job is categorically artistic.Several years ago, the Met’s Director of Supernumeraries Joe Barnes detailed on the company’s blog about William Kentridge’s need for non-speaking actors who come from the same school of physical theatre as he did, as well as a particular need for Russian speakers in his production of Shostakovich’s operaThe Nose.

In Washington， DC though, where a number of people recruited to the stage have been public officials, public relations is a major part of the job.Perhaps the most beloved appearances have been by US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,a longtime opera fan, who finally made her speaking opera debut—at age 83!—in a 2016 production of Donizetti’sDaughter of the Regiment.

The quirkiest casting to come to mind,though, occurred a couple of decades ago at the considerably smaller opera company in Eugene,Oregon, which once recruited the humorist Dave Barry.Back when Barry’s newspaper column was syndicated throughout the country, he’d reported that an animal in the Denmark zoo had died from stress brought on from hearing opera singers rehearse.This led him to claim that that opera was probably fatal and should be banned as a public health menace, like heroin.

Barry got a lot of hate mail from opera fans, but also an invitation from the Eugene Opera’s general manager to play the corpse of Buoso Donati in Puccini’s comic operaGianni Schicchi.To everyone’s surprise, Barry turned up.He also surprised them by asking to meet the android (evidently confusing the plot ofSchicchiwithTerminator II).

But shortly afterward, newspapers around the country published Barry’s firsthand findings that,despite his playing a corpse for nearly an hour,opera proved “not in the least bit fatal.” He even claimed to enjoy the experience, though he did caution readers that if they were ever invited to portray a corpse in an opera to ask the following questions beforehand:

1.Does the plot call for the corpse to get shoved halfway off a bed headfirst by people shrieking In Italian?

2.If so, is the corpse wearing a nightgown that could easily get bunched up around the corpse’s head if the corpse finds itself in an inverted position with its legs sticking up in the air on a brightly lit stage in front of hundreds of people whom the corpse does not personally know?

3.If so, what, if any, provisions will be made to prevent a public viewing of the corpse’s butt?

There may have been some artistry involved out there in Eugene, but I think we can pretty much chalk this one up purely to public relations.