Between Reality and Society: Lee Kuohsiu's Far Away from Home

In: International journal of Taiwan studies, Band 6, Heft 1, S. 109-129

Abstract

Abstract
This paper presents the argument that the practice of modern theatre constitutes a crucial method for reorienting the particular traumas of the Chinese diaspora in contemporary Taiwan. In particular, it offers a close reading of Far Away from Home (西出陽關, Xichu yangguan, 1988) by Taiwanese playwright Lee Kuohsiu (李國修, 1955‒2013) and its performance archive of 2004. Lee deploys theatre as a negotiating space in which to reflect the social formations, identities, and history of Taiwan in the late 1980s—a period that saw Taiwan's complicated relationship with China become the subject of intense scrutiny as the Cold War came to an end and the pressures of rapid globalisation mounted.