Last week the departments of Spanish, French, German, and Russian staged four dramatic performances in which students successfully demonstrated their skills in fluent foreign languages and expressive body language.

In the French department’s The Bald Soprano a married couple (played by Chen Po-shun and Liu Ying-ling) were looking for their shoes when they suddenly charged down the stage and toward the seating area, leaving the audience gasping and almost forgetting to dodge. The stage manager, Liu Shiao-ling, said this brief incident was not in the original play but was specially devised by the faculty advisor, Dr. Liang Zong, to convey the idea that “it’s not there but here.” The haughty maid (played by Huang Fei-wen) and the well-built fireman (played by Huang Jun-neng), two instrumental supporting roles, who entered the stage in a cute jazzy dance and a passionate rock-and-roll step respectively added a lot of humor to this satirical play.

Dr. Liang said the actors had rehearsed for seven months and that the play had been abridged again and again until it became half-an-hour long. The original play is a tragedy, but the audience reacted as if it were a comedy. The changing lighting effects and the well-timed sound effects gave the audience an unforgettable experience.

In the Russian department’s The Mysterious Man Lue Jun-yi, playing Boris Ivanovich, enticed the audience when he invited assistant professor Chang Ching-gwo to a passionate dance of thousand watts. However, Boris was not a lucky man: he tripped when walking, and closets, walls collapsed on him. With the help of Natasha’s grandma (played by Chen Yun-ting) and his own mother (played by Liang Jia-ling), Boris finally discovered his true love in Natasha.

Faculty advisor, assistant professor Liu Hwang-shi, said that The Mysterious Man was a modern Russian light comedy. To involve the audience more, the actors added a lot of Taiwanese phrases in their dialogue. One of the spectators, Shiao Yu-shiang, said: “It’s really very funny, even the teachers laughed loudly. The actress playing the grandma was great, she made the old woman so funny.” Even at curtain calls the talented actors were still performing their tricks, and the audience never stopped laughing for a moment.

The Spanish department presented Goodbye, Havana! in which Alicia (played by Tsung Shu-ting), in high heels, did ballroom dancing with Victor (played by Lin Ker-shin), a reflection of the sexual relationship between the two characters. The play requires a lot of gestures of intimacy; Tsung Shu-ting said she felt less awkward playing Alicia thanks to the fact that the role of Victor was also played by a girl. As to acting opposite Yu Jie-fan who played Von Dongen, the initial embarrassment on both sides was overcome after numerous rehearsals.

The German department staged Woyzeck, and the title role was played by Yang Shu-hao (senior). Yang played Woyzeck’s murder of his wife with such vividness that the spectators could not tell whether they were in the theatre or at the site of crime. (~ Hui-chuan Wang )