Talk #295

It was a mild summer morning back in 1993 when Connie and I were vacationing in Cannon Beach, a seaside resort off the coast of Oregon. Strolling along the promenade, we were window-shopping as we often do when we are on vacation, enjoying the cool sea breeze and the warm sun. Although I read a very limited number of novels every year, I like to browse in bookstores. On this occasion I was wandering in a used bookstore when one thin paperback on a table in the middle of the small display room caught my attention. I did not purchase the paperback on that occasion but it did leave a strong impression. The title of the book was "Three Time Plays" and the author's name started with a 'P'. The reason that the book rang a bell was that the very first play in the book was a play named "A Dangerous Corner". Those of us who attended Pui Ching around '55 to '57 might have remembered a Red-Blue Drama Club production with that same name. A cursory review of the play at the store convinced me that it was the play I saw back in our high school days. Of course, the play was presented in Chinese and I presumed our Chinese teacher Mr. Kwan must have translated it from English into Chinese. The most remarkable feature of the play ? and the reason that make the play a time play ? was that the last few minutes of the play was a repeat of the starting few minutes of the play. However, when the subject of the conversation came upon a cigarette box in the living room at the end of those few minutes, the trend of the conversion diverged drastically. At the beginning of the play, the conversation led to an exposure of the secret lives of all the actors and actresses in the play; whereas at the end, every character in the play was willing to let the 'sleeping dog lie' and the conversation was diverted to other harmless topics.

When I walked into the bookstore in Cannon Beach, I had no recollection of what transpired in the main body of the play but I did remember the time sequence of the play well. Since I, for some reason, decided not to purchase the book, I had often wondered what were the secrets of those characters. In the intervening years, I did not see the book "Three Time Plays" in any of the bookstores I visited, new or used. Over the years, I wanted to correct that mistake and finally, the chance came this year.

Since 1993, thanks to amazon.com and other dot com companies, book buying on the WEB is extremely simple. Practically every book in print is available. Even used book and books out-of-print are readily accessible. All one needs is a credit card and a little patience. Earlier this year, I decided to make an effort to acquire this book. The search was really quite painless. I used www.northernlight.com to locate a number of used bookstores. Not too surprisingly, most of them turned out to be in England. After that, it took a few minutes to locate a copy of "Three Time Plays", which was published in 1937 and again in 1945. The playwright was J. B. Priestley. No wonder I had not seen the book before except in that used bookstore in Oregon. Because I was dealing with a British bookstore, buying the book took an email to the bookstore indicating an interest in the book. Back came an email the next day with the price. Another two emails from me with my credit card number. And finally, one email from the store saying the book was on the way. About a week later, I had the book in hand. The procedure was slightly more complicated than buying a new book at amazon.com for sure but not by much. Even when dealing with amazon.com, used or out-of-print books usually take a few electronic exchanges to complete a transaction. None of that 'one-click' processing that amazon.com is so notorious of.

'A Dangerous Corner' was a rather complex play involving four couples and a dead man, who committed suicide a week before the time of the play. The play took place in the living room of the dead man's brother. On the surface, the four couples were happily married and working together in a small publishing firm along with the dead man. As the story unfolded, the audience came to realize that none of the marriages were what they seemed. There was adultery and homosexual love, embezzlement and deception. It was quite complicated, titillating and a bit depressing. SS read the play when he visited D.C. and both of us wonder how Mr. Kwan had handled the translation and got it passed the censors, self imposed and otherwise. Did he produce an expurgated version, just so he would not corrupt our young and innocent minds? (Well, I know I am speaking for myself here. My fellow classmates might be more sophisticated than I was.) Or did he translated it word for word? SS remembered ' The Sleeping Dog', which was a radio play within the play. The choice of the title of the embedded play was clear to SS and me now but was it clear to the high school audience back in 1955? Unfortunately, we shall never know the answers to these questions.

Drama was a life-long interest to Mr. Kwan who directed the Drama Club all the time that I was at Pui Ching. I suspect he taught because he wanted to direct and produce plays. Of course, he read and probably translated plays also. Another one of the plays of that period that I remember was 'The Dumb Wife'. I am not sure who produced the 'Dumb wife'. It could have been a class production rather than a Drama Club production. The Dumb Wife is a French play and I read it many years later in an English translation. For my Hong Kong friends, is there still a Red-Blue Drama Club in Pui Ching? Without the patronage of someone like Mr. Kwan, had the Club fallen by the wayside? If so, it would indeed be the loss of all modern day Pui Ching students.