A Nanking Winter Read online

  a nanking winter

  marjorie chan

  PLAYWRIGHTS CANADA PRESS

  TORONTO • CANADA

  for Iris

  introduction

  In my view, a nanking winter is cubism disguised as realism. On first reading it seems like a straightforward retelling of a horrific event and its effect on a writer in the present. Closer inspection, however, reveals it as a kaleidoscopic examination of the importance and consequence of truth.

  Like any good storyteller, Marjorie Chan insists on the scope and breadth of her tale. She tenaciously sets her play in the past and the present and on two continents. She gives full voice to a difficult character, the ferocious and unwieldy Irene Wu, a writer haunted by a forgotten holocaust. She imagines a small group of unlikely heroes in the centre of the horror, one who is killed, one who commits suicide, one who is ultimately silenced (Niklas is a pariah on his return to Germany) and one who survives to tell the story.

  With this, Marjorie asks her questions. Who controls history? What is the impulse to deny that rape is used as a weapon of war? Do we in the West fashion stories to ensure our role as protagonist (or hero if you prefer)? And ultimately—what happens to the truth-tellers?

  Structurally, Marjorie takes on the large task of portraying the past and the present by dividing the play in two. This does not, however, prevent it from being one dramatic event. Irene, outraged by the brutality of the invasion and the ease in which it has been covered up, fills her book with facts. As she insists we digest important details, opening us up to experience viscerally the random and hellish savagery of the event. We follow the lives of Little Mei, Big Mei, Anna and Niklas at Ginling College with Irene’s voice in our head. In this way, the play loops back upon itself, completing the circle while shattering into many pieces. At the end we are back where we started—with bravery, with Irene’s story.

  a nanking winter urges us to remember the 1937 invasion of Nanking by the Japanese Imperial Army and the subsequent horror inflicted on its citizens. It reminds us also that unthinkable brutality occurs during all wars, that we should make our choices with eyes open when it comes to our role in the world. The ongoing cover-up of what happened in Nanking reminds us of how power can rewrite history.

  With Iris Chang, Minnie Vautrin and John Rabe as inspiration, Marjorie Chan champions those who insist on telling the truth and recognizes the sacrifice in doing so.

  Ruth Madoc-Jones, Director

  Toronto, 2008

  playwright’s notes

  The invasion of Nanking is an historical event and I encourage readers to research the era on their own terms. My play is an interpretation of these events and as such there are variances, especially in regards to the historical timeline. These are deliberate choices for dramatic intent. There are also three historical figures that served as inspiration and starting points. My depiction of these characters should under no circumstances be considered anything resembling historical. Their personalities and their lives are pure conjecture.

  Irene Wu is inspired very loosely by the life of writer Iris Chang (1968–2004) who wrote the controversial book The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust. She died by her own hand at the side of a California Highway on November 9, 2004.

  Anna Mallery is inspired by Minnie Vautrin (1886–1941), an American missionary who spent over thirty years in China. She eventually had to return to the United States because of her failing mental state. She died by her own hand by releasing gas into her home on May 16, 1941.

  Niklas Hermann is inspired by German businessman and the highest ranking Nazi in Nanking, John Rabe (1882–1950). After returning to Germany to solicit an audience for his documents, he became a pariah and died impoverished on January 5, 1949.

  language

  Act One is in English as written.

  Act Two has some variations. When Niklas, Anna and Hiro Fukuyama are speaking together, they are assumed to be speaking English. When Niklas and Anna converse with the girls, they are assumed to be speaking Chinese (Mandarin). There are occasional references to language switches to communicate this choice to the audience. This is not historically accurate, but a simplification for the stage.

  acknowledgements

  The playwright gratefully acknowledges the following organizations for their assistance in development:

  2007 Banff Playwrights Colony (a partnership between the Canada Council for the Arts, The Banff Centre and Alberta Theatre Projects), Nightwood Theatre (2006 and 2007 Groundswell Festivals), Ontario Arts Council (Theatre Creators’ Reserve — Native Earth Performing Arts) and Cahoots Theatre Projects.

  Many thanks to the workshop participants:

  Ella Chan, Grace Lynn Kung, John Ng, Kate Hennig, Bruce Hunter, Daniela Vlaskalic, Rylan Wilkie, Adrienne Smook, Val Pearson, Brian Dooley, Kira Bradley, Brooke Johnson, Hardee Lineham, Keira Loughran, Siobhan Richardson, Stephen Russell and especially dramaturge Ruth Madoc-Jones.

  Special thanks to Toronto ALPHA for their assistance while the playwright was in Nanjing, China.

  a nanking winter was first produced by Nightwood Theatre, in association with Cahoots Theatre Projects, premiering at the Factory Theatre Mainstage, Toronto, February 27, 2008, with the following company:

  Kurt/Hiro/Fukuyama/

  Zhang/Soldier

  Leon Aureus

  Audrey/Big Mei

  Ella Chan

  Julia/Anna Mallery

  Brooke Johnson

  Irene/Little Mei

  Grace Lynn Kung

  Frank/Niklas Hermann

  Stephen Russell

  Director and Dramaturge: Ruth Madoc-Jones

  Set and Costume Designer: Camellia Koo

  Lighting Designer: Renée Brode

  Music and Sound Designer: Rick Hyslop

  Stage Manager: Melanie Klodt

  Assistant Director: Esther Jun

  Assistant Designer: Anna Treusch

  Apprentice Stage Manager: Stephanie Nakamura

  Production Manager: Matt Farrell

  Production Assistant: Deborah A. Catriona

  Head of Wardrobe: Jung Hye Kim

  Wardrobe and Props Assistant: Natalie Moore

  Props Advisor: David Hoekstra

  Fight Director: Joe Bostick

  characters

  ACT ONE – Present – November 2004 – California

  Irene Wu, a writer of Chinese descent in her thirties

  Audrey Wu, her sister, an artist, in her twenties or thirties

  Kurt Tagasaki, Irene’s husband, of Japanese descent, in his thirties

  Julia, Irene’s publisher

  Frank, a lawyer from the publishing house

  ACT TWO – Past – December 1937 – Nanking

  Little Mei, a Chinese orphan, also known as Mei-Mei, in her early twenties

  Big Mei, a young pregnant resident of Nanking, late teens (also plays GIRL TWO)

  Hiro Fukuyama, a Japanese diplomat, in his thirties (also plays Zhang and the Soldier)

  Anna Mallery, an American Catholic missionary in China, in her forties (also plays GIRL ONE)

  Niklas Hermann, the highest ranking Nazi officer in China, in his fifties or sixties

  Played by five actors, doubled as follows:

  Irene and Little Mei

  Audrey and Big Mei

  Kurt, Hiro
Fukuyama, Zhang and soldier*

  Julia and Anna Mallery

  Frank and Niklas Hermann

  * Possibly a sixth actor (male, Asian) could take on the roles of Zhang and the Soldier in Act Two, if desired.

  prologue

  Lights up. IRENE with her hair or face wet, seemingly naked in a bathtub or in a tight spot with the sound of the shower or water running. She delivers her speech to the audience calmly and simply. In the air she draws a heart as if on steamed glass.

  IRENE

  As a child,

  Whenever I drew a person,

  First I drew their heart, and coloured it in red.

  Everything else was black and white.

  As a child, only three

  Crawling where I shouldn’t have been,

  Along a river, beside the campgrounds

  I fell and scraped my knee raw.

  There was blood

  And my mother scolded me.

  Clean it, she said.

  It won’t heal unless you clean it.

  She held my knee under the water

  And clear it was,

  Clear enough to see the blood flowing from me.

  As a child, and it being red, I thought

  It was my heart bleeding.

  I watched my heart flow and it would not stop.

  I thought it would never stop.

  I asked my mother

  How can one heart hold so much?

  act one

  CALIFORNIA, 2004

  Lights up on an open sunny living room. It’s wide and bright, West Coast furniture in warm woods; it makes us feel safe. There are the following entrances: front door, basement office, bathroom and kitchen. The front door opens and KURT enters, carrying a bag with bottles in it. He looks around.

  KURT

  Irene! Irene?

  IRENE

  (off) I’m in the office!

  KURT

  What’s all this stuff?

  IRENE enters, bringing boxes up from the basement office.

  IRENE

  I’m trying to get a head start on it.

  KURT

  People are coming.

  IRENE

  I know.

  A beat.

  I came back from my walk and you were gone.

  KURT

  I know, sorry. I didn’t want to be late.

  IRENE

  I thought you were going to wait for me…

  KURT

  Look, I got some champagne from the restaurant! We’ll crack it open later…

  He crosses to the kitchen.

  IRENE

  It’s not going to be a party, is it? I said no parties, Kurt.

  KURT re-enters.

  KURT

  Well… it was leftover from a corporate event. It’ll screw up the accounting, but who cares? My parents put me in charge…

  IRENE

  They get off okay?

  KURT

  Yeah, but my mother’s luggage was over the limit. I don’t know why she brings everything, you can get anything you want in Tokyo.

  IRENE

  I would’ve come to the airport to say goodbye.

  KURT

  No, no it’s okay. You didn’t… you didn’t really want to. You’re busy.

  IRENE

  Yes, but—I’m willing to talk about it. I’ve said that a million times. I want to talk about it.

  KURT

  Yeah, but they don’t want to talk about it.

  Beat.

  IRENE

  Here. I wanted to give this back to your mother, and thank her. Thank her for letting me look at it.

  From the boxes, IRENE hands KURT a picture frame. It is

  a black and white portrait. A beat.

  KURT

  Don’t…

  IRENE

  I didn’t say anything.

  A beat.

  KURT

  My parents have to go, Irene. They go to Yasukuni 1 every year. This is how they honour my grandfather.

  IRENE

  Okay. (beat) But what if—

  KURT

  Irene.

  IRENE

  What if my parents worshipped at a shrine, that also honoured… I don’t know… Hitler? What would you think of that?

  KURT

  Hitler is not enshrined in Yasukuni.

  IRENE

  What if he was? How is it different?

  KURT

  The shrine is for those that served Japan in war.

  IRENE

  And some of them, a little over a thousand of them, just happen to be convicted war criminals!

  KURT

  Irene. No.

  IRENE

  No, they’re not convicted war criminals?

  KURT

  My parents are engaged in a private act. A private act to honour my grandfather.

  IRENE

  Please.

  KURT

  Why are you making this harder than it has to be?

  IRENE

  I can’t ignore the fact that your grandfather—

  KURT

  You don’t know, Irene, you weren’t there, you don’t know.

  IRENE

  I don’t?

  KURT

  You don’t see how difficult it is for me? For my family?

  IRENE

  What—so, I’m not a part of your family!

  Beat.

  KURT

  Look, my grandfather, my grandfather… he was like any other grandfather. He spoiled us, snuck us candy before dinner and let us get away with murder. I can remember hanging out with him on the beach. Japanese beaches aren’t like the beaches here. The sand isn’t white. It’s black. It’s black because it’s made of volcanic rock. And because it’s so dark, it makes it really hot to walk on. So whenever it got too hot, my grandfather would take my hand and we’d run into the ocean to cool our feet. But in the water, there were jellyfish, lots

  of them. And they’d sting you! I got stung so many times, I can’t even tell you! So really, you had no choice. Out into the water to be stung by jellyfish or onto the beach and have your feet scorched! You had

  to keep going back and forth. If you stood still in one place, you were done for. That’s how I remember him, not being able to stand still, not being able to choose.

  Beat.

  (looking at the picture) He’s so young here.

  The doorbell rings.

  IRENE

  I don’t want to see anyone yet.

  KURT

  Irene, what about all the stuff—

  The doorbell rings again. IRENE exits to the office. KURT goes to the door and AUDREY bursts in.

  AUDREY

  (entering) Hey!

  KURT

  Hi Audrey.

  AUDREY

  Where is everyone? Kurt—where is everyone?

  KURT

  They haven’t arrived yet. Actually there’s only gonna be—

  AUDREY

  Where is she? Is she freaking out? (calling into the house) Irene! Are you freaking out?

  IRENE

  (off) Go away, Audrey!

  AUDREY

  Yikes. She’s totally freaking out!

  KURT

  Why don’t you take off your— Why don’t you have a coat?

  AUDREY

  I mean, why shouldn’t she freak out? It’s so great, y’know, really fantastic, just really, really a great thing! I mean a book! A book! I always knew she had it in her! Omigod, I have to sit down.

  KURT

  Then sit so
we can talk. Sit.

  AUDREY

  Oh, I can’t sit. It’s too much!

  KURT

  Look, I’ll make you some tea, ’kay?

  AUDREY

  Sure, sure. But not caffeinated, not green tea ’kay? Like after your anniversary party, I was totally buzzing, flying all night. Oh my god, I am such a basket case on that stuff, so no green tea for me!

  KURT

  What kind of tea do you want then?

  AUDREY

  Whatever. I’m easy. Organic if you got it.

  As KURT tries to go.

  Where is everyone?

  KURT

  (popping back in) It’s only going to be us and Julia… and she’s bringing someone else…

  AUDREY

  That’s it?

  KURT

  It’s not a party or anything.

  AUDREY

  Julia said if I came, I’d get a book, so I thought it was a party or something—

  KURT

  The launch is tomorrow—

  AUDREY

  But Julia said I’d get a copy—because seriously, I am so strapped right now, it is not even funny. Don’t tell Irene I’m broke!

  KURT

  Okay—

  AUDREY

  So where are the books?

  KURT

  There was a bit of a complication—

  AUDREY

  What complication?

  KURT

  I’ll explain. Let me just put some water on. Just, wait—

  He goes.

  AUDREY

  (calling) What complication?

  A cell phone rings. It should ring long enough so the audience even shuffles a bit, maybe even turn their own off. It should be just a normal ring but distinctive. AUDREY looks around but doesn’t otherwise react.

  Phone!

  It rings some more. AUDREY looks around.

  KURT

  (off) Can you get it?

  AUDREY

  What?

  KURT

  (off) It’s Irene’s!

  AUDREY walks over to the basement entrance, calling down.

  AUDREY

  Irene! Your phone!

  IRENE