A new translation revitalizes a Qing “morality play” about love and corruption for a modern audience
“All the world’s a stage,” Shakespeare observed in As You Like It. Sixty years later, and half a world away, Chinese playwright Li Yu’s epic drama A Couple of Soles (《比目鱼》) would bring new meaning to the phrase, presenting a world of petty corruption and pure love where seemingly everyone is pretending to be someone else.
Originally written and performed in 1661, A Couple of Soles is the first of Li’s 10 plays to be translated into English. This early Qing-era drama offers a compelling tale of romantic surprise, as well as a window into the mind of a talented eccentric and giant of the dramatic tradition in China.
A Couple of Soles begins as the story of a troupe of actors, performing their different roles in the drama of life while submitting to personal crises on stage. At its center is the love between a frustrated young scholar, “child prodigy” Tan Chuyu, and a juvenile actress, Fairy Liu. Introduced as a struggling writer, Tan is swiftly inducted as the play’s noble romantic, so stirred by the 14-year-old Liu’s beauty that he resolves to give up scholarly ambitions for a lowly position in Liu’s troupe in order to be close to her.
Soles of Wit is a story from our issue, “Grape Expectations.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine. Alternatively, you can purchase the digital version from the App Store.