唐滌生

繁體中文

唐滌生（1917–1959），原名唐康年，香港粵劇劇作家，籍貫廣東香山（今珠海市唐家灣），在吉林省寧安縣出生；佢能糅合文學與電影藝術，為粵劇藝術嘅發展作出不少貢獻。據唐氏遺孀鄭孟霞所說，唐滌生於1917年6月18日出生，但亦有學者推斷佢大概在上海出生，直至1935年才回到廣東中山上學。他年少時在中山縣翠亨村紀念中學唸書，曾獲選為學生會主席，主持學生運動、推動反對專制治校嘅「護校運動」和號召學生及鄉民支持抗日。1937年初佢到上海，先後入讀白鶴美術專科學校及滬江大學，並加入「湖光劇團」，活躍於京劇、話劇和電影圈中。1937年夏天因日軍侵華被逼輟學，南下香港，找到堂姐唐雪卿，加入唐雪卿和丈夫薛覺先創辦嘅「覺先聲男女劇團」任抄曲員及實習生，隨麥嘯霞、南海十三郎、馮志芬等人學習寫戲。不久佢寫成第一部粵劇作品《江城解語花》，由「小生王」白駒榮主演，從此展開編劇生涯。1956年任劍輝與白雪仙成立「仙鳳鳴劇團」，聘唐滌生為駐團編劇，佢為仙鳳鳴編寫《紅樓夢》、《牡丹亭驚夢》、《蝶影紅梨記》、《帝女花》、《紫釵記》、《再世紅梅記》、《九天玄女》等著名劇目；由於辭藻秀麗、深入描寫人物情感，自創風格，終成一代宗師。1959年9月14日晚，其新作《再世紅梅記》首演期間，唐滌生突發腦出血，延至9月15日逝世，終年42歲。

English

Tong Dik-sang (1917–1959), born Tong Hong-nin, was a Hong Kong playwright for Cantonese opera, of Xiangshan (now Tangjiawan in Zhuhai) ancestry though reportedly born in Ning'an, Jilin. He blended literary craft with cinematic art and did much to develop Cantonese opera. According to his widow, he was born on 18 June 1917, but scholars believe he was probably born in Shanghai and only returned to Zhongshan for school in 1935. As a student at a memorial school in Cuiheng village he was elected student council chairman, led student movements against authoritarian school governance and rallied students and villagers to support resistance against Japan. In early 1937 he went to Shanghai, studied at an art college and a university, and joined a theatre troupe active in Beijing opera, spoken drama and film. Forced to leave his studies when Japan invaded, he went south to Hong Kong, found his cousin Tong Suet-hing and joined the troupe she ran with her husband Sit Kok-sin as a music copyist and trainee, learning playwriting from established masters. He soon wrote his first opera, starring a celebrated male lead, and began his career as a playwright. In 1956, when Yam Kim-fai and Pak Suet-sin founded the Sin Fung Ming troupe, they hired him as resident playwright; for them he wrote classics including a Dream of the Red Chamber adaptation, The Princess Changping, The Purple Hairpin and a sequel legend. His elegant language and deep portrayal of emotion made him the genre's master. On the night of 14 September 1959, during the premiere of his new work, he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and died the next day, aged 42.