Wang Mo-lin Stages First Action Theatre: Expel the Evil Spirit from Orchid Island
王墨林發起第一場行動劇場「驅逐蘭嶼的惡靈」
Source: Anti-Nuclear Report Play for Orchid Island — Performance “On-Site”
From: United Daily News
Date: February 9, 1988
In 1988, the first “report play” (documentary theatre) devised by Taiwan theatre practitioners — the “Orchid Island Anti-Nuclear Report Play” — was performed as part of the Tao people’s “220 Anti-Nuclear Waste Drive Out the Evil Spirit of Orchid Island” movement. The performance took place in front of Nuclear Waste Storage Site No. 26 on Orchid Island, where more than ten Tao elders and youths expressed their anti-nuclear sentiments through the form of documentary theatre.
The event was initiated by Wang Mo-lin and supported by theatre practitioners including Chou Yi-chang, Wang Chün-chieh, and Li Huan-hung. Setting out from the concept of “action theatre,” they hoped to combine theatre with society and expand the influence of the little theatre movement.
Drive Out the Evil Spirit of Orchid Island — Taiwan’s first action theatre, conceived by Wang Mo-lin and Chou Yi-chang, 1988 (Photography: P’an Hsiao-hsia)
External Links
- The Tao People’s “Drive Out the Evil Spirit of Orchid Island” Movement (Huang Chin-fang)
- Orchid Island Report 1987–2007 (Kuan Hsiao-jung)
- Taiwan’s Nuclear Waste: Where Does It Go? — Orchid Island: An “Evil Spirit” Buried in a Green Moat (Liberty Times)
- What Is Political Theatre? (International Association of Theatre Critics)
- From “Third Theatre” to “Action Theatre” (Wang Mo-lin)
- Shaping a Subtle Historical Perspective: Finding Language for a Speechless History — Interview with Wang Mo-lin (Art and Society)
