自從西元一五九八年(明萬曆二十六年)《牡丹亭》劇作完成以來，至今已有四百多年，其間歷經聲腔、劇種的演進與時代的變遷，仍能在舞台上展現光芒。傳奇全本演出的現象在明代以後已逐漸減少，不過因《牡丹亭》全譜仍在，且其文學價值早受肯定，因此引發了回復全本演出的呼聲。然而需不需要原封不動以五十五齣形式演出？抑或是去蕪存菁以濃縮方式秀出全劇的概貌？至今仍是討論不休的話題。事實上五十五齣的全本演出，費時二十多小時，須分六天展演，並不符合現代人觀劇的習慣，只能當作呈現「活化石」般偶一演出；那麼將之濃縮成七小時分上、中、下三天演出，則是符合實際效益的做法，只是該如何濃縮，且不失原著精髓，便是劇作家的一大考驗。梨園戲名劇作家王仁杰先生，受命縮編《牡丹亭》，自是一項艱鉅的任務，這是目前唯一以恢復《牡丹亭》原貌為前提的改編作品，其成敗得失，有助於成為日後整理經典劇目的方法指標，因此，本文試圖回歸到該劇作本身，找出劇作者的立意與用心，並放在《牡丹亭》的演出歷史中加以觀察，俾能給予縮編本適度中肯的評價。 Since the completion of Bleeding Heart Gazebo (牡丹亭)on 1598, it has been over four centuries. In the meantime, the play is still getting a great attention with the change of singing, the evolution of the play and the passing of time. It has been very rare to see the performance of the whole legend in Ming dynasty. However, with the preservation of the music score, its literature value is greatly cherished, Someone called for the thorough performance of the 55 collected plays, is it necessary? Or should we just choose the best parts of it? It is not for sure. As a matter of facts, the 55 collected plays of Bleeding Heart Gazebo (牡丹亭)will take more than 20 hours to watch and it need six days to perform. It really does not follow the habits of theatre-going. So if we could adapt them to seven-hour version and divide them into three parts, it would be practical. The playwright Wang Zen Fu takes the task of adapting the Bleeding Heart Gazebo with a expectation of no losing original creature. With its success or failure, it wi1l do a great job for compiling the classical plays. Here, I would 1ike to explore the play itself and try to experience what the playwright wants to suggest to us. With the performance of the play, I hope we can give it a moderate valuation.
