Fable
The troupe's director and script
There was a theater troupe in town that performed away from home all year round. The troupe leader had two treasures: Director Li, who had learned opera since childhood, and a script box full of scripts. Director Li's skill was coordinating actors on the spot—who went on first, who sang next, who appeared more or less in this play—all depended on a word from him on the spot.
That box of scripts was also treasured greatly. Each one recorded detailed blocking, vocal styles, and eye movements. It clearly stated on which page one should step with the left foot and raise the right hand. Acting according to the script kept the play from falling into disorder.
Once, the troupe took on a rush job: they had to stage a new play within three days. Director Li saw how tight the schedule was and called several lead actors together to explain the scenes on the spot: "You go on first in this scene, make the entrance big; you take over in the next scene, keep the movements quick; in the final scene we all go on together." The actors did memorize it, but rehearsals kept falling into chaos—someone forgot lines, someone stood in the wrong spot.
The troupe leader had no choice but to dig out an old script from the bottom of the chest, pick one with a similar structure, and have the actors practice from it. This time practice went much more smoothly. Following the script, whoever was supposed to go on went on, and whatever action was supposed to be done was done. In three days the play was rehearsed.
But something went wrong during the performance. Right at the climax, a child in the audience started crying, and the actor playing the mother, softening, ad-libbed a line to cheer the child up. That one change was all it took—the actors after her were completely lost, because their blocking was designed around that line, and with the line changed, everything after it no longer matched.
Director Li watched from the side, anxious but unable to change anything. Because this scene followed the script, and the script was fixed; changing it would require reprinting a new script. The actors could only grit their teeth and keep performing, the audience below was baffled, the drummer backstage could not keep the rhythm, and even the person responsible for changing the set did not know whether the next backdrop should be brought up.
There was another time when the troupe took on a special performance for an audience of foreigners who could not understand the opera. The director decided on the spot: remove all the singing and keep only the movements and expressions, letting the actors improvise. In the end, this performance was unexpectedly successful. The foreigners could understand it, and everyone who could understand it applauded.
Later the troupe leader kept the two treasures separate. Fixed plays used the script as a baseline, while when facing changes in the audience, actors' on-the-spot judgment, and trial runs of new plays, Director Li was brought in to coordinate from the side. The troupe finally understood that a hard-written script can ensure stability, while an on-site director can handle change.