Thunderstorm, The(Leiyu,1934)---Written by Cao Yu, this full-length modern drama features the complicated relationships among the members and servants of a large well-off family and the family disintegration as a result of the morbidity and corruption in old China. A son of a wealthy family, Zhou Puyuan, has an affair with the family maid, Shipping, and she bears two sons. After he marries a wealthy woman he keeps the eldest son and drives Shipping away with the youngest. Shipping marries a butler, Lu Gui, and they have a daughter , Sifeng. An entangled family history is played out in what turns out to be a tragic ending. The play was first premiered in the 1930s in Chongqing, but was later presented in Beijing in 1954 by the Beijing People's Art Theater and then staged in Shanghai in 1959 by the Shanghai People's Art Theater. It is in the repertoire of both Theaters. The play has been also adapted into a film with the same name twice, and performed as a ballet by the Shanghai Ballet Troupe in 1983. Playwright: Cao Yu; directors: Xia Chun (Beijing) and Wu Renzhi (Shanghai).
Thunderstorm
Grandma Lu,
I'll be very nice to Sifeng. Trust me.
She's leaving with me.
You want to go with him?
Mom, I've got to leave you.
You can't be together.
Sifeng, let's go home.
No, Mom. Do you want me to die here?
I know I'm ungrateful to you.
But I'll do my best to make it up.
I'd rather be without you.
I can't let you be together with him.
Dahai, go and call a cab.
We're going home.
Sifeng, are you feeling better now?
I've been concealing the truth from you,
and I still dare not to tell you.
I've already...
When?
About three months.
Grandma Lu, don't be stubborn.
It was all my fault. Please let her go.
I promise I won't let her down.
I won't let you down.
Please let us go.
Whose fault is it?
They are innocent children.
They don't know what they are doing.
God, punish me only
if you are to punish.
Mom, what are you talking about?
Nothing. You can go now.
Let's go.
Come over here.
Let me kiss you again.
And you, too.
Let me look at you again.
Leave me now.
But you must make me a promise.
What promise?.
Once you leave me, never come back again.
The farther you go, the better.
No matter if you live or die,
Never let me see you again.
She's too upset.
She'll be better.
Mom, we're leaving now.
Sifeng, let's go from the dining room.
I've got to pick up my luggage there.
Where are you going?
It's thundering outside.
Were you eavesdropping?
Not only me. There was someone else.
Come out.
How could you do that?
Mom called me here.
I had no idea what was going on.
I asked your younger brother
to see you off.
I'd rather not have a mother like you.
What's this all about?
Sifeng, where are you going?
Tell them the truth.
Tell them you're going away with me.
Sifeng, are you going away with him?
Yes. I told you already.
Tell them you're going to marry me.
Now do you see what's happening.
You have a heart of stone.
You think he'll stop us?
Speak up, Conger.
Why don't you ask your older brother?
Are you dumb?
You're such a fool.
Why don't you say something?
Mom, I'm alright
as long as Sifeng is happy.
I suddenly realized
that I don't love Sifeng.
I was just fooling around before.
Take Sifeng away, brother
as long as you'll be nice to her.
You are not my son.
You're not enough of a man.
If I were you
I'd beat him, kill him or burn him.
You're such a coward.
You are not my son.
Mom, are you alright?
I've been living in this damned place
for 18 years, accompanying a Yama.
It's like being in prison.
But my heart has never died.
Your father made me your mother.
But my heart and my whole soul
are still mine.
Only he wanted the whole of me.
But he doesn't want me any more.
Mom, my dear Mom.
What are you talking about?
Leave her alone. She's crazy.
You're such a hypocrite.
Just like your father.
I'm not crazy.
It was you who cheated
your younger brother, me and your father.
Let's go now.
Don't go. The gate is locked.
Your father is coming.
I sent somebody to bring him here.
What are you going to do?
Before you go
I'd like him to see
his would-be daughter-in-law.
Puyuan. Here he comes.
What are you shouting about?
Why don't you go to bed upstairs?
Come and see your relatives.
This is your daughter-in-law.
Call him father.
Have you met this old woman?
Ping, come over here.
Bow to your mother-in-law
while your father is here.
Shiping, you've finally come back
No, you're wrong.
I thought you would come back someday.
What? Shiping? Is she Shiping?
Don't pretend that you don't know.
She's Pinger's mother.
She was thought to be dead 30 years ago.
Pinger, your mother hasn't died.
She's still alive.
No, not her.
You bastard.
She doesn't have a lot
but she's your mother.
Don't be ashamed that
you have the same mother with Sifeng
and forget your humanity.
I never thought it would be like this.
Kneel down. This is your own mother.
No, this is not true.
Mother?
My goodness!
Ping'er, what is happening?
You shouldn't have had me.
What happened?
Sifeng touched the lightning rod
and got electrocuted.
The younger master tried to save her
and they both died.
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