Photo Gallery
Pictures from the world premiere reading at the Byre Theatre
Image Image Image Image Image Image ImageLives of the Buddha
A new play by Alan G. Wagner
Popular Buddhist Theater from Early India and China
Lives of the Buddha is a new theatrical play composed primarily of excerpts from early, popular Chinese Buddhist texts, transmitted from India, which recount the story of the Buddha and many of his past lives. It seeks to imagine and create the experience of orally presenting these scriptures to an audience, perhaps as it might have been some 2000 years ago, before they were even first written down.
By interpreting these texts as the written traces of a preexisting oral performance literature, with alternating passages of narration, dialogue, and stage direction, this project also places them among the oldest theatrical writings in existence.
Scriptures transmitted by Kang Senghui, Dharmarakṣa, Zhi Qian, Yijing and others.
Translations from classical Chinese, adaptation and original texts by Alan G. Wagner.
Translations in the French version by Édouard Chavannes (1865-1918).
World Premiere: June 21, 2023
A staged reading at the Byre Theatre in St Andrews, Scotland
Hosted by the UK Association for Buddhist Studies as a special event at their annual conference
Photo Gallery
Pictures from the world premiere reading at the Byre Theatre
Image Image Image Image Image Image ImageComments on the Performance
“Although I was familiar with the materials, and had already read and enjoyed the play, seeing it performed really made me think about these stories in a very different way. The audience’s discomfort at key moments, or laughter at places I hadn’t anticipated, demonstrated how much more engaging these materials would have been in a live environment, and how crucial they may have been in communicating Buddhist ideas in new places.” — Naomi Appleton, University of Edinburgh
“Most of the jokes in this play are actually more than 2000 years old... So when we tell them again today, and they land, I feel that we are truly ‘sharing a laugh’ with people from the distant past, as though they could be sitting right beside us. In those moments time collapses in a magical kind of way.” — Alan Wagner, Author and Director
“It definitely went down a storm. It seems like you’ve discovered an effective method of communicating, educating, and entertaining with these texts.” — Emma Lindsey, Actress in the role of Suri
