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Olympic champion inspires one-man play
Ida Relsted
Shanghai_Star
page04 2007-1-18
On the stage of a local Shanghai school the American actor Rich Swingle is switching from one character to another during his one-man play, "Beyond the Chariots".
Children in the audience are laughing , yet they continue to stare at him, amazed by his ability to change voices, postures and facial expressions. Though only one actor is on stage, the young audience fi nds a drama of several characters unfolding in front of their eyes.
"Beyond the Chariots" is a one-man play written and performed by Rich Swingle about legendary British athlete Eric Liddell.
"Liddell was such an inspiration to me when I was young, and he is somebody we can all look up to," Swingle explains as to why he chose Liddell as a topic for his play.
At the 1924 Olympics, the Scottish sportsman stunned the world, fi rst by refusing to compete in his favorite discipline, the 100 meter dash, and then, against all odds, by winning the 400 meter competition, a race he had never run before. The reason for the refusal was that Liddell was a fi rm Christian. He rejected the 100-meter race because it took place on a Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, a day for rest and contemplation, according to strict believers.
The first part of Liddell's life is famously depicted in the four-time Academy Award winning movie "Chariots of Fire". Rich Swingle's play about Eric Liddell focuses on the athlete's life after he won the gold medal at the 1924 Olympics, when he went to live in China.
In "Beyond the Chariots", Liddell travels to China to work as a running instructor, and also as a missionary. He ends his days, tragically, in a Japanese concentration camp in Weihsien, now Weifang, but there he became a mentor to many, according to Swingle.
To the question of why Swingle wrote the play on Liddell, he explains that it is important to have mentors, like Liddell, because they can have a life-long impact on people.
"What makes Liddell so fascinating is his integrity, especially in his relationships, which I illustrate in the play by something he really did do. Once he had insulted someone, he biked 30 kilometers in order to apologize."
Rich Swingle's personal background is, not unlike Liddell's, also touched by a Chinese connection. In 1986, he ran a race in Guangzhou, and felt a profound impact by the Chinese people. According to Swingle, this might have been the core reason why Liddell's story of the athlete's love of China was so intriguing to him as an actor.
Swingle had intended "Beyond the Chariots" to be his fi rst one-man play, but it ended up by being his seventh to write and perform. In the meantime, the American actor has worked on different assignments and productions, as well as on a play about the American Quakers.
"I look for stories of people who have had an infl uence," Swingle explains. "These days, there is a lot of entertainment about, which is just really only entertainment. As a contrast, I would like to be a positive infl uence on people."
"I hope this play is a gift to China, just as Eric Liddell come to China to give," Swingle says in closing. |
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