"The Field of Reeds"

           The scene begins when Sanniang, a virtuous woman and a good wife, goes to a field of reeds to pick some firewood to cook a fish she bought for her mother-in-law who has broken her marriage and thrown her out of the house. She runs into her former husband Jiang Shi and begs him for reconciliation. He refuses at first. But, seeing the firewood she has picked and the physical evidence of her hard labor, he realizes the mistake he and his tyrant of a mother have made. The scene ends with him promising Sanniang that he will try to convince his mother to allow her back in his life, before he takes leave of her.

Prepared by Ben Wang for the Kunqu Society