THE CHINESE THEATRE

Evening Star, Issue 19791, 15 February 1928, Page 9

THE CHINESE THEATRE

CONVENTIONS OF A DMA In every Chinese town ami village plays are acted all the year round. In the big cities the theatres are always full; in the small towns and villages the plays are generally acted in the middle of the road by travelling companies, who bring their properties with them. The site chosen is often'in front of a temple, so that the gods can get a good view. Any great national feast day will bo the occasion of a play, or some local dignitary will hiro a company to perform before him. In the important cities there are hundreds of theatres, and on each stage is a great number of people. In tho centre are the actors. On one side sit the orchestra, perhaps four or five men, on the other are small boys who chatter and are sent oft' on messages. The scene shifters remove tables and chairs in the middle of the most impassioned songs; even a baby or two may sit on the stage all by itself, perfectly happy, with no one paying attention to it. The centre of the stage has generally a big chair (or sometimes a throne), and in front of it a small stable; behind there is an exquisitely embroidered curtain, of brilliant green and orange or red, with a dragon or a peacock as the centre of the design. Tho chair and table probably have covers of the same color, but other scenery there is none. Most Chinese plays are operatic, with talking and singing in them, and _ the greatest actors are those who can either sing or dance well. The drama, as such, has been known to the Chinese only since about 1300, when it was introduced by the Mongols; but the ballet has been known since the lime of Confucius. Dances were held in honor of the gods, songs were sung, and gradually a regular semi-religious performance was evolved. With the play a new era opened. The idea was still of a “ spectacle to delight the gods,’’ but now’ stories were introduced, all with one object —to emphasise tho greatness of the Chinese people and their gods. In every play (here was a wicked “ barbarian," who wore a hideous mask, and was eventually outwitted by (bo hero's scrupulous observance of tho precepts of the Chinese sages. This form of play stimulated a widespread hatred of all “ barbarians,” or foreigners, which, though originally directed against the Mongols and Tartars, has now, in tho interior, been turned against the modern “barbarians ’’ from Europe and America.

The old plays, written hundreds of years ago, are still the plays of to-day. Everyone in the audience knows the plot and most of the words of a play before he goes to it. Acting in consequence consists in the making of formal gestures to represent certain actions and emotions; there is no attempt to make a play realistic. All gestures have become crystallised to such an extent that there is a definite gesture for every emotion. Thus the whole interest of the play lies in the presentation of what is really a very slow and stately ballot, designed rather to delight the eyes than to excite the emotions.

Here it is that the orchestra comes in. Besides accompanying the singers, it has to beat lime for almost every movement of the actors. A man raises his hand, the cymbals clash together; lie takes a step forward, the gong is rung; lie finishes a phrase, a drum is beaten. While not every movement and phrase are thus punctuated, all Chinese love a noise, and they will sit for hours with gongs and drums going incessantly. The violin and the castanets or the Mute accompany the singers, though occasionally the drums join in, and the cymbals, drums, and gong mark the movements of the actors. Thus,' at almost every movement some instrument is at work.

A Chinese actor moves as no European or American. He glides about the stage. The most famous actor of the present time, Mei Lan-fang, seems to float on air. Everyone of his movements, however insignificant, is perfect. Mei Lan-fang always lakes female parts, like nearly all the most famous Chinese actors. They are indistinguishable from women when (hey are on the stage. Faces, figure, gestures, and even voices arc those of women. There are few women m the whole of China more beautiful than ilci Lan-fang. His high-pitched voice, though, can be anything but beautiful. All Chinese singing, both of male and female parts, is doue not from the chest, but from the throat, so that the sound is apt to bo thin and rather strangled. There arc other important parts besides those of female impersonators. There is the genera!, or ‘‘Man of Great Courage.” His piece de resistance is the sword dance, or the duel. With long wooden spears the fighters whirl round and round, jump, and perform incredible -acrobatic feats—all to the beat of the drums. Chinese plays are very short; most of them do not last more than half an hour. But in one evening there will be perhaps twelve plays, and the theatres will not close till 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning. All plays being written long ago, their characteristics are well known, and each has his own recognised costume, which, with the gestures, make up for lack of stage properties. To <dve an example: A man walks on the stage with what is known as a whip in his hand—it is nothing like an ordinary whip, but is the whip used when these plays were written—and the audience at onoe know that the , man is riding.. Then there are the War Lords, who always have half a dozen flags attached to their shoulders, and the “funny man,' who has a piece of plaster across his nose. There are other conventions, such as, when an actor steps htoh up to show that he is climbing some steps, or suddenly stoops down to go through an imaginary door. The Chinese, though they can get all the stage properties "they want nowadays, keep up the old customs. Attempts to produce plays in European style progress slowly. 'The Merchant of Venice,’ for instance, though it has.been well done by students, all men, is so different from anything Chinese that it is difficult for Chinese actors to eniei into the spirit of it. And not only the actors; the Chinese people love their plays more than anything else, and will not desert them.—‘The Times.’