Asia: Japan, China, Indonesia

Chapter 10: Asian and African Theatre
• Theatre varies widely from one culture and
location to another
• This chapter examines theatrical practices in:
– Asia: Japan, China, Indonesia
– Africa: Nigeria, South Africa, North Africa
Theatre In Japan
• During the time of the religious cycle plays in Europe, a very
different kind of theatre existed in Japan
Noh Theatre
– Significant developments began around 1375
– Kiyotsuga Kan’ami and his son Zeami Motokiyo
as primary figures associated with Noh
Noh Theatre
• Zeami =
– Greatest of Noh dramatists; wrote more than 100
of the 250 plays that still make up active Noh
repertory
– Defined Noh’s goals and conventions
• Plays still performed today, much as they were when
written
• Noh Theatre as a product of the 14th through 16th
centuries
Noh Theatre
• Noh’s development influenced by Zen Buddhist
beliefs:
– Ultimate peace comes through union with all being
– Individual desire must be overcome
– Nothing in earthly life is permanent
•
Plays categorized by principal character into 5 types:
1.
God plays
2.
Warrior plays
3.
Women plays
4.
Madness plays
5.
Demon plays
Noh Theatre
• Scripts:
– Length = short (often shorter than a Western one-act play)
– Do not emphasize storytelling
– Dialogue functions to outline circumstances that lead up to
and culminate in final dance
– Musical dance-drama; most lines sung or intoned
• Performers:
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3 groups: actors, chorus, musicians
Train from childhood; devote 20+ years to perfecting craft
5 hereditary schools since 15th century; family business
Musical dance-drama; most lines sung or intoned
All performers are male
Noh Theatre
• Characters:
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Shite = main character
Waki = secondary character
Kyogen = commoners, peasants, narrators
Kokata = child actors who play children or minor roles
• Chorus:
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6-10 members
Sit at one side of stage throughout performance
Sing or recite many of the shite’s lines
Narrate events
Noh Theatre
• Musicians:
– 2-3 drummers + 1 flute player
– Drummers also vocalize
• Stage Attendants:
– 2 Stage Assistants
• 1 assists musicians
• 1 assists actors with costume changes and props
• Costumes and Masks:
– Shite and companions wear masks of painted wood
– Costumes based on dress of 14th-15th centuries
Noh Theatre
• Stage:
– Roofed, raised stage
– 2 main areas:
• Stage proper = butai
• Bridge = hashigakari
– 4 columns support the roof of the butai
– Bridge used for most entrances/exits
• Miscellaneous:
– Essentially no scenery used
– Few properties used; usually miniature and manipulated by
stage attendant
– Audience views action from 2 sides
The Shrine in the Fields (Nonomiya)
•
Attributed to Zeami
•
3rd category: Woman play
•
Each Noh play set in a specific season: late autumn
•
Climactic moment expressed in dance
•
Stylized language
•
Strives to capture a mood
Noh Theatre
Take a look at the complete text for The
Shrine in the Fields, translated into
English.
These illustrations and animations show
how Noh actors communicate emotion
using masks.
Other Japanese Forms
Bunraku
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Puppets: 3-4 ft. in height
Puppeteers: 3 per puppet, visible to audience
1. Manipulates the head and right arm
2. Manipulates the left arm
3. Manipulates the feet
Narrator:
– Tells the story
– Speaks all dialogue
– Expresses emotion of characters
Musician:
– Samisen = 3-stringed instrument, struck and plucked
– Music accompanies narration
Other Japanese Forms
Kabuki
–
Most popular traditional form
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Origins in 17th century
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Stage = proscenium, 90 ft. wide x 20 ft. high
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Hanamichi = raised gangway that connects stage
to back of auditorium
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Mixture of representational and symbolic scenery
Other Japanese Forms
Kabuki
–
Plays divided into several acts of loosely
connected episodes
–
Mie = stylized pose struck and held by the
principal character for dramatic effect
–
Song and narration used; musical ensemble and
chorus
–
Acting combines stylized speech and dancing
Other Japanese Forms
Kabuki
–
All performers are male
–
Males who specialize in playing female roles =
onnagata
–
Requires many years of training, often a
hereditary profession
–
No masks, but some bold makeup
Theatre In China
• Performance in China dates back to 1767 BC
• Fully-developed drama began to emerge about 1000 AD
• The most complex literary plays were written during
the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
– Plays with 50 or more acts
– Many plot strands
– The Peony Pavilion, by Tang Xiansu as most admired play
Theatre In China
Beijing Opera
– Hybrid form, evolved from several regions
– Brought to Beijing in 1790 to celebrate emperor’s 80th
birthday
– Theatrical rather than literary form
– Performances made up of series of selections from longer
works
– Emphasis on acrobatic displays
Theatre In China
Traditional Stage
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Open platform
Almost square
Covered by roof
Carpeted floor
Two doors in rear wall
Props/Scenery
– Wooden table
– Several chairs
– Hand props such as a whip
Theatre In China
Conventions
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Onstage assistants to help performers with costumes, props
Audience is expected to ignore the assistants
Musicians in full view of audience
Music plays important part in performance
Costumes
– Lavish and colorful
– 300 standard costume items
Performance Style
– Speech, singing, movement based on rigid conventions
– Codified gestures
– Acrobatics
Wayang Kulit
Indonesian Shadow Puppetry
•
Puppets
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Flat puppets, ranging from 6 inches to 3 feet in size
Made of leather
Cut and perforated to create intricate patterns of light and
shadow on screen
Performances
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Enact sections of great Hindu epics
Single Dalang (puppeteer) manipulates all puppets as well
as voicing dialogue and singing
Gamelan (gong-chime music ensemble) accompanies
Last from 8:30 pm until sunrise
Theatre In Africa
• African performance traditions through the centuries have been
numerous and varied: religious rituals, festivals, ceremonies,
storytelling, celebrations
• Europeans and Americans remained ignorant of African
performance traditions until the 20th century
• When Europeans took control of most of the African continent,
they brought their own ideas about theatre and tried to establish
them
colonialist heritage + indigenous forms
= wide spectrum of performance
Theatre In Africa
• Indigenous Performance
– Words are often the least important element
– Primary “languages” of performance = drumming
and dance
– Use of visual imagery, symbolism, gesture, mask,
costume
– Direct audience participation expected: clapping
in rhythm, singing refrains, repeating phrases,
making comments
Performance In Nigeria
Nigeria:
– Over 250 different ethnic groups
• Most populous = Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo, Fulani
• egungen
• Yoruba festival
• Sacrifices offered and petitions for blessings
addressed to the dead
• A carrier gathers the accumulated evil of the
community and carries it away in a canoe
Performance In Nigeria
• Yoruba opera/ Yoruba Traveling Theatre
– Most popular contemporary theatrical form
– Developed primarily by Hubert Ogunde, who
established professional company in 1946
– Structure of opera:
• Opening glee = rousing musical number
• Topical and satirical story with dialogue, songs,
dances
• Another glee
Performance In Nigeria
• Yoruba opera
– Emphasis on entertainment
– Clear moral message
– By 1981 = 120 Yoruba opera companies
– Decline in form due to television, film, video
• English-language plays
– Became popular around 1900
– Flourished after 1960, when Nigeria was granted
independence
Performance In Nigeria
• Wole Soyinka
– Dominant playwright since 1986
– Won Nobel Prize for Literature
– The Strong Breed
South Africa
• Indigenous peoples include: Khoisans, Zulus, Basutos,
Xhosas, and others
• Europeans began to immigrate to South Africa during
the 17th century, and went on to try to control the area
• Apartheid = law requiring separate white and nonwhite residential areas
• Most famous playwright = Athol Fugard
– Master Harold and the Boys
North Africa
• Well-known as active area for theatrical
entertainments in Hellenistic and Roman eras
• After 1870, European-style productions with
singing and dancing began, with all roles
played by men
• Tawfig as-Hakim (1898-1931) one of the most
important Egyptian dramatists of early 20th
century
– Sleepers in the Cave