The Classical Theatre of China

The Classical Theatre of China

Author: A.C. Scott

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-11-05

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1136575812

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First published in 1957. Besides tracing the history and development of the Peking Theatre, this volume explains acting techniques, stage costume and symbolism, musical forms and the various types of plays.


Chinese Traditional Theatre and Male Dan

Chinese Traditional Theatre and Male Dan

Author: Guo Chao

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-01-31

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1000538966

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This book examines male dan, a male actor who performs female roles in Chinese theatre. Through the rise, fall and tenuous survival of male dan in Chinese history, Guo Chao reflects the transformations in the social zeitgeist in China, especially the politics of gender and sexuality. The breadth of this study reflects a diversified set of sources, ranging from classical to contemporary texts (texts of jingju plays, memoirs, collections of notation books) and other commentaries and critical evaluations of dan actors (in both English and Chinese languages) to video and audio materials, films and personal interviews. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of East Asian/Chinese studies across the fields of theatre, history, culture and literature.


Women in Traditional Chinese Theater

Women in Traditional Chinese Theater

Author: Qian Ma

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2012-08-17

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 1461693950

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Women in Traditional Chinese Theatre seeks to introduce Western readers to Chinese classical drama as well as investigate how women have traditionally been portrayed on stage by presenting original translations of six plays from the fourteenth to twentieth centuries. Framed with a comprehensive introduction to the Chinese theatre and its representation of women, each play is preceded by an interpretative summary of the plot, and an analysis of each play's theme and significance. The selections in this volume feature women representing the most popular female archetypes in Chinese literature: the paragon of virtue, the stoic sufferer, the faithful wife, the femme fatal, and others. Appealing to both scholars and general enthusiasts of theatre, literature, and women's studies, this book reveals how the cultural constructs of Chinese women are represented in dramatic literature, and how the theatre, in turn, shapes this representation into the cultural perception of women.


Worldly Stage

Worldly Stage

Author: Sophie Volpp

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-03-23

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13: 168417435X

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"In seventeenth-century China, as formerly disparate social spheres grew closer, the theater began to occupy an important ideological niche among traditional cultural elites, and notions of performance and spectatorship came to animate diverse aspects of literati cultural production. In this study of late-imperial Chinese theater, Sophie Volpp offers fresh readings of major texts such as Tang Xianzu’s Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting) and Kong Shangren’s Peach Blossom Fan (Taohua shan), and unveils lesser-known materials such as Wang Jide’s play The Male Queen (Nan wanghou). In doing so, Volpp sheds new light on the capacity of seventeenth-century drama to comment on the cultural politics of the age. Worldly Stage arrives at a conception of theatricality particular to the classical Chinese theater and informed by historical stage practices. The transience of worldly phenomena and the vanity of reputation had long informed the Chinese conception of theatricality. But in the seventeenth century, these notions acquired a new verbalization, as theatrical models of spectatorship were now applied to the contemporary urban social spectacle in which the theater itself was deeply implicated."


Performing Hybridity in Colonial-Modern China

Performing Hybridity in Colonial-Modern China

Author: S. Liu

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2013-03-20

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1137306114

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In Shanghai in the early twentieth century, a hybrid theatrical form, wenmingxi, emerged that was based on Western spoken theatre, classical Chinese theatre, and a Japanese hybrid form known as shinpa. This book places it in the context of its hybridized literary and performance elements, giving it a definitive place in modern Chinese theatre.


Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre

Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre

Author: Siyuan Liu

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-02-05

Total Pages: 603

ISBN-13: 1317278860

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Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre is an advanced level reference guide which surveys the rich and diverse traditions of classical and contemporary performing arts in Asia, showcasing significant scholarship in recent years. An international team of over 50 contributors provide authoritative overviews on a variety of topics across Asia, including dance, music, puppetry, make-up and costume, architecture, colonialism, modernity, gender, musicals, and intercultural Shakespeare. This volume is divided into four sections covering: Representative Theatrical Traditions in Asia. Cross-Regional Aspects of Classical and Folk Theatres. Modern and Contemporary Theatres in Asian Countries. Modernity, Gender Performance, Intercultural and Musical Theatre in Asia. Offering a cutting edge overview of Asian theatre and performance, the Handbook is an invaluable resource for academics, researchers and students studying this ever-evolving field.


Chinese Theatre

Chinese Theatre

Author: Jin Fu

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-03-09

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 0521186668

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Chinese opera has a history of over 800 years. However, since the early twentieth century, following increased contact with the West, drama without music has also become popular in China. The development and prosperity of modern drama has created a new landscape for Chinese theater, which, as a whole, has become more diverse.


Classical Dance and Theatre in South-East Asia

Classical Dance and Theatre in South-East Asia

Author: Jukka O. Miettinen

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13:

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This lavishly illustrated book provides an introduction to the richtraditions of South-East Asian dance, theatre and puppet theatre. It focusesmainly on classical traditions which are still performed and separate sectionsare devoted to Burma, Thailand, Java, Bali, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos.Chinese theatre in the region and the Chinese-influenced theatre of Vietnam arealso discussed.


Snow In Midsummer

Snow In Midsummer

Author: Guan Hanquing

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2017-05-04

Total Pages: 121

ISBN-13: 135004279X

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Men in this town were born with mouths that can right wrongs with a few words. Why are you too timid to speak? As she is about to be executed for a murder she didn't commit, young widow Dou Yi vows that, if she is innocent, snow will fall in midsummer and a catastrophic drought will strike. Three years later, a businesswoman visits the parched, locust-plagued town to take over an ailing factory. When her young daughter is tormented by an angry ghost, the new factory owner must expose the injustices Dou Yi suffered before the curse destroys every living thing. A contemporary re-imagining by acclaimed playwright Frances-Ya Chu Cowhig of one of the most famous classical Chinese dramas, which breathes new life into this ancient story, haunted by centuries of retelling. The world premiere of Snow in Midsummer on 23 February 2017 at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon, launched the RSC's Chinese Translations Project, a cultural exchange bringing Chinese classics to a contemporary Western audience.