Differences and similarities between Chinese and Western theater

The differences and similarities between Chinese and Western drama

I. Differences and similarities in artistic concepts:

Westerners divide drama into two categories: "musical" and "non-musical".

Non-musical plays include those that do not use music as a means of expression, such as drama, pantomime and so on.

Musical theater includes grand opera, opera, dance drama, light opera (i.e., cabaret) and so on. It is a general term for all forms of dramatic performance in which vocal singing and instrumental music are used as the main means of expression. In grand opera, there are no spoken or read lines, only singing; opera has a certain amount of spoken lines, with singing as the main focus; dance drama has no literary language performance, only body performance and musical description; light opera is a drama with singing and dancing plus verbal dialog. However, in history, the real representative of the Western music theater art characteristics of the opera and dance drama.

Western opera, "this is a kind of song and instrumental music as the main body, plus dance set lighting and white into the comprehensive art" (see "Dictionary of Music," edited by Wang Peilun, music and language edited by 363 pages Opera [Italian] opera article). It began in the sixteenth century in Florence, Italy, to restore the intellectual class of ancient Greek literature and art, the chorus of Greek tragedy was highly valued. By the seventeenth century in 1637, because of the emergence of specialized opera houses, opera music has been greater development. In the latter part of the seventeenth century, the Italian Napoleonic opera music was further improved: it was expanded to a three-part form, the accompaniment of recitative was strengthened, the "overture" form of Italian opera was established, the organization of the orchestra was perfected (the classical symphony orchestra), and comic opera was advocated, etc. The French attached great importance to the Napoleonic opera, and the chorus in Greek tragedy was highly valued. Napoleon's opera was emphasized by France, which led to the establishment of the Theatre Royal in Paris in 1669, which not only established the form of "overture", but also established the insertion of "ballet" as an important form of expression of opera. To the eighteenth century, the opera in 1774 and a huge reform: Gluck eradicated the "American song" habits, the content of the regurgitation of heavy; Mozart's reform of the success of the comic opera. The status and influence of Western opera was truly established. The current opera, **** composition part contains a prelude, interlude, chorus, sing repetition, solo; main role of the solo, and divided into recitative, lyrical tone, the former is like a recitation, accompaniment is extremely simple, and the latter pouring out feelings, with a strong expressive ability. It is a valuable treasure of human culture in the world.

Chinese opera is a comprehensive art variety integrating literature, music and performance based on the songs and dances of the Tang Dynasty, the Hundred Operas of the Song Dynasty and the Quzi of the Yuan Dynasty. It is an inevitable product that happened on the basis of the development of poetry, lyrics and music in literature. So from the beginning, Chinese opera has been consistent with the development trajectory of music. Chinese opera was formed on the basis of Yuanqu and Nanbei and Beibuqu during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. First came the North-South Opera, followed by the Kunqu Opera of the Kunshan Cavity, and then came the three major systems of opera art, namely, the Quqi Music Opera, which was formed by combining the music of various localities with the music of the Panchong system, and the Panchong System Opera and the Opera of Song and Dance. The Chinese opera series includes Kunqu, Sichuan Opera, Yiyang Opera, etc.; the board cavity system includes two types of opera, one for the reed type of opera, such as the Han Opera, Beijing Opera in the front and back "Erhuang", the front and back "Xipi"; one type of opera includes the clapper type of opera, such as a variety of clapper operas in the country. Song and dance opera, including Yueju Opera, Huangmei Opera, Lantern Opera, etc., is composed of folk songs and music. The art of Chinese opera was constructed in the course of its development and change from a single type of opera in combination with local music and art, from a single type of opera in the form of a quartet to a plate-cavity type of opera as well as a folk song and dance opera. It embodies the important feature that it is closely related to the development of literature and art. From the Kun Opera, to the Chinese Peking Opera, which was developed by combining the leather reed and the clapper, to the large and small local operas, all of them reflect the ****same characteristics that they have, the close combination of music and performance in song and dance. Therefore, Chinese opera is a comprehensive art that combines literature, music, performance, and various arts with the stage.

Because of the above situation, from the Western point of view, Chinese opera and Western opera are the same comprehensive stage art. Therefore, the westerners have called the Beijing Opera "Beijing Opera", Sichuan Opera "Sichuan Opera",, etc. In their eyes, these "Beijing Opera", "Sichuan Opera", "Sichuan Opera", "Sichuan Opera", "Sichuan Opera" and so on. In their eyes, these "Chinese opera" just because the content is different, different performance areas, different music, and these differences, but without losing them all belong to the essence of "opera", that is, it is just musicians and directors can be They thought that it was just a matter of musicians and directors being "free to choose", just like their different operas. They do not understand that all Chinese operas have their own set of musical and linguistic characteristics and laws, which are "impenetrable" to each other. They do not understand this situation of Chinese opera, and therefore, it is impossible to truly recognize the various dramas of Chinese opera.

The above comparison shows that the Western opera focuses only on the artistic form of participation in the performance of the opera, while the Chinese opera not only focuses on the form of participation in the performance of the art, but also focuses on the localization of the performance and the specificity of each place.

At the same time, we should also see that Chinese opera does have the characteristics of "opera" that the western world thinks it has: it is a comprehensive art that combines literature, music, dance, dialog, performance, costumes and lighting. In this sense, it is not wrong for them to call Peking Opera "Beijing Opera", Sichuan Opera "Sichuan Opera" and Yue Opera "Zhejiang Opera". Just because in their concepts, there is no basic concept of Chinese opera and lead to a different context in the "dialog" mistakes.

The similarities and differences in performance methods

From the big and main aspects, the similarities are: the characters in the play mainly rely on the role of singing to express the drama of the occurrence, development and its changes. There is also music to accompany the development of the drama, and music is an important means of depicting the inner workings of the characters. However, relatively speaking, Western opera is mainly completed by orchestral music, while Chinese opera is mainly completed by percussion and the suite of percussion and orchestral music (the status of orchestral music in opera has been emphasized in contemporary times). All of these can be viewed as a specific grasp of the style of theater music. So it can also be regarded as one of the same characteristics as Western opera, that is, in a certain sense, Chinese opera is also a kind of "opera", a kind of music theater.

However, in terms of specific performance methods, Western opera and Chinese opera are very different.

Western opera performances, based on natural life, in addition to the stage orientation designed by the director, the actors are based on their own life experiences to create and design their own movements, and closer to life as its standard of measurement, they just sing the feelings of the characters, even if the role of the molding is completed. As a result, character actors have little need for other artistic means of performance, and even if they do, they utilize them less. As for other methods of expression needed in the theater, they are left to other actors to help accomplish. Therefore, in the eyes of the Orientals, Western opera is "drama with singing".

This is not the case with Chinese opera. In more than 360 Chinese operas, no matter which region they are in, no matter what kind of opera they are, they all pay attention to "line" and "role" in performance. That is to say, there are "Sheng, Dan, Jings, Hou, Chou" in Chinese opera. Each line has its own "singing, reading, doing, playing" different standardized performance actions, not to be confused. Therefore, the actors of Chinese opera, the main energy in their lives, are put into the completion of these lines of "basic skills" requirements above: "summer training three volts, winter training several nine" has become the Chinese opera actors to improve their *** with the slogan. This kind of training includes practicing voice, practicing singing, practicing speaking dialogues, practicing all kinds of martial arts (including the hands and feet that must be used in the performance), practicing forms, practicing steps, practicing appearances, etc. So in China, the training of an opera performer is very important. Therefore, it is more difficult to train an opera singer in China than to train a simple singer, dancer, drama, movie and TV performer, and so on, and herein lies the reason.

In the Western opera, although there are a variety of stage art participation, but for the role of the play, he is relatively simple task is to complete his own role of acting, singing and a certain form, can be performed and portrayed by the character. However, in Chinese opera art, in order to complete the artistic image of the character in the play, the actor must combine the vocal singing, the physical steps, the body, the dance, the performance and other methods into one, in order to be competent and complete. He embodies the fact that Chinese opera is far richer and tougher than Western opera in its methods of performance!

Three, the differences and similarities of performance theory

In the Western world, for the study of the laws of the performing arts, has formed a number of mature theories, which is the famous "Stanislavsky performance system" and "Brecht performance system

Stanislavsky's system of acting" and "Brecht's system of acting" are the two major theoretical schools of research.

Stanislavsky performance system calls itself a realist performance system. It pursues art in the performance, although faithful to their own performance of the object, the actor should be like the role of the character as a real life feelings, performance, shall enter the inner world of the role to feel the drama of the occurrence, development, as the saying goes, is to act what is, is what! Therefore, the actor must experience the role, in-depth life, deep into the inner world of the role. This is the highest state of the system. This is the realist theory of acting. It raises a number of questions about the cultivation of actors, artists engaged in artistic work of self-cultivation, has a certain theoretical significance. To this day, it still has its positive effects. However, in this pursuit of completely real theory, the theater stage on the realistic scene, the phenomenon of props, such as, tanks, cranes and other heavy objects are moved to the stage, resulting in the stage of the bloated and the audience's attention to the drama of the transfer of some of the events that undermine the purpose and effect of art.

The most important feature of Brecht's acting system was his theory of "interstitial effect". He claimed that the actor performs both the character and himself. Therefore, he advocated that in the performance to jump out of the performance of the stage limitations, the separation of the scene, stand out from the audience's point of view to deal with the events of the play and the reaction of the characters. His theory opened up a new situation for the art stage. It made the stage of artistic performance more capable of communicating and dialoguing with the audience. This theory stimulated the emergence of many schools of thought. However, the theater of this theory is often prone to gimmicks and other side effects, triggering criticisms of being "unserious", "unsteady", and "absurd". However, this theory does have a positive impact on inspiring artists to open up their minds and seek new approaches.

Chinese drama, although there is a more in-depth theoretical research, but not systematic, so there is no existing, specialized performance system theory. Only when Mr. Mei Lanfang, the master of Peking Opera, performed abroad, he was favored by Stanislavski and Brecht, the representatives of the two major Western performance systems. They were unanimous in their admiration of Mr. Mei's performances and said that they saw in Mr. Mei's performances the true Oriental-Chinese art which was distinct from the Western art. So far, in some critics' articles appeared "on behalf of the East" of "Mei Lanfang performance system" and the world there are "three major performance system" said. This statement is not rigorous enough. However, it does point out some differences between Chinese opera and Western theories of theatrical performance in terms of the laws and characteristics of performance. Why did both Steinie and Brecht see in Mr. Mei Lanfang's performance the different characteristics of Chinese dramatic art compared with Western art and the advantages that they did not have? This is because Chinese opera has created "program" methods suitable for stage performances in expressing people's lives. These methods are only suitable for the performance of Chinese opera and never suitable for the performance of Western theater. This is due to the following reasons:

1, Chinese opera is a form of theater performance based on the Tang Dynasty's songs and dances, vaudeville and opera performances. This is very different from the foundation of Western theater which was created under the influence of drama and religion.

2, Chinese opera emphasizes a combination of real and imaginary performance methods, which is completely different from the Western art method of focusing on the real. This has led to the use of props in Chinese opera, which emphasizes on resemblance rather than "reality". For example, the boatman in "Autumn River" holds a coping in his hand, but what he promotes is a simple dance performance with no boat and no props. Through the performance of the actors, the audience seems to see the real boat under the helmsman's impetus: forward, left, right, backward, upward and downward sliding up. In the costumes, the three triangular flags on the backs of the officials represent the "three armies" under his command, and when they fight, it is as if there are thousands of armies and horses. Another example, a whip, tied in the actor's hand, when performing, as if leading a tall steed,. All of these fully reflect the Chinese opera in the performance of how rich imagination! And this set of performance programs and methods of Chinese opera can hardly be said to be created and invented by a certain person. It is a collective creation that has gradually accumulated among the Chinese people since the Chinese civilization. At the same time, due to the lightness of the props, the dance of Chinese opera has both the nature of dance and martial arts performance, which makes the dance of Chinese opera reach a kind of extreme. Coupled with the use of the program language of percussion, which is prominent in Chinese opera, the rhythm of performance and dance on the stage becomes so unified and varied that its "wind, clouds, thunder, rain and snow" can be fully expressed from the performance of a few simple musical instruments, which are only found in Chinese opera. These effects can only be realized in the combination of reality and reality in the performance of Chinese opera.

The Chinese opera's view of virtual and real performance is consistent with the Chinese culture's view of oriental philosophy and art. The roots of this congruence in cultural thought can be found in the comparison of the performance theory of the theater with philosophy, painting, and poetry. Therefore, it is not too much to say that the performance theory of Chinese opera has a system. It is just that, because the performance theory of Chinese opera has an earlier, deeper, more distant and more complicated origin, it is necessary for art theorists to summarize it carefully in their further research.

There are three sources of Chinese "opera". One is the form of imitation of Western opera, such as the earliest domestic creation and performance of the play "Qiu Zi", whose method is a complete copy of the Western opera; the second is the prevalence of the "put down your whip" during the war of resistance in the country, and the Yan'an region to create a small opera "brother and sister to open up the land". The second is "Put Down Your Whip", which was popular in China during the war, and the small songs created in Yan'an, such as "Brothers and Sisters Open the Land", "Husband and Wife Learn to Read and Write", and "The White-haired Daughter", which are song and dance performances that were developed from Chinese folk songs; and the third is a group of performances that were developed from local Chinese operas, such as "Xiao Er Hei Marriage Thirdly, there is a group of forms that have evolved from Chinese local operas, such as "Xiao Er He Marriage". Chinese opera after the founding of the People's Republic of China, synthesized the previous three types of forms with Chinese folk songs and Chinese opera flavor of an opera form. After the reform and opening up, the Chinese opera which imitates the western opera's creation and performance method is more and more up. Therefore, although Chinese opera is influenced by Western opera, it is also different from Western opera, and is a form of Chinese opera.

The previous, from the three aspects of the Western opera and Chinese opera made a relatively superficial research comparison. Now, it can be said that Chinese opera has some features similar to western opera, but it is an oriental art which is significantly different from western opera in terms of performance method and performance theory. Therefore, in the garden of world culture and art, "Chinese opera" is indeed a blooming with a variety of colors, a unique cluster of artistic wonders!