How to classify the characters in the opera

Chinese opera characters in the line classification, according to the traditional custom, there are "Sheng, Dan, Jing, Chou" and "Sheng, Dan, Jing, the end of the clown" two line method, since modern times, because many types of "end" line has been gradually subsumed into the "Sheng" line, usually "Sheng, Dan, Jing, Chou" as the four basic types of line. In recent times, because many types of "end" lines have been gradually subsumed into the "Sheng" line, usually "Sheng, Dan, Jing, Chou" as the line of the four basic types. Each line has a number of branches, each with its own basic fixed characters and performance characteristics. Among them, "Dan" is a generic term for female roles; "Sheng", "Jing", and the two lines are male roles; "Chou" is the most important role in the opera. line in addition to sometimes also play the ugly Dan and the old Dan, mostly male roles.

Sheng: male small Sheng Lao Sheng Wu Sheng

Dan: female Hua Dan 刀马旦 老旦青衣

Net: flower face

末:老年男

丑:丑角文丑 武丑

Generally speaking, "Sheng", Dan" make-up, is slightly powder to achieve the effect of beautification, this make-up is called "Jun dress", also known as "face" or "clean face". This kind of make-up is called "Junzheng", also called "Suifen" or "Clean Face". Its characteristic is "one face for a thousand people", which means that the facial make-up of all the roles in the line of "Sheng" is more or less the same, no matter how many characters there are, they are all the same face in terms of facial make-up; the facial make-up of the roles in the line of "Dan" is also the same, no matter how many characters there are, they are all the same face in terms of facial make-up. No matter how many characters, the facial make-up of all the characters in the "Dan" line is the same; the facial make-up of all the characters in the "Dan" line is the same. "Sheng", "Dan" character personality mainly rely on performance and clothing and other aspects of performance.

Face makeup, is used for "net", "ugly" line of various characters, with exaggerated strong colors and changing lines to change the actor's original face, and "face" of the "raw". This contrasts with the "plain" make-up of "Sheng" and "Dan". The hook face of "Pure" and "Ugly" roles is set up for each person, one person, one spectrum, although it is composed of programmed spectrums, but it is a kind of character makeup, which directly expresses the character's personality, how many "Pure" and "Ugly" roles are there? How many "pure" and "ugly" roles there are in the spectrum, not the same. Therefore, the features of the face makeup is "ever-changing".

"Net", commonly known as the flower face. With a variety of colors outlined in the patterned face makeup as a prominent symbol, the performance is in the character temperament rough, Qiwei, heroic characters. This kind of characters in the performance to sound broad and bright, singing thick and thick, action modeling line thick and staccato sharp, "color block" large, wide open and closed, magnificent. Such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Cao Cao, Bao Zheng, Lian Po, etc. is the net play.

Net line characters according to identity, character and its artistic and technical characteristics of the different, largely can be divided into the net (commonly known as the big flower face), vice net (commonly known as the two flower face), martial arts net (commonly known as martial arts two flowers). Among the sub-pure, there are the rack flower face and the two flower face. The ugly ones are commonly known as the small flower face or three flower face.

Zheng Jie (Big Flower Face), with a focus on singing. It is also known as the bronze hammer flower face or black head flower face in Beijing Opera, and most of the characters are court officials, so it is characterized by its grandeur.

The deputy jing (also known as the second flower face) can be divided into the frame flower face and the second flower face. The frame flower face, to do the main work, heavy body action, mostly play the bold and courageous positive characters, such as Lu Zhishen, Zhang Fei, Li Kui, etc. There is also a negative character, Zhang Fei, Li Kui, and so on. There are also those who play antagonists, such as Cao Cao in Peking Opera, and so on. In most of the other types of opera, they are not called "rack flower face", and some of them are called "straw shoe flower face", such as Szechuan Opera and Hunan Opera. The second flower face is also a kind of frame flower face, the play is relatively small, the performance is sometimes close to the ugly, such as "Famen Temple" in the Liu Biao, and so on.

Wu Jing (Wu Erhua), divided into two categories: heavy handle work frame and heavy fall Park wrestling. Heavy handle work frame class played characters such as "Golden Beach" Yang Qilang, "Siping Mountain" Li Yuanba and so on. The heavy fall and plain wrestling category is also called wrestling flower face. Such as "picking the cart" in the cattle Gaogao for the frame flower face, Jin Wuzhu for the martial arts flower face, Jin Wuzhu's generals black wind Li for the wrestling flower face.

"Ugly" (small flower face or three flower face), is a comedy role, in the nose bridge between the eye sockets sketch face, more to play a comical and amusing characters. In general, the performance does not emphasize singing, and the main focus is on the clarity and fluency of the recitation. Can be divided into two major branches of the clowns and clowns.

The classification of characters in the opera line, in the various types of theater is not quite the same, the above classification is mainly based on the classification of the Beijing Opera as a reference, because the Beijing Opera blends the essence of many types of theater, on behalf of the majority of the general law of the play, but this can only be a general classification. But this is only a general categorization. Specifically for each type of opera, the names and divisions are much more complicated.

The last line plays men of middle age or older. In the northern opera, the end of the "end of mud" or "end of Nisei", referring to the end of the positive angle, and the Song and Yuan opera called "raw" the same, and the "end of the The meaning of the term "end" is different from that of the term "raw". Song and Yuan southern opera called the "end" is "vice end", in addition to serving as a platform, the introduction of the plot outline and the theme of the play opening, but also in the play play play a low social status of the secondary characters. Kun Opera "end" line is following the development of the Song and Yuan South Opera footage system, according to the way of South Kun, including the old man, deputy end, the old foreigners of the three families, about the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the initial stereotypes.

Source

Ancient Indian Sanskrit drama performance roles **** divided into five kinds: 1) male protagonist, the Sanskrit translation of the apprehended Yega. 2) female protagonist, the Sanskrit translation of the apprehended Yega. 3) clowns class male supporting role, the Sanskrit translation of Vidushaiga, this kind of roles are often dressed up as Brahmins, mostly the master's helpers, specializing in the gags in common language. 4) male supporting role of the servant class, the Sanskrit translation of Vishuddha. 5) maid class male supporting role, the translation of the Vishuddha. 6) the role of the servant class, the Sanskrit translation of the Vishuddha. 7) the role of the servant class, the Sanskrit translation of the Vishuddha. (5) The female supporting roles of the maids of honor, which is translated as Duta in Sanskrit. Not coincidentally, the Yuan Xia Tingzhi in the "Qinglou set" on the role of China's Song and Jin miscellaneous theater book clearly pointed out that: "the theater book began to make, where five people: one said that the deputy net ...... one said that the deputy end of ...... one said that the introduction of the play ...... a said the end of the mud, a said loaded lone ...... miscellaneous plays have Dan, the end. Dan this woman for the, name makeup Dan color; the end of this man for the, name the end of Ni." Yuan Tao Zongyi in the "Dropout Record" in the Song and Jin miscellaneous theater in the five roles and performances known as "five flowers Cuan弄". Although it is still difficult for us to have sufficient historical data to conclude that the five roles in ancient Indian Sanskrit dramas are the same as the "Five Flowers and Cuan Lane" in the Song and Jin operas, the roles of Appa Yega, Appa Yega, Vidusha Yega and Vidha in ancient Indian Sanskrit dramas are the same as those of the Sheng (Zhengyiwei), Dan (Zhendan), Jingsheng (Zhou), and Mou (末), etc., in the Chinese classical opera in terms of the characteristics and performance functions of the roles. The characters of Sheng (Zhengwei), Dan (Zhengdan), Jing (Chou) and Mei (末)in Chinese classical opera are almost the same in terms of their characteristics and performance functions. Moreover, the source of the two roles of the classical Chinese opera, Dan and the ancient Indian theater associated with some sister art forms have undoubtedly difficult to understand the relationship.

Dan, as a performer's title is found in the Western Han Dynasty in Huan Kuan's "Salt and Iron Theory" in the sentence "strange insect Huda". "Huda", that is, the hu of da, which initially explains the origin of "da". Dada, from the female side, indicating its gender characteristics. In ancient times, "da" was also known as "犭旦". For example, Zhu Quan's "Taihe Zhengyin谱" said in his interpretation of "引戏": "引戏，院本中狚 also." So, as one of the main roles in the Song and Jin operas in China, what is the relationship between "引戏" and "狚" (or Da)? For the origin of "lead play", the sage Wang Guowei pointed out in the "Ancient Drama Footage Examination": "However, the head of the play, lead play, in fact, for the ancient dance of the head of the dance, lead dance." Visible "lead play" by "lead dance" from the ancient "lead dance", similar to the current lead dance, is the dance on the field to play a command, guide the role of the actor. Inspection of Sanskrit is not difficult to find, there are many words associated with the dance in Sanskrit, the main sound of the word part of the Hanyu Pinyin "Dan" pinyin is very similar. The Chinese pinyin of "Dan" is Dan, and the Sanskrit word Tandava refers to dance in general, which is translated into Chinese as "Dandoba". It is assumed that, after the introduction of Sanskrit into China, people at that time may be using the Sanskrit word Tandave in the dance of the main sound of Tan's transliteration of "Dan" to call the Song and Jin dynasty miscellaneous plays in the theater of the role of the "introduction of the play" for the " Dan". Because "lead play" and "lead dance" quite the same performance function, "lead dance" and mostly played by women, so there is also "da Dada". Zhang Geng, Mr. Guo Hancheng has also pointed out: "As for the 'positive Dan' a color, is derived from the House in the introduction of the play and makeup Dan color."

Similarly, the male character in the Song and Yuan Yuan opera books is called "Mou" (or "Mou Nai"), which is also related to the Sanskrit language. In this regard, Mr. Huang Tianji pointed out through detailed evidence: "the end, in fact, is the head of the play", "and the introduction of the play and the introduction of the same relationship between the dance, 'play head' is also the end of the Tang dynasty in the court song and dance dance of the head of the relics of the dance ". It can be seen that Mou (or Mou Mud) developed from the original "opera head". Similar to the performance function of "lead dance", "theater head" also plays a commanding and guiding role in the performance of Song and Jin operas. However, the specific function of the "play leader" was not to lead the dance, but to sing or shout slogans, i.e., to lead with songs or recitations. Therefore, the Song Wu Zimu in the "Dream Liang Record" said: "and said that the miscellaneous plays to the end of the mud for the long ...... end of the mud color advocate, citing the play color to pay ...... the so-called " Advocacy", is now referred to as the host. The end (or the end of the mud) of this performance function, Mr. Huang Tianji has also pointed out: "in the Song miscellaneous drama performance, the end of the first appearance 'pick up', which is probably equal to the 'claim', and to read the white, gagging, the most important thing is to sing! ...... Singing is a skill that Mou has to be well versed in." The performance of the end of the singing or chanting-based, and the Sanskrit and singing and chanting similar to the meaning of the word "shouting" ma the Chinese translation of the pronunciation of the word happens to be "end". Like the origin of the title "Dan", after the introduction of the Sanskrit language into China, people may be based on the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit word "shout" ma "end" to call the male actors in the Song and Jin operas who sang and recited as the main performance function as "Mou". The male actors in the Song and Jin operas, whose main function was chanting, were called "Mou".

Mou The Mou line plays men of middle age or older, mostly with beards. It is also subdivided into Lao Sheng, Mou, and Lao Wai.

Lao Sheng: middle-aged men whose roles are mainly frontal.

The end: generally play a smaller role than the same play, the role of the old man in the middle-aged men. In traditional Kun Opera, the first performance of the entire saga is usually opened by the vice-master reciting the words of the song.

The foreigner: the role of the old man is mostly played by an old man, who plays a wide range of subjects, from court officials to servants.

The raw Dan clean end ugly and Qiong Opera line system:

Opera line, also known as opera footage, is a unique performance system of Chinese opera. Due to the programmatic nature of Chinese opera, it deliberately categorizes characters into several types, such as Sheng, Dan, Jie, Zhen, Mian, Zhan and Chou, when it expresses the life of the opera. The essence of the line of the opera is a systematic artistic exaggeration of the content of life, reflecting the unique aesthetic interest of our nation's theater. The programatization of the line of work not only typifies the character of the drama, but also programs the performance skills. In the opera line, sent is the people for the character, age, status, status, character, temperament and other understanding of the playwright as well as people's aesthetic evaluation of the playwright.

The establishment of the opera line system, is in the Song and Yuan South Opera, due to the development of the performing arts, in the past specializing in comical and jocular vice net vice end of the opera protagonist, at this time to give way to Dan, so that the positive characters to become the main body of the performance on the stage of the opera. However, it was only in the prosperity and evolution of Yiyangqiang that the art of opera's lineage became fully differentiated. At this time, not only were the roles classified strictly according to the character's personality type, but there were also a number of branches in each role type. It is in the long-term practice of theater performance, the opera chose and determine the line system.

If you count from the doll play, the history of Qiong Opera can be pushed back to at least the Yuan Dynasty, when the "hand-held wooden class singing". However, the influence of Qiong Opera is not only puppet theater, but also Song and Yuan operas. Many old artists of Qiong Opera believe that the line system of Qiong Opera came from the Southern Opera according to the saying passed down from generation to generation. They believe that not only the early Qiongju Opera line is the same as the ancient Liyuan Opera, but also the present Qiongju Opera line is inextricably linked with the Southern Opera. Early Qiong Opera's line is mainly four major categories, the development of the end of the Qing Dynasty, the formation of the five pillars of the line of the ShengDanJingDanZhouZhou system near. Since then, due to the influence of Beijing Opera and Cantonese Opera, Qiong Opera's line system has developed more comprehensive and perfect.

There are three views on the classification of Qiong Opera. The first point of view to Hainan Province Qiong Theater "Qiong Opera Overview" article as a representative, that Qiong Opera can be divided into six categories: "Qiong Opera line supporting complete, reasonable division of labor. It is divided into six pillars: Sheng, Dan, Pure, End, Chou, and Miscellaneous." The second point of view also believes that Qiong Opera's line system is divided into six categories, but believes that these six lines are Sheng, Dan, miscellaneous foot peanuts, Pure, Su Sheng, and Granny foot. The third point of view to Haikou Qiong Theater Troupe "the origin of Qiong Opera" article as a representative of the Qiong Opera line can be divided into five categories: "divided into the raw, Dan, net, end, ugly, each line has a rich art of singing and doing."

For the above three views, we believe that the first two views are too comprehensive and complicated. The first division of the pursuit of variety, but not in line with the reality of Qiong Opera. In particular, the miscellaneous line, in the Yuan, Ming and Qing operas, is only a mass role, and in today's Cantonese opera is similar to the Peking Opera's Erhuafang, which is actually a branch of the net, and it is very difficult to delineate with the net. The second viewpoint is based on the reality of Qiong Opera's lineage as much as possible, but it is too detailed and cannot be harmonized with the current lineage system of Chinese opera. In particular, the terms "sousheng" (须生), "miscellaneous feet" (杂脚), "peanut" (花生), and "granny feet" (婆脚), etc., are entirely Hainanese foot titles. In comparison, we believe that the third view is preferable. That is to say, the Qiong Opera line is the main body of Sheng, Dan by the Sheng, Dan, net, the end, ugly five categories of the line system in each line, can be further subdivided into a number of categories of footwear. Due to the complexity and diversity of the origin of Qiong Opera, according to the different characteristics of the origin and performance, Qiong Opera is further divided into two systems: the literary and the martial arts. Therefore, in each line, it can be further divided into cultural and martial arts, so that in each line of Qiong Opera, there are two teams of cultural and martial arts.

In the Dan line, there are Qingyi (Zhengdan), Huashiang, Hua Dan, Dao Ma Dan, Wu Dan and Lao Dan.

Qingyi

The most important category in the Dan line is Qingyi. Qingyi has another name, Zhengdan, and is generally a dignified, serious, and decent character. Most of them are good wives and mothers, or chaste women of the old society and other characters. Age is generally from young to middle-aged, Qingyi performance is characterized by singing work, movement range is relatively small, the action is more stable. Read white are read rhyming white, generally do not read Beijing white, and singing is quite heavy. From the clothing point of view, Qingyi wear green pleats for more, so another name for the green shirt, referred to as the shirt.

The performance of Qingyi is characterized by singing, small movements and steady action. Such as the "White Snake" in the last fold of the "Ritual Pagoda", "two into the Palace" in the Li Yanfei, "Three Maidens" in the Wang Chun'e, "Spring and Autumn Match" in the Jiang QiuLian, "He after scolding the temple" in the He Hou, "Red Mane Horse" in the Wang Baochuan, "Three Maidens" in the Wang Chun'e, "Fenhewan" in the Liu Yingchun, "June Snow" in the Dou'e, "Five Dragons Swindle" in the Li Sanniang, "Dabao" in the Li Yanfei, "guillotine" in Qin Xianglian, "beauty case". Qin Xianglian in The Case of Beauty, Zhao Yanrong in The Cosmic Front, Sun Shangxiang in Farewell Palace - Sacrifice to the River, Jiang Qiulian in Spring and Autumn, Song Qiaojiao in The Temple of the Law, and the Raccoon Lady in The Tale of Raccoon Sage, and so on.

Hua Dan

The second major category of the Dan line is called Hua Dan. In terms of costumes, they all wear skirts and dresses. Even the long dresses are embroidered with brightly colored patterns. In terms of age, they all play young women. For example, Hongniang in "Hongniang", Pingxin in "Playing Cherries", Chunlan in "Flower Field Mistake", Chuncao in "Chuncao Breaking Into the Hall", Jin Yunu in "Red Luan Jubilee", Di Yunluan in "Delightful Fate", Sun Yujiao in "Pick up the Jade Bracelet", Liu Yulian in "Cabinet of Margins", Cheng Xue'e in "Phoenix Returns to the Nest", Tang Huixian in "Phoenix in the Hairpin", Su Yulian in "Plum Yuhua Matching", and Chen Xingyuan in "Two Plums". In terms of performance, the Hua Dan is mainly based on workmanship and speech. The characters are generally more lively and cheerful, and their movements are quicker and more eloquent. Hua Dan can be categorized as a girl door Dan, play door Dan, spicy Dan, assassination Dan.

Flower Shirt

The Flower Shirt is an important line in the Peking Opera Dan line, which is a kind of Dan line that combines singing, reciting, acting, and fighting, that is to say, she concentrates on the solemnity of the Qing Yi, the vivaciousness and cheerfulness of the Flower Dan, and the martial arts work of the Wu Dan. In early Peking Opera, there were only Qingyi and Hua Dan, not Hua Shirt. The founder of the Flower Shirt was Wang Yaoqing. His creation of the Hua-Shirt line, which included singing, reciting, acting, and fighting, together with the later emergence of the Four Famous Dancers ╠Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Shang Xiaoyun, and Xun Huisheng, took the art of Peking Opera Dan line performance a step forward. The famous opera of the Dan line includes Mei Lanfang's The Drunkenness of the Concubine, Farewell My Concubine, Lian Jinfeng, Mulan, Taizhen Gaidian, Xi Shi, Fan Jiang Guan (as Xue Jinlian), The God of Luo, The Heavenly Maiden Scatters Flowers and Mu Guiying Takes Command, etc. Cheng Yanqiu's Legend of the Red Whiskers, Shen Yunying, Jasper Hairpin, The Rod of the Fascinating Streams, Earn Wenjuan, Concubine Mei, Fate of Flowering Animals and Yingtai Against Marriage. Yingtai's Resistance to Marriage, etc.; Shang Xiaoyun's Xie Xiao'e, Qiankun Fushou Mirror, Han Mingfei, Lin Siniang, Mo Dai, and Modenga Nu, etc.; and Xun Huisheng's Xiangluo Belt, Huo Xiaoyu, Du Shuniang, The Book of the Thorny Hairpin, The Palace of Fish Algae, and The Red Mansion of the Two Elegant Ladies.

Lao Dan

Lao Dan is a character who plays the role of an elderly woman. The performance of Lao Dan is characterized by the use of the original voice for singing and reciting, and the use of the real voice, but it is not as straight and strong as Lao Sheng's, and should be as graceful and meandering as Qing Yi's. The character of Kang in "Fishing for the Golden Turtle" is a character who plays the role of an elderly woman. The Kang's of "Fishing for Golden Turtle", Wu Miaozhen of "Chisang Town", Dou Taizhen of "Looking at the Children's House", and Li Hou of "Encountering the Empress" and "Playing the Dragon's Robe" belong to the Singing Old Dan, specializing in the singing; and the He's of "Pavilion of Clear Breeze", Cui's Old Lady in "The Story of the Western Wing", and Li's Mother in "Li Kui Visits His Mother" are all part of the Singing Old Dan.

Wudan

Wudan is a female character who performs martial arts, and can be divided into two categories. One is the short beat Wudan, wearing short clothes, this kind of Wudan, usually not riding a horse, focusing on martial arts, focusing on the white. There is also a special kind of skill, which is to hit out of hand. For example, Yang Paifeng in "Playing Jiaozan", Jellyfish in "Sizhou City", Sun Erniang in "Playing Shop", White Rat Spirit in "Bottomless Pit", Zhang Si Sister in "Money Tree", and Shopkeeper's Wife in "Three Forks", and so on.

Sword and Horse Dan

A class of long leaning Wudan, that is, the women also put on a big leaning, top helmet and armor. Such a role, usually on horseback, holding a relatively small-sized knife, so there is a special term called knife horse Dan. Dagger horse Dan and Wu Dan also have some differences. On the one hand, the knife horse Dan must have very good martial arts, but also have to be good at work, and sometimes say white, work frame are very important. Knife horse Dan's plays, there are "Mu Ke Zhai", "Mu Tian Wang", "broken Hongzhou" in the Mu Guiying, "She Tang Guan" in the She Saihua, as well as "Chessboard Mountain" in the Dou Xiantong, "Three Hugh Fan Lihua" in the Fan Lihua, "Pearl Flaming Banner" in the Shuangyang Princess, "Hu Jiazhuang" in the Husanniang, and so on.

Color Dan

Color Dan, commonly known as the ugly woman, is a comedic role that is mainly performed with comical and witty performances, with exaggerated performances and make-up. Some of these roles are used to satirize stupid and smart people, such as Cheng Xueyan, the eldest sister in "Phoenix Returns the Nest" and Dong Shi in "Xi Shi". Some of them denote women with bright, rough and bold character, such as Flower Woman in Stringing Dragon Pearls, Wan in Four Scholarships, and Chen Xiuying's mother in Iron Bow Rim, etc. Some of them also portray funny and witty artistic images, such as Liu Matchmaker in Gathering Jade Bracelets.