Are the concepts of theater and opera equivalent?

Theater Knowledge

Definition of Drama:

"There are two kinds of flowers, each with its own branch". Let's talk about Chinese drama in terms of "contemporary drama" and "classical drama".

Drama is a literary genre alongside poetry, prose and novels, and is a comprehensive stage art that uses literature, music, dance, art and other artistic means to shape the image of stage art, reveal social conflicts and reflect real life.

Definition of key points:

1, we say "drama" actually refers to the script (dramatic literature)

2, in the West, theater, that is, drama. In China, theater is a general term for opera, drama, opera, etc., and often refers exclusively to drama.

Theater classification:

(1), the different forms of expression: drama, opera ("White Hair Girl", "Madame Butterfly"), dance drama ("Red Detachment of Women," "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty"), poetry, opera

(2), the plot of the complexity and structure of the different: multi-act plays, one-act plays

Scripts are usually written with the words "Act" and "scene" to indicate the passage and plot. "Act" refers to a large paragraph of the development of the plot. "A scene" can be divided into several scenes, "a" refers to a scene in a spatial change or time apart from the plot. Scripts are generally not too long, not too many characters, and not too many scene changes. The best way to adapt a short textbook play for beginners is to write it as a short one-act play.

(3), the subject matter reflects the different times: historical drama, modern drama

(4), from the plot theme of the different; tragedy, comedy, positive drama (tragic comedy).

(5), different from the regional color: Beijing Opera (Beijing), Shanghai Opera (Shanghai)), Henan Opera (Henan), Lv Opera (Shandong Jiangsu), Sichuan Opera, Han Opera (Hubei), Chu Opera (Hubei Jiangxi), Jin Opera (Shanxi), Huangmei Opera (Zhejiang) and so on

(6), the different occasions for performance: stage plays, radio dramas, television dramas and so on

Three, the characteristics of the drama:

(1), the script must be suitable for stage performance. Theater itself will not be limited by time and space (one act to another act, one scene to another, maybe a decade and twenty years, an actor on the stage to turn around, it can be said that he came from Fuzhou to Beijing, he put the sword on the stage, it can also be said that he commanded a thousand troops, although we watch nothing.) So performances can be limited by time and space. Concentrating big things that happen in different places and over longer periods of time on a limited stage and in a performance of two or three hours.

(2) There must be a concentrated and sharp conflict (dramatic conflict).

Theater is a reflection of real-life conflicts, "no conflict there is no drama." Conflict it has a certain development process, this process constitutes the plot structure of the play, therefore, the plot structure of the play can be divided into: (Prologue) Beginning - Development - Climax - Climax -Ending (epilogue)

A. What is dramatic conflict?

The conflicts between characters, between characters themselves and between people and the environment shown in a play, which are mainly reflected in the clashes of ideological character of the characters in the play. (Let the students give various examples from the plays they have studied.)

Character conflicts, in turn, vary according to the characters' personalities, identities, statuses, and cultural training, and their knowledge of and attitudes toward society, creating a variety of conflicts.

B. The connection and difference between dramatic conflicts and social conflicts

Dramatic conflicts reflect social conflicts and are more concentrated, more acute and more intense than social conflicts. They both have a process of occurrence, development, intensification and resolution.

Appreciation of the play, first of all, to understand the play shows the conflict, to see how the conflict is caused by the nature of the conflict, and then figure out the process of conflict development, so as to fully grasp the plot of the play.

(3), the language of the drama, including the language of the characters (distinctive and vivid character conversation. The language and actions of the characters must be in accordance with their respective identities and characteristics) and stage instructions.

"Without sound, even the best play can't come out"

(1), stage instructions: including character sheets, stage art, environment, sound, characters on and off the stage, gestures, movements, expressions of the characters' dialogues, and so on. These instructions play a role in characterization and in promoting and developing the plot of the play. This part of the language requires concise, concise and clear writing. This part of the content generally appears in the beginning of each scene (scene). The end and the middle of the dialog, usually enclosed in brackets (square or round brackets).

(2), the language of the characters: including monologue, narration, dialogue (monologue is a character in the play alone to express their personal feelings and aspirations; narration is a character in the play behind the back of the other playwrights on the stage from the side of the words to the audience. The script is mainly through the lines to promote the development of the plot, character performance) is the main part of the script, its task is to unfold the plot, suggest the character, performance of thematic ideas.

Opera is a traditional art of the Chinese nation. It is a synthesis of various factors of literature, music, dance, fine arts, martial arts, acrobatics and performing arts. It has a long history of origin, in the long process of development, after more than 800 years of continuous enrichment, innovation and development. It is rich in dance and high technicality, which makes it different from other dramas and a complete system of opera art.

According to incomplete statistics, China's various ethnic regions of the opera genre, there are more than 360 kinds of traditional repertoire tens of thousands. After the founding of the People's Republic of China and the emergence of many adapted traditional repertoire, new historical drama and modern theater to express the themes of modern life, are warmly welcomed by the audience. The more popular and famous types of theater are: Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, Yueju Opera, Yu Opera, Xiang Opera, Cantonese Opera, Qinqiang Opera, Sichuan Opera, Paiju Opera, Jin Opera, Han Opera, Teochew Opera, Min Opera, Hebei Opera, Huangmei Opera, Hunan Flower Drum Opera ...... and so on more than fifty types of theater, especially the Peking Opera is the most popular, all over the country, regardless of the area of the limitations. However, in recent years, the development of theater art in China has become weaker and weaker, and has been affected by the impact of the new art. In particular, Hong Kong and Taiwan songs flooded into the mainland, students chasing stars, over-ambitious, but little is known about the artistic treasures of our Chinese nation.

Ancient Chinese theater is called "opera" because it is mainly composed of "play" and "song". Chinese opera mainly includes Song and Yuan southern opera, Yuan and Ming miscellaneous operas, legends and Ming and Qing legends, but also includes the traditional repertoire of modern Beijing opera and other local operas, which is the general name of Chinese national theater culture.

○Modern theater mainly refers to plays, operas, and dance dramas that have been imported from the West since the 20th century, with drama being the mainstay, and foreign drama generally referring exclusively to drama.

Chinese opera has a long history, and it first emerged from songs and dances imitating labor.

(1) Pre-Qin - the budding period of opera. The "Ode" in the Book of Songs and the "Nine Songs" in the Chu Ci are the songs and dances sung at the time of sacrificing to the gods. From the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty, songs and dances to entertain the gods gradually evolved into songs and dances to entertain people. From the Han and Wei Dynasties to the Middle Tang Dynasty, there appeared "Jiao Dai" (i.e., a hundred operas), which mainly focused on competition, "Senjun Opera", which was performed in the form of questions and answers, and "Tap Shake Niang", which played the role of a small story of life, etc. These are the germinal stages. These were all budding dramas.

(2) Tang Dynasty (middle and late) - the formation of opera. After the middle Tang Dynasty, China's theater developed by leaps and bounds, and the art of theater was gradually formed.

(III) Song and Jin dynasties - the development of opera. The Song Dynasty's "miscellaneous operas", the Jin Dynasty's "Yuanben" and the "Zhugong tune" in the form of singing, from music, structure to content, have laid the foundation for the Yuan Dynasty's miscellaneous operas.

(4) Yuan Dynasty - the maturity of the opera. In the Yuan Dynasty, "miscellaneous operas" were greatly developed on the basis of the original, and became a new type of theater. It possessed the basic characteristics of drama, marking the stage of maturity of China's theater.

Yuan miscellaneous drama is on the fertile soil of folk opera, inheritance and development of the previous generation of various literary and artistic achievements, through the workshop, rows of hospitals, actors, musicians and "book club" talent **** with the efforts, and improve and create a comprehensive stage art. In form, Yuan miscellaneous operas with the four major sets of the Northern Quartet arrangement of the storyline, the incoherence, the use of wedges combined to form a book of four folds of a wedge of the usual format (Wang Shifu's "The Western Wing" is unique in the Yuan miscellaneous operas in the long story, *** wrote five twenty-one folds), each fold of a number of tunes with the same palace key to form a suite, and, if necessary, add another "cuneiform Each of these is composed of a suite of several pieces in the same house key, with a "wedge" added when necessary. At the end, the content of the play is summarized in two, four or eight verses, called "title". Each section consists of three parts: the lyrics, the narration (bingbai) and the section (kopan). The lyrics are filled out according to the tune of the tutor's mood, also known as the text, lyrics or lyrics. Its role is to narrate the storyline, characterization. All the words rhyme with the same rhyme. Narration is a kind of artistic means to express the plot or explain the relationship of the characters in the form of speech, which is divided into dialogues (dialogues between the characters), monologues (words in which the characters express their personal feelings and desires alone) and narration (words that the characters say to the audience behind the backs of other people in the play on the stage), and with whiteness (narration inserted in the lyrics), etc. The characters are the movements and expressions. Section is action, expression, etc. A play is usually sung by the end of the main character or the main character, while the other characters have no singing. The main singer is called "Moben", and the main singer is called "Danben".

Footage:

End: male role. In the Yuan dynasty opera, the end is the male protagonist of the play.

Dan: playing female characters. Zheng Dan (the female lead in the play), Xiao Dan, and Wearing Dan.

Jing: commonly known as "flower face", "flower face", most of them play the character or appearance of the male characters have special points. For example, the official (government servant) in "Dou E Grievance" is a net.

Ugly: also known as "three flower face" or "small flower face", mostly play the character of witty characters, there are clowns and martial arts clowns.

Outside: Yuan miscellaneous dramas have outside the end, outside the Dan, outside the net, etc., is the end, Dan, net and other secondary roles in the line. Supervisors - outside the end.

Miscellaneous: also known as "Miscellaneous Dang". The name of the role of the old woman. For example: Cai Granny.

Yuan miscellaneous drama writers, in just a few decades, the creation of at least five or six hundred kinds of scripts, preserved to the present also has more than 150 kinds. These works comprehensively and profoundly reflect the social life of the Yuan Dynasty, and many of them are excellent works that have become our precious cultural heritage. For example, Guan Hanqing's Dou'e Grievance y exposes the dark reality of Yuan Dynasty society by depicting the misery of Dou'e, a kind-hearted and innocent child bride, and reflects the cruel exploitation of loan sharks, extortion and blackmail by ruffians, and favoritism of corrupt officials, as well as praises the strong will of the oppressed who would rather die than give in to the spirit of resistance. Ma Zhiyuan's Autumn in the Han Palace, with the help of historical themes, through the depiction of Wang Zhaojun's dedication to the country, Mao Yanshou's betrayal of the country to save his honor, and the corruption and incompetence of the princes and ministers, mercilessly exposed the national oppression of the Yuan Dynasty, and gave a bitter ridicule to the rulers of the time. Wang Shifu's The Story of the Western Chamber depicts the story of young men and women fighting for marriage autonomy in feudal society. From "stunning", "joint chanting" to "relying on marriage", it fully expresses Cui Yingying's desire for love. However, she was born in a famous family and was subjected to the cultivation and constraints of feudalism, therefore, there are twists and turns and repetitions, such as "making trouble with Jane" and "Lai Jane". In "Listening to the Qin", "Good Day" and "Long Pavilion", she finally embarks on the path of rebellion, adding a strong comedic color to the work. The whole play to fight for marriage autonomy and abide by the "parents' orders" of the conflict as the main line, to Cui Yingying, Zhang Gong and Hongniang three misunderstandings and conflicts as a sub-line, intertwined with each other, rhythmically unfolding, when the tension, when the relaxation, when the movement, when the quiet, when the joy, when the sadness, when the time to get together and when the scattering, free to splash, colorful. Its thematic idea of "May all sentient beings in the world become family members" and its distinctive, lifelike artistic image have a strong artistic charm, which can give people a strong infection and is y loved by the masses.

○Yuanqu Four: Guan Hanqing - "Dou E Grievance"; Zheng Guangzu - "Sinister Souls"; Bai Pu - "Wutong Rain"; Ma Zhiyuan -- "Autumn in the Han Palace";

(5) Ming and Qing Dynasties -- the boom period of opera. When opera reached the Ming Dynasty, legends developed. The predecessor of the Ming Dynasty legend was the Southern Opera of the Song and Yuan Dynasties (Southern Opera is the abbreviation of Nanqu Opera and Wenwen, which is an emerging form of theater developed on the basis of Song Dynasty miscellaneous operas, combined with southern regional tunes. Wenzhou is its birthplace). South opera in the system and the northern miscellaneous plays are different: it is not subject to the limit of four folds, and not subject to the limit of one person singing in the end, there is the opening of the account of the plot, mostly happy endings, the style of most of the more lingering, not as impassioned as the northern miscellaneous plays in the form of a freer, more convenient to express the life. Unfortunately, very few copies of the early Southern Opera have been preserved, and it was not until the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty that the Southern Opera began to flourish, and through the processing and enhancement of the literati, the short operas, which were originally not sufficiently tightly organized, were finally transformed into fairly complete full-length plays. For example, Gao Ming's Pipa Tale is a work of transition from southern opera to legend. The subject matter of this work, from folklore, a more complete performance of a story, and a certain degree of drama, was once known as "the ancestor of the revival of the southern opera". In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there was a large number of legendary writers and plays, among which the most accomplished was Tang Xianzu. He wrote many legendary plays in his life, and The Peony Pavilion is his masterpiece. Through the story of Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei, the work glorifies the spirit of resistance against feudalism, the pursuit of happiness and love, and the demand for individual liberation. The author gives love the power to revive the dead, and it overcomes the bondage of feudalism and achieves the final victory. This was of far-reaching social significance in a society firmly ruled by feudal rites at that time. This play has been published for three hundred years, has been loved by the readers and the audience, until today, "Boudoir", "dream" and other fragments are still active in the stage of the opera performance, radiating its artistic glory.