What are the formation and characteristics of the "empty stage" form of China traditional stage?

On the formation and characteristics of the "empty stage" form of China traditional stage

Zhou Xiaoya (Department of New Media Art, China Theatre Academy, Beijing 100073)

Based on traditional culture, the dramatic concept of "freehand brushwork stories by singing and dancing", the creative principle of combining reality with reality, the assumption of stage and the stylization of expression means form the unique artistic style of traditional opera, and also determine the rationality and some characteristics of the "empty stage" system of opera stage art.

Keywords: China traditional stage; Empty platform form; Generate; speciality

China traditional opera stage has long been dominated by "empty stage", which is quite different from other drama systems. Judging from the current stage significance, the stage of China Opera is just a bare stage. There is no set and no stage curtain, only the "appearance" and "entry" are hung at the back of the stage, and there is no structure at all. What prompted China traditional opera to choose "empty stage" as the stage form? Judging from the history of the occurrence, formation and development of stage forms. The reason why the "empty platform" system has become the backbone of the stage form of Chinese opera is not determined by a single attack, but the result of the joint action of many factors. The final formation of stage form depends on the relative perfection and formation of drama art and the different social and cultural backgrounds on which its artistic form depends. The emergence and evolution of stage forms also restricted or contributed to the formation of China traditional opera art or stage to some extent. As a form of China traditional culture, China opera art is a model gradually condensed in the long-term historical precipitation, and it is a cultural rule, cultural structure or cultural order formed under the thrust of a specific social, economic and technological foundation, especially a specific humanistic background. According to Gombrich, an art historian, "Drama originated from the reflection of our financial world, not the world itself", the change of stage form we see is the change of itself, the change and choice of the "observation method" of writers, actors or audiences, and it is restricted by its time and the material media adopted. For a long time, China's traditional stage has maintained three kinds of performance plows or venues since it formed a relatively independent art form and performance mode, namely, auditorium performance, religious temple fair performance and commercial theater performance. The performance mode of church meetings with "Lu" as the venue follows the original "stage" form of "pulling the rope to the ground" and "making the venue everywhere", and the word "Lu" has also become synonymous with "stage" or "theater" for a long time. "Wandering" performance areas are generally not equipped with devices. Empty Li swings around, only the accompaniment of music is still behind or around. The actor is entering or leaving the audience in the form of upper left and lower right. This way of performance has made a scientific research on the formation of the stage form and performance character of China traditional opera, as well as the virtual technique of expressing infinite space with nothing in the square inch. Play a very important guiding role. Different from church performances, temple fair performance H: has its double-reed obligation to repay God and entertain the people. It is difficult to meet the requirements of ornamental performances only by "pulling the rope as a pole" The original form of the so-called "stage"-an "empty stage" that is above the ground and can be watched from a distance-began to appear in the performance of offering sacrifices to the gods in temples. In the newly built or rebuilt temple buildings in the Ming Dynasty, the stage was no longer the middle monomer of the temple courtyard, but began to be connected with other buildings. The main hall, galleries and stages on both sides form a complete closed space, forming a closed viewing environment. The transformation from the four-sided stage form to the three-sided stage form has completed a great development of the stage architecture in Zhongwei, which has had a far-reaching impact on the formation and perfection of the field system, structural mode and aesthetic style of China traditional opera art. The rise of commercial theatres in cities, with its stage architectural form of "the stage rises from the downstairs to cover the gallery, and the central stage is ten feet wide", is the perfection of the stage form in China and the development of traditional opera viewing places. Provides the last chance. The "empty" stage form of Maomian concept is a stage experienced by drama performance places all over the world in different periods; In the Qing Dynasty, there was a platform in the middle, a pool in front of the platform, a hall facing the platform, buildings on all sides, protruding on three sides, and a stage form with upper and lower doors behind it, much like the Elizabethan theater in Ying Tao. However, due to the differences in economic base and cultural background, the performance concept and stage form of China's traditional operas are quite different from other drama systems in the world. It is the differences in field system, artistic structure and aesthetic character that highlight the characteristics of the stage form of Ding Opera. Compared with the stage form of western drama, the stage form of China's traditional drama can be said to be very simple, empty and even rough. This is of course related to the natural economic and material conditions of my trapped generation, the social status of the troupe, and the mobile performance mode of rushing to the state and crashing into the government. However, it is the art of traditional Chinese opera itself. Specifically, it is inextricably linked with its performance view of "singing and dancing stories are freehand", its expression forms of "singing and dancing", "virtuality" and "space-time view beyond freedom". The deeper origin is that China traditional opera art was generated and developed under the observation of China traditional culture, philosophy and aesthetics. The stage form of China opera appears in the form of "empty stage". It must be the embodiment of the national concept of time and space and the traditional way of thinking, and the deep agreement between the art of traditional Chinese opera and the traditional social culture of China. An important feature of the traditional stage form of China opera, that is, the high conciseness of the stage environment and the sharp contrast between the ethereal and gorgeous colors of the characters, is precisely because China opera "performs Wan Fang data field by singing and dancing". The existence of the concept of "freehand brushwork by scientific research" makes "human" in traditional Chinese opera art become the central link of artistic creation and aesthetics. However, the contrast between the simplicity and nothingness of the stage space environment and the vivid and exaggerated characters coincides with the artistic ideal of "the coexistence of reality and reality, without painting, it becomes a beauty". Another important feature of China's traditional opera stage form is the openness of stage space, which is unified with China's transcendental and free stage space-time view and virtual stage performance. The biggest difference from the frame stage form after the Western Renaissance is that the stage of China traditional opera is not a plane, but a space, in which the performances are empty and open. This difference is due to the fact that the stage of Chinese space view itself is not as long as the illusion picture, but only provides a free and open stage space or performance place for actors' performances. However, the deeper reason is the influence of China's traditional concept of time and space. The space-time self-transformation of China traditional opera "A Hundred Miles Circus, An Adagio with Five Watches" and the nature of stage movements, that is, the existence of song and dance expressions, objectively determine the characteristics of "emptiness" and "full openness" of traditional opera stage forms. But it is precisely because of its "emptiness", that is, the stipulation of any particular time and space, that the existence of all time and space depends entirely on the actions, movements and singing of actors. This just gives full freedom to the opera performance, so that "the scenery moves with people, and people move with the scenery", a circus and a horse trip, and realizes the transcendental freedom view of time and space and the virtual stage performance of "walking Wan Li Road and crossing Chung Shan Man". China Opera, an "empty" and open stage form, provides the greatest possibility for performers to create and play. Another important artistic feature of the stage form of China opera is its drama. This artistic feature is the direct result of his stage assumption and stylized stage performance. Whether it is China's traditional opera or other drama systems, the artistic expression can never be equal to the original state of real life. The most basic element and expression of China traditional opera or drama is public performance. In other words, if you can play in public, you need a certain venue, that is, the existence of the theater. The nature of the performance and the objective existence of the performance venue itself have shown that it can no longer become a reality, and the performance of the theater is essentially different from real life. However, due to different cultural backgrounds and concepts, different drama systems show great differences in their understanding of drama and the corresponding ways and methods of drama performance. As far as western classical drama is concerned, especially illusionist drama, it pursues illusory truth, which forces Xiao. In the process of performance, it tries to dispel and cover up the existence of the theater, trying to give the audience an illusion by realistic and illusory means, so that they forget that they are sitting in the theater, but they are spying on the reality of other people's family privacy through the hidden fourth wall. Between an actor and his role, between the stage and the material environment of the role, in order to get a zero-distance effect, the highest artistic ideal is to completely lose the distance. For China traditional opera art, drama is its artistic element and the carrier of hypothetical existence or performance on the stage. The realism of Chinese opera is also based on the audience's clear theater consciousness. Perhaps the best illustration of this point is the existence of prosecutors on the traditional Chinese opera stage. Although this point was later criticized, it is hard to see on the modern opera stage. But from a dramatic point of view, the appearance of inspectors is completely logical. Since the stage is an actor's performance place, it is reasonable for the inspector to appear as an actor's assistant. His existence only destroys the stage illusion in western traditional drama. This is similar to the use of "one table and two chairs" and cloth city. Moreover, the exchange of "scenery" with the inspector is more in line with the essence of China traditional opera than the opening and closing of the main act and the second act, which makes the plot development more coherent and the performance rhythm more compact. In the artistic expression form of China traditional opera, the "empty stage" is only a place for performance and a material carrier of artistic expression. It neither tries to create the illusion of Zhou Tong's material environment, nor hides any factors that make the audience aware of the existence of the stage. The tabernacle has nothing to do with the occurrence of the plot and the determination of the region. A table and two chairs are often far from the original meaning in daily life. China traditional opera stage is a place that plays a role from beginning to end, not a copy of the real world. There is a saying in Sichuan Opera that "there is something fishy in the play, and the truth is mixed with half", and Gai Jiaotian once had the experience that acting must be "false, false, false and not beautiful". Both of them clearly clarify the difference and connection between artistic truth and realistic truth. China opera art understands the stage as a place for performance. The theatrical artistic characteristics of traditional Chinese opera directly or inevitably lead to the stylization of stage performance of traditional Chinese opera in performance activities. Because it is directly or indirectly related to the audience's aesthetic perception, as well as the way and content of singing. In traditional Chinese opera performance, the creation, display and appreciation of stage forms are synchronous. Without the stylization of expression forms, the dramatic artistic features of China's traditional operas lose their significance and possibility of existence. Because the stage program is a conventional agreement or symbol recognized by the audience. Only when this agreement is accepted by the audience can the audience change from a passive bystander to an active participant and creator in the process of watching. Therefore, stylization is the premise and foundation of theater, and theater is the application and response of stylization. This is also a special aesthetic relationship between performers and audiences, which is determined by the structural form of the performance environment. To sum up, the dramatic concept of "freehand brushwork based on song and dance stories", the creative principle of combining reality with reality, the assumption of stage and the stylized means of expression have formed the unique artistic style of traditional opera, and also determined the rationality and characteristics of the "empty stage" system of opera stage art. The occurrence, formation and development of the "empty stage" system of China opera stage are not determined by a single difficulty, but are the result of multiple factors. The appearance of a certain stage in a certain period is the result of the integration, restriction and balance of culture, religion, economy, technology and other factors, and it has evolved and developed under the impetus of complex and changeable history. The formation and development of the "empty stage" system of China opera stage art has gone through a long process with the evolution and development of the whole opera art. As a part of China traditional culture, China opera is the product of traditional psychological structure and aesthetic principles. In a sense, the stage form of traditional Chinese opera is a reflection of the existing space and activities of traditional Chinese opera, and its composition is restricted by the existing composition and performance conditions of traditional Chinese opera itself. China's opera stage has a generally open structure, which is intrinsically related to the nature and form of opera art.