Course Module for Theater History 2 (Modern)
First Semester, Academic Year 2020-21
Prepared by Agnes Gelluagan Lasin, M.A. CultEd
Lesson 3 (August 23-29)
What is this lesson about?
In this lesson, you will be introduced to how Western theater spread its influence on world
theater.
What will you learn?
At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:
1. Discuss how the west spread its influence on world theater.
2. Discuss the effects of colonialism on world theater/Asian/Philippines
Let’s read!
The 1800s was a century of many amazing inventions – the automobile, telegraph, phonograph,
telephone, the high-speed combustion engine, and others. Coca-Cola ice cream and chewing gum
delighted the public. The Industrial revolution with its attendant political and social changes, changed
forever the way people in the West live, work, do business, and see the world. Science and logic provided
many answers to the mysteries of life, which used to be the domain of religion. The move from agrarianbased economy to industrialization and big business enabled the West to gain vast wealth and power, and
soon it begun exporting its styles, ideas, philosophy, and culture all over the globe, sometimes by force,
other times through diplomacy. The world was never the same again after the West’s colonial
expansionism.
As Western domination spread, so did Western art and theater. European-style theater was
introduced in India during the British Occupation (starting in the 1700s). At first the objective was to
entertain the troops, but later theater was used to educate the Indians about British ideas, tastes and
morals. By the 1900s, hundreds of Indian plays imitated Western models, including the use of proscenium
arches and realistic acting.
In the 1900s, in China, Western theater appeared. The Peking Opera’s simple platform stage was
replaced with a proscenium arch, curtains and orchestra pit. Western drama were called “talking or
spoken” drama to distinguish it from the Chinese opera which has lots of dancing, singing and spectacles.
The West’s influence on Japanese theater could be seen in the modified style of the Kabuki Play
called “Shimpa,” or “New School of Movement.” The Kabuki spectacle was toned down and a bit of
realism was brought into the performance.
The Theater of Europe pervaded Africa and suppressed its traditional theater when countries like
Britain, Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium and France divided up the continent among themselves. Islam and
Christianity also did its part in devaluing the traditional African form of theater. The pre-colonial African
theater was highly diverse. It had grown out of centuries-old rituals and incorporated storytelling and
poetry, music and dance, acrobatics, improvisation, and liberal use of masks. Audiences often worked
with actors to write and act out performances, a form of mass participation, that was an intense mental
and emotional experience for audience members. There was rarely an invisible wall which separates the
actors from the audience, as practiced in Western Theater. Today, colonial plays exist along with anticolonial plays in protest to Western influence.
Short as it was, the American colonial regime from 1901 to 1946 had a profound effect
on 20th century Philippine theater, first in form and later in philosophy. This influence is seen in
the Philippine bodabil (vaudeville), the Western plays presented in English or in Filipino
translation/adapatation, and the original modern plays written by contemporary playwrights.
Introduced in the 1920s from the United States, bodabil is not a play per se, but a potpourri of
songs, dances, and comedy skits which showcase what is popular in the United States. As may be
expected, the Filipinos who perform in bodabil cannot help but imitate, and naturally end up as
the “local versions” of the American “originals.” During the Japanese Occupation, the bodabil
began to include a short melodrama at the end, to accommodate the popular prewar film actors
and actresses who could no longer appear in films since the Japanese had confiscated all film
equipment. After the war, the return to popularity of the movies drove the stage show into small,
cheap theaters or to open-air stages in the provinces. Needless to say, the bodabil and the
Western plays presented in the country by Filipinos contain very little of Philippine life and
culture in them. The bodabil has Filipinos twisting their tongues, belting/mellowing their voices
to approximate American singers, and gyrating like Elvis Presley or flexing their limbs in the air a
la Fred Astaire. Bodabil and Western plays have proven effective tool in the Americanization of
Filipinos, and certainly help to make more acceptable to the Filipino America’s continuing
presence in the Philippines.
Through the Westernized educational system established by the Americans all over the
archipelago, Filipinos were introduced to the first examples of “legitimate” theater in the
Philippines. Exclusive schools for the rich, which were steeped in “good” Western education, led
in the production of Shakespearean tragedies and comedies in the 1930s, until other groups
presented contemporary western classics in the original English or in English translation. Later, a
few groups presented Broadway plays, comedies and grand musicals, while others continued to
perform translations of “classics” of the Western stage into Filipino.
On the other hand,
although the Filipinos were Americanized in thought, taste, and temper by these plays, so were
they equipped with many dramatic theories and styles that opened new avenues for growth and
expanded the horizons for theatrical expression of Filipino playwrights, directors, actors,
designers, and stage managers. Even as foreign plays strengthened the colonial bias, they also
introduced many styles of Western theater and the theater of Asia, Africa, and South America
that eventually enabled the Filipino to write and stage plays that represent Philippine realities
with greater fidelity.
(The History of Philippine Theater. https://studylib.net/doc/8733062/the-history-of-philippine-theatre#)
Let’s Discuss!
What can you say about the overall impact of Western influence on traditional and indigenous
theater forms? Has it been more detrimental or more beneficial? Post your answer on the discussion
board. Defend your position. You are free to react to the views of your classmates but do it in a polite
manner.
How much have you learned?
For this lesson’s exam, go to Google Class.
Your reflections!
Write a 200 –word essay on the topic: Which information in the lesson had a strong impression
on you? Why?