Classical Theatre History A Journey
Through Time
The Asian Theatre
By Margaret Foland
AET 541
Dawn R. Tittle
Introduction to Asian Theatre

This section will discuss the theatres and
history of the following Nations:
 China
 Turkey
 Japan
 India

It will also bring the philosophy of these
nations into context with the philosophy of
the Western Nations
Asian History:
China, Turkey, Japan, and India


Turkey
 Once belonged to the Roman Empire
 Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, splits the empire in two
 Capital is Constantinople, Turkey – the home of the Byzantine Empire
 Theatre came from the West
 The Byzantine Empire falls
 The Islamic Turks take control of the country
 Theatre is illegal due to the fact that it goes against Islam
 Please read more here
 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108054.html
China
 Several Dynasties rule the Chinese lands
 Dynasties end, the Imperial Chinese Monarchy begins
 Chinese Restoration
 Manchus rise in power
 Modern China takes hold early 19th century
 Revolution Erupts in 1911
 China as a Republic
 Civil War – against Japan
 Japan wins
 Civil War – Mao enters
 People’s Republic of China – Communists Take over
 Please read more here
 http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/toc.html
Asian History Cont’d

India








Dates back to the beginning of Human civilization
 The Indus Valley Civilization
Hinduism rises
Islam comes to India in the 11 century
Muslims rule the country under the Mughal Empire
Sikhs – another religion different from Hindu
 Their culture produces better soldiers and once controlled all of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
India has a Caste System
 You marry within your caste, no below or above it
Please read more here
 http://www.indhistory.com/
 http://www.indhistory.com/
Japan






Settled by migrants from the Asian mainland
Once ruled by the Shogun
Samurai Code
People once lived by fishing, hunting, and farming
Religion
 Shinto
 Buddhist
 Later on Christianity
Please read more here:
 http://web-japan.org/museum/historyofjp/histjp.html

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107666.html
Discussion Questions

















What happened to make Constantine want to separate the Roman Empire in two, one East the other
West?
What caused the fall of the Byzantine Empire?
When the Turks defeated the Byzantines, what happened to that country and to Constantinople?
Why does theatre go against Islam
How many dynasties did China have?
Who were the most powerful emperors in Chinese History?
Who was responsible for the Chinese Restoration?
When did China become a Republic?>
When did they become the a Communist Country?
When did India’s History begin?
How does it effect what you already now about History?
What is a Caste System?
How does the religion of India reflect the mixed cultures of the nation, from its past to its present?
What was Tokyo called during the Edo Period?
What is the Samurai code?
Who ruled the nation before the Edo Period?
What does their religious believe reflect the culture of the Nation, from its past to its present?
Asian Theatre –Turkey















Turkish Puppet Theatre - Shadow Puppets
Karagoz, the Turkish Everyman, a star of coffee houses
Always one step behind the bill collector, a street – smart working man
Anti - beaurocracy and anti – pretence
Where there’s a comic there’s a straight man
Hacivat an educated pedantic type is charged with keeping Karagoz under control –
somewhat
Timeless banter
Karagoz and Hacivat engage in the same kind of comic famous by the Marx Brothers and
Abbot and Costello in their “Who’s on First” routine
Predecessors
Hacivat is the great –great – great – grandfather of Ralph Kramden and Homer Simpson
But, sometimes, things go wrong
For example, here’s Hacivat trying to escape – wearing Burcha (Burkha)
Where there is a coffee shop, there’s a way to see a theatrical show
To subvert Islamic law concerning representation of human form, puppets are performed
while back lit, creating shadow figures
As coffee shops – came and gone, these performances are not planned
Asian Theatre - India










India – Theatre/Dance
Life, Religion and theatre are all connected- To dance all are one
The Great Epics of India

The Ramayana – the adventures of Prince Rama

The Mahabharata – the book of sayings and wisdom, their Talmud/Quran
4 dances forms

Bharata Natyam

Kathakali

Kathak

Manipuri
Based on the Vedas

Rig – spoken word

Sama - song

Yajur – movement

Atharva – emotion
Theatre mostly took place in temples
Backstage – AUP – Yavanika

The roof of the acting area once performed outside

held up by 4 poles, same color as the ribbons
colors mean

white – priests

red – nobles

yellow – basic citizens

blue/black – thieves/day labors/ artists
Most stages

richly decorated with wood cravings and more
Back stage

costume changes and sound along with other effects
Asian Theatre – China
















Chinese Theatre – Opera (Xipü)
Total theatre, circus, gymnastics, and Opera

all for the price of a pot of team
Flags – coat of arms, 4 flags.

commander of the army
Theatre’s greatest practitioner – Li Yu – playwright, actor, critic, and producer

Wrote greatest Chinese dramatic criticism

Wrote plays for a board audience

40 wives and numerous concubines, traveled with female acting company

Expert on furniture, travel, sexual arts, painting, music, poetry, architecture, diet and hygiene.
The Bejing Opera (Jing Ju) – total theatre
Song, dance, skits, acrobats, colorful costumes, movement, and vocal gymnastics
4 categories of roles:

Sheng – star male (played by men/women)

Dan – star female (played by both men/women)

Jing – “painted face” (played by men/women)

Chou – comic (played by men/women)
Mei Langfang 1894-1961

The legendary Beijing Opera Performer, his style is one of the 4 greatest styles of Opera Performance
Classical Actor Training
Actors Had no official status
Artistry second, craftsmanship first
Discipline rigid/corporal punishment rule
Day begins at 7 am for song, dance, and music
7 year course
no withdrawals
5th year exam

Beijing Opera
Japanese Theatre Forms


Noh – grace personified
 The first greatest period of Japanese theatre in the 14th
century (Parallel’s China’s Golden Age)
 Combined scholarly and religious tenets with popular
entertainment and allied with Zen Buddhism.
 Supported by powerful people in politics, business and art
 Kan’ami 1334-1384 and Zeami 1363-1443 Motokiko
 Lead a troupe of itinerant performers who performed for the
Shogun
 Arranged for 11 year old Zeami’s court education
 Succeeded to troupes leadership: Zeami’s trouped attracted
Shogun’s court-freeing him to devote himself to all aspects
of theatre
 Zeami – father of Noh
 Yugen – tenets of Noh
 Yugen – philosopher and physician gracefulness
 Tenets of Noh
 Actors trained since childhood in acting, singing and dancing
 Remarkably sophisticated, move slow to fast and was based
on literary and historical sources
 4 roles
 1. Shite – leading role
 2. Waki – responder
 3. Tsure – extra
 4. Kyogen – comic
Hashigakari – entrance ramp



Shingeki (western style theatre)
Proscenium Arch
Western Theatre including
 Shakespeare's Play
 Moliere’s plays
 Musicals
 Original works
 Plays and Musicals based
on Japanese Animation
Japanese Theatre Forms Cont’d












Bunraku
Living Dolls – Bunraku
During Tokugawa period, when Japan was cut off from Europe and China
Noh – state theatre
Businessmen supported Bunraku
Began as reciter and shamisen; puppets added in 1600
Joruri – chanted texts
3 puppeteers needed for each character – one for the legs, one for the left arm and the
chief puppeteer for the right arm and head
The chief handler is dressed elaborately the others were all in black and are invisible
By 1730 puppets grew 2/3 size and Bunraku developed into an art form
Greatest Bunraku writer is Chikamatsu Monzaemon 1653-1725
Wrote for Bunraku and kabuki theatre, it is considered the Japanese Shakespeare
Japanese Theatre Forms Cont’d











Kabuki – made for a woman
Based on rigid codes of Confucian behavior, sacrifice, loyalty, revenge, class system, and
samurai code
In the 1700s, Kabuki combined Noh and Bunraku and folk theatre and it thrived
It was found by Okuni of Izumo in 1603; 15 years there were 7 licensed theatres in Kyoto.
They borrowed the Noh stage
Women started it but were banned in 1629, boys than were used and than banned in 1652
Acting dynasties start with Ichikawa Danjuro 1660-1704, whose line stretches 12 generations to
today’s Danjuro XII – who refined the traditional aragato “rough stuff” style of acting
Hanamichi, a wide stage low proscenium, revolve, musicians on stage
The stage helpers dressed in black and wear hoods, along with dressers to help with changes
of costumes – mostly silk kimonos – that tie in the back
Proscenium theatre – with Hashigakari, for modern day performances
Actors all male to this day
Video clips of Asian Theatre




Japanese No, Kabuki, Shingeki and
Banraku
 http://youtu.be/67-bgSFJiKc
 http://youtu.be/kTv8uM_jmmI
 http://youtu.be/kEUQNvn8EJQ
 http://youtu.be/5wLXAUaiojk
 http://youtu.be/RG2-iS1bDl0
Chinese Theatre
 http://youtu.be/MNfY2YEaEwc
 http://youtu.be/RugK1QfvVVI
 http://youtu.be/mN9iXlfxpxI
India’s Dance Theatre
 http://youtu.be/IYDelWOWVvE
 http://youtu.be/9XtVvPlvRn0
 http://youtu.be/SgiLOzFQh14
Shadow Puppet Theatre
 http://youtu.be/L4V19AVZZQ8
 http://youtu.be/I-lOo0pRih4
 http://youtu.be/xHOv_Q_KuW0
This is a picture from the Sailor Moon
Musicals from 1996 staring Anza Oyama
as Sailor Moon. This is an example of
Shingeki - Shingeki
Discussion Questions













What is India’s Dance Theatre about?
How does the Hindu Religion play a part in India’s Dance Theatre?
What do the color’s that India has in their theatre stand for?
Where is Turkey’s Shadow Puppet Theatre preformed?
Why do they have shadow puppet theatre instead of a western style
theatre?
In Turkey, shadow puppeteers are trained by who?
What are the three kinds of entertainment in China?
Where can you go to watch a show in China, and is theatre illegal in the
country?
Who is Li Yu and why is he important to Chinese Theatre?
What is Noh theatre and which religion backs it?
What is Banraku and how big are the living dolls?
What is the difference between Noh and Kabuki theatre?
Do they have a western style theatre in Japan, and if so what it called and
why?
References






Asian Art Mall. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.asianartmall.com/kabukiarticle.htm
Dance II B. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.iaac.us/IAAC_dance_fest2010-II/images/dance-II-b.jpg
Karagoz5340. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/AssetsTurkey/ThraceMarmara/k
aragoz5340.jpg
Kunqu. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://wwwpersonal.umich.edu/~zzhu/kunqu.JPG
Noh Theatre. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://doriboo09.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/noh.jpg
SeraMyu Antics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://seramyuantics.net/
Wilson, E., & Goldfarb, A. (2008). History of the Theatre: Living
Theatre (5th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw Hill.