Chapter 10: Asian and African Theatre
 Theatre varies widely from one culture and location to
another
 This chapter examines theatrical practices in:
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Asia: Japan, China, Indonesia
Africa: Nigeria, South Africa, North Africa
Theatre In Japan
 During the time of the religious cycle plays in Europe, a very different
kind of theatre existed in Japan
Noh Theatre
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Significant developments began around 1375
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Kiyotsuga Kan’ami and his son Zeami Motokiyo are
primary figures associated with Noh
Noh Theatre
 Zeami Motokiyo =
Greatest of Noh dramatists; wrote more than 100 of the
250 plays that still make up active Noh repertory
 Defined Noh’s goals and conventions

 Plays still performed today, much as they were when
written
 Noh Theatre as a product of the 14th through 16th
centuries
Noh Theatre
 Noh’s development influenced by Zen Buddhist beliefs:
• Ultimate peace comes through union with all being
• Individual desire must be overcome
• Nothing in earthly life is permanent
•
Noh reflects these Buddhist values:
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Protagonists are typically beings whose souls cannot find rest because in
life they were devoted to worldly goals that keep drawing them back
Noh Theatre

Plays categorized by principal character into 5 types:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
God plays
Warrior plays
Women plays
Madness plays
Demon plays
 Scripts:
• Length = short (often shorter than a Western one-act play)
• Do not emphasize storytelling
• Dialogue functions to outline circumstances that lead up to and
culminate in final dance
• Musical dance-drama; most lines sung or intoned
Noh Theatre
 Performers:
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3 groups: actors, chorus, musicians
Train from childhood; devote 20+ years to perfecting craft
5 hereditary schools since 15th century; family business
Musical dance-drama; most lines sung or intoned
All performers are male
 Characters:
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Shite = main character
Waki = secondary character
Kyogen = commoners, peasants, narrators
Kokata = child actors who play children or minor roles
 Chorus:
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6-10 members
Sit at one side of stage throughout performance
Sing or recite many of the shite’s lines or narrate events
Noh Theatre
 Musicians:
• 2-3 drummers + 1 flute player
• Drummers also vocalize
 Stage Attendants:
• 2 Stage Assistants
• 1 assists musicians
• 1 assists actors with costume changes and props
 Costumes and Masks:
• Shite and companions wear masks of painted wood
• Costumes based on dress of 14th-15th centuries
Noh Theatre
 Stage:
• Roofed, raised stage
• 2 main areas:
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Stage proper = butai
Bridge = hashigakari
4 columns support the roof of the butai
Bridge used for most entrances/exits
 Miscellaneous:
• Essentially no scenery used
• Few properties used; usually miniature and manipulated by stage
attendant
• Audience views action from 2 sides
The Shrine in the Fields (Nonomiya)
• Attributed to Zeami
• 3rd category: Woman play
• Each Noh play set in a specific season: late autumn
• Climactic moment expressed in dance
• Stylized language and divided lines of dialogue
• Strives to capture a mood appropriate to the season, in this case
melancholy and bittersweet longing
Other Japanese Forms
Bunraku
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Puppets: 3-4 ft. in height
Puppeteers: 3 per puppet, visible to audience
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2.
3.
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Narrator:
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Manipulates the head and right arm
Manipulates the left arm
Manipulates the feet
Tells the story
Speaks all dialogue
Expresses emotion of characters
Musician:
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Samisen = 3-stringed instrument, struck and plucked
Music accompanies narration
Other Japanese Forms
Kabuki
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Most popular traditional form
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Origins in 17th century
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Stage = proscenium, 90 ft. wide x 20 ft. high
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Hanamichi = raised gangway that connects stage to back of
auditorium
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Mixture of representational and symbolic scenery
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Plays divided into several acts of loosely connected episodes
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Mie = stylized pose struck and held by the principal character
for dramatic effect
Other Japanese Forms
Kabuki
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Song and narration used; musical ensemble and chorus
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Acting combines stylized speech and dancing
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Roles are divided into a number of types
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All performers are male
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Males who specialize in playing female roles = onnagata
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Requires many years of training, often a hereditary profession
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No masks, but some bold makeup
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Some elements resemble exaggerated Western conventions
Theatre In China
 Performance in China dates back to 1767 BC
 Fully-developed drama began to emerge about 1000 AD
 The most complex literary plays were written during the
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
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Plays with 50 or more acts
Many plot strands
The Peony Pavilion, by Tang Xiansu is most admired play
Theatre In China
Beijing Opera
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Hybrid form, evolved from several regions
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Brought to Beijing in 1790 to celebrate emperor’s 80th birthday
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Theatrical rather than literary form.
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Performances made up of series of selections from longer works
intermingled with acrobatic displays.
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The Western equivalent = variety show
Theatre In China
Beijing Opera
 Traditional Stage
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Open platform
Almost square
Covered by roof
Carpeted floor
Two doors in rear wall
 Props/Scenery
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Wooden table
Several chairs
Hand props such as a whip
Theatre In China
Beijing Opera
 Conventions
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Onstage assistants to help performers with costumes, props
Audience is expected to ignore the assistants
Musicians in full view of audience
Music plays important part in performance
 Costumes
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Lavish and colorful
300 standard costume items
 Performance Style
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Speech, singing, movement based on rigid conventions
Codified gestures
Acrobatics
Wayang Kulit
Indonesian Shadow Puppetry
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Puppets
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Flat puppets, ranging from 6 inches to 3 feet in size
Made of leather
Cut and perforated to create intricate patterns of light and shadow
on screen
Performances
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Enact sections of great Hindu epics
Single Dalang (puppeteer) manipulates all puppets as well as
voicing dialogue and singing
Gamelan (gong-chime music ensemble) accompanies
Last from 8:30 pm until sunrise
Theatre In Africa
 African performance traditions through the centuries have been
numerous and varied: religious rituals, festivals, ceremonies,
storytelling, celebrations
 Europeans and Americans remained ignorant of African
performance traditions until the 20th century
 When Europeans took control of most of the African continent, they
brought their own ideas about theatre
 France
 Portugal
 Spain
 Britain
 Belgium
 Italy
 Colonialist heritage + indigenous forms = wide spectrum of
performance traditions
Theatre In Africa
 Indigenous Performance
 Words are often the least important element
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Primary “languages” of performance = drumming and dance
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Use of visual imagery, symbolism, gesture, mask, costume
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Direct audience participation expected:
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clapping in rhythm
singing refrains
repeating phrases
making comments
Performance In Nigeria
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Over 250 different ethnic groups
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Most populous = Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo, Fulani
 Egungen
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Yoruba festival
Sacrifices offered and petitions for blessings addressed to
the dead
A carrier gathers the accumulated evil of the community
and carries it away in a canoe
Performance In Nigeria
 Yoruba opera/ Yoruba Traveling Theatre
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Most popular contemporary theatrical form
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Developed primarily by Hubert Ogunde, who
established professional company in 1946
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Structure of opera:
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Opening glee = rousing musical number
Topical and satirical story with dialogue, songs, dances
Another glee
Performance In Nigeria
 Yoruba opera
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Emphasis on entertainment
Clear moral message
By 1981 = 120 Yoruba opera companies
Decline in form due to television, film, video
 English-language plays
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Became popular around 1900
Flourished after 1960, when Nigeria was granted
independence
Performance In Nigeria
 Wole Soyinka
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Dominant Nigerian playwright
Won Nobel Prize for Literature 1986
The Strong Breed
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Staging conventions are much the same as Western conventions
Reflects Egungen traditions in a modern context
Themes:
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Conflict between traditional and modern
Need for society to question customs and beliefs
South Africa
 Indigenous peoples include: Khoisans, Zulus, Basutos,
Xhosas, and others
 Europeans began to immigrate to South Africa during the
17th century, and fought to control the area
 Apartheid = law requiring separate white and non-white
residential area
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Established a duality of culture
 Most famous playwright = Athol Fugard
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Master Harold and the Boys
North Africa
Egypt
 Ancient Egyptian rituals are among the earliest performance modes
we know about
 In the 19th century, British occupation brought about theatrical
companies
 Tawfig as-Hakim (1898-1931) one of the most important Egyptian
dramatists of early 20th century
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Sleepers in the Cave
 Other North African countries were under French dominion and
influenced by French Theater:
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Morocco
Tunisia
Algeria