Download Birth of Drama in the East

Birth of Asian Drama
“All the world is a stage,
And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts. . .”
—William Shakespeare, As You Like It
Presented by Yi Liu, Wenjia Liu Asian drama, dramatic works produced in the East. The three major Asian dramas—
Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese
Sanskrit is the oldest.
Sanskrit Drama
•  Sanskrit drama is part of Sanskrit literatur
e, the classical literature of India.
•  Language: they were written mainly in
Sanskrit, but also combine with Prakrit or
different forms of vernacular languages.
•  The longest continuous performing
tradition of any drama texts in the world:
nearly 1200 years
(early centuries B.C. to
about A.D. 1100)
•  Beginnings: probably derives from
The playwrights and their works
•  Bhasa (c.3d cent. A.D.): the earliest known Sanskrit playwright
The Vision of Vasavadatta.
•  Kalidasa (c. the late 4th to mid 5th cent
A.D.)
the most celebrated poet in the
history of India
Shakuntala (also The Recognition of
Shakuntala)
•  The poet-king Sudraka, Harsha and
Typical features
•  Religious and supernatural elements; also
firmly grounded
in the real world
•  The blending of prose and verse •  The alternation of languages (Sanskrit and
Prakrit)
•  No theaters: the plays were performed in the
concert rooms of palaces (rather small)
•  The play almost always opens with a prayer and
is followed
by a dialogue between the stage manager and
one of the actors, referring to the author and
The themes of the drama
•  Love and heroism are the two most
common sources of emotion in the plays
•  The supernatural elements:
some plays are almost totally concerned with the sup
ernatural
(Kalidasa's Vikramorvasi) •  Political and historical
topics (Kalidasa's Malavikagnimitra). •  Ordinary people (The poet-king Sudraka’s
Mrcchakatika)
•  The happy endings: complete absence of tragedy;
Shakuntala शकu$तला
(The Recognition of Shakuntala)
by Kalidasa
Of all Sanskrit dramas it is Kalidasa’s Shakuntala
that is best known outside India. A Shakuntala
manuscript was found in a monastery in coastal
China, indicating close cultural ties between
China and India. It is even possible that the
Sanskrit dramas influenced the development of
Chinese theatre during the times when the
contacts were most active. Shakuntala was probably the first Asian drama
translated into Western languages. It is also one
of the very first Sanskrit works ever translated
into English. Shakuntala is probably the most
Shakuntala (The Recognition of Shakuntala)
Shakuntala tells about the love of King Dusyanta
and a beautiful girl, Shakuntala, who is the
foster daughter of a forest hermit (and, in fact,
of semi-divine origin). They meet, make love,
and engage in a secret marriage. As a token of
his love, the king gives Shakuntala a ring.
However, owing to a magic trick, the king
forgets Shakuntala, and she is taken to the
heavens, where she gives birth to the king’s son.
Only when the king sees the ring he has given to
the girl does he again remember their love.
While visiting the heavens, the king meets
Shakuntala and their son and they are finally
reunited.
Early chinese drama
Animal movements sing and dance
The development of Chinese
drama
•  Early times Dance and sing
•  Nan drama in Song and Yuan dynasty
•  Yuan drama—the first golden era
•  In Ming and Qing drama—another
prosperous time
Song dynasty
Za ju : drama, music and dance
Nan xi: early southern opera
Background of Nan xi
The Earlist existing complete
script of Nan xi
•  Top graduate Zhang xie
• 
male lead:
sheng
• 
female lead:
dan
• 
clown
character: chou
• 
Yüan dynasty (1260–1328)-golden age
of drama
classical drama time
1,Background 2, Yuan dramatists
were “The Four
Yuan-Period
Masters”
3,classical dramas
Development background
•  Mongal rule the
country
•  Abolish the
examination
•  Scholars social
statue became
low
•  To avoid penalty
and express
“The Four Yuan-Period
Masters”
Guan Hanqing
(Kuan Hanch’ing)-- “Father
of Chinese
Dramatic
Literature”
Dou E yuan (Tou
Eh yüan), The Injustice
The injustice of DO E
•  Dou e was accused of
killing her stepfather in law. But the
officials took the real
killers’s money and
sentenced Dou e to
death.
•  Before the head
penalty, she predicts
three events will
happen because of
her innocence
•  The three events
really did happen
There will be heavy
snowfall in the sixth in
the midst of summer and
the thick snow will cover
her dead body. r
Chuzhou will experience
a drought for three years.
The three events really
did happen after Dou E's
death.
Bai pu
•  Bai Pu (1226–1306) was a son of an
impoverished civil servant family. His
best-known play is Wutong yu (Wut’ung yü) or Rain on the Pawlonia
Tree. It tells the tragic story of the
love of the Tang emperor Ming Huang
and his concubine Yang Guifei amid
the political intrigues and power play
while the Tang dynasty was nearing
Zheng Guangzu (1280–
1330)
an early Taoist-inspired ghost opera is Qiannü li
(Ch’ian-nü li-hun) or Ciannun sielu irtoaa ruumii
Ma Zhiyuan
•  Ma Zhiyuan is famous for his Taoist
themes, but his well-known
play Hangong qiu (Han-kung
ch’iu)or Autumn in Han Palace, is
based on an ancient, tragic love story
with patriotic overtones (synopsis). It
has been one of the most beloved
Yuan dramas.
The story of the west wings
•  Writer: wang shi
fu
•  China’s most
popular love
comedy
Ming Dynasty(1368-1644)
During the Ming dynasty the Yuan zaju lost
its popularity to the southern forms of
operas. The quick and feverish music of the
north gave a way to the soft southern
melodies. Many regional opera forms
evolved. Then, as well as now, the regional
styles differed mainly in the dialects in
which they are sung, and in their melodies.
Otherwise they, more or less, share the
same kind of basic aesthetics.
Kun qu and different riginal operas
Japanese Drama
No (or Noh) drama 能
The No drama was developed in the 14th cent., bri
nging together elements from the earlier
sarugaku [monkey music猿乐] and dengaku [rustic music⽥田乐]. Its invention is attributed to Kanami
Kiyotsugu (1333-84), while his son Zeami Motoki
yo
(1363–1443) brought the No to its peak of
refinement.
Typical features of No
•  No plays are very short, virtually plotless, and tragic in mood.
•  Performances of No plays are highly stylized, and they move at an extremely slow pace, often stretching a text of two or
three hundred lines into an hour-long stage play. •  Such performances integrate singing, speech, instrumental
music (three drums and a flute), dancing, and mime into a unity in which no single element dominates. •  Wooden masks are used by the principal character, women characters, and old people.
•  All the actors traditionally are male. •  The playscenter around a single character called the shite. Of se
condary importance is
the waki, who is often a priest and who serves as a foil to the
shite. Both the shite and the waki have one or two attendants.
•  There is also a chorus whose sole function is to sing. Frequently the chorus sings the lines appropriate for the shite, while he
dances or mimes the action. •  The usual form of the play is to present two manifestations of th
e shite.
In the first part the
shite presents a false or disguised appearance. In the second part he presents his true or spiritual self.
•  The No stage is a plain platform about 20 ft (6 m) square with
a walkway
leading from the back of the stage to the greenroom. •  The musicians are placed at the back of
Video and pictures: http://www.xip.fi/atd/japan/noh-crystallisedaesthetics.html
The Kyogen 狂⾔言
•  Developing about the same time as the No was a type of short farce
known as the Kyogen. The Kyogen are placed between No plays as comic relief. •  They do not use music, take about 20 min to perf
orm, and are broad in their humor.
The Ningyo-shibai [marionettes] 牵线⽊木
偶
and the Kabuki 歌舞伎
•  In the 16th and 17th cent. two forms of drama devel
oped in Japan that have since surpassed the aristocratic
and difficult
No drama inpopularity; they are the Ningyoshibai [marionettes]
and the Kabuki. •  Both the Ningyo-shibai and the Kabuki show similarities to the No in their integration of movement, music, and lan
guage. Also, like the No, the Kabuki uses only male The Development of Kabuki
•  The Kabuki uses more characters than the No, features much st
age action as opposed to the stately slow movement of the No, and avoids the use of recondite symbolism and allusion
that frequently make the No
a puzzle. •  The most popular play in the Kabuki repertoire is a revenge
play entitled
The Treasury of Loyal Retainers. •  One interesting facet of Kabuki:
The Kabuki stage is marked by a walkway (hanamici花
道), which extends from the stage into the audience and to the
back of the auditorium. References
•  http://
encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/
Asian+drama
•  http://
encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/
Sanskrit+literature
•  http://www.xip.fi/atd/india/sanskritdramas.html
Thank you