Chinese opera at Opening Ceremony of Beijing Olympics
Chinese theatrics claims top excellence in stage performance in the whole world. It has won the love and admiration of the people of all countries of the world by its unusual, distinctive artistic features and its superior art of theatrical performance. In recent years, overcoming the language handicap and other obstacles, many foreigners have come to China to learn her art of theatrical performance for the purpose of popularizing it after returning to their native land. This is because Chinese theatrics concentrates in itself the essence of poetry, storytelling, prose, music, painting, martial arts, acrobatics, costumery, acting, dancing and other branches of literature and arts, thus constituting a consummate, harmonious, concentrated and unrivaled synthetic art form.
The theatrical presentation of the characters of opera is merged with martial arts, acrobatics and dancing in forms which are by no means the direct copying of the patterns of the original martial arts, acrobatics and dancing but adaptations in such a way to the plot of the Chinese opera being staged as to be conductive to the accurate portrayal of the personality of the character in the limelight, the hyperbolic unfolding of the story of the opera and, most importantly, the conveying of a higher sense of beauty to the audience who are getting an enjoyment of artistic beauty which is delightful to the eye and pleasing to the mind. In other words, the application of martial arts, acrobatics and dancing to an opera on the stage must be a process of re-creating what is originally there in those forms of art and ¡°fuse¡± it into the theatrical performance. This process isn¡¯t, and never could be, so simple as taking a postage stamp and gluing it to an envelope.
By the same token, the music in an Chinese opera is different from music played in isolation. Its employment is for the expressive telling of the story, the deepening of the portrayal of the personality of the character in the focus of the audience¡¯s attention, and for contributing in a forceful way to the exaggeration and the bringing into sharp relief of the change in atmosphere of the opera. For this reason, the use of the musical instruments, the design of the music and its playing must all depend on the requirements posed by changes in the progress of the story, by the appearance on the scene of certain characters and by the contents of their performance. The music should accord with the actions performed at that time by way of singing, reading aloud, acting, and fighting. It should be designed and played to meet the requirements of expressing joy, anger, sorrow, or merriment as evidenced in the actor¡¯s or actress¡¯s singing. The music should be truly expressive of exaltation and exhilaration or sorrow and mournfulness. Sometimes it should be like the outburst of a tempest, and at other times it should be soft and full of tender emotion. All these should be in exquisite harmony with the movement of the hands, the eyes, the head, the body and the feet of the actor or actress.
At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics you had the opportunity of listening to the singing of performers of Chinese opera. Beijing opera is reputed to have the best form of stage presentation among the numerous operas that originated at different places over the vast territory of China. Chinese operas in China do not flaunt luxurious and elaborate scenery on the stage. As a rule, they have a very simple stage setting. Take Beijing opera as an example. The same opera about a story from history can be staged in the same theater consecutively for hundreds of shows with the house filled to capacity every time. Reliance is not put on the stage setting but on fascination of the audience with the stage performance. The charm of Beijing opera is inseparable from the actors and actresses on the stage. If you want to play a radiant leading role on the Chinese opera stage you must be truly proficient in the skill of playing the role. Beijing opera fans, who frequent the theaters, often describe the skill of role- playing required of the successful actors and actresses by saying, ¡°One minute of brilliant performance on the stage rests on ten years of hard training under the stage.¡± Here, in this special column on Beijing Olympics and Chinese culture I would like to introduce to you a few famous artists who have made great contributions to the cause of developing and popularizing Beijing opera in China in modern times. Their names were on everybody¡¯s lips in China decades ago. There is a strange custom in Chinese operas. A female may wear the costume of a gentleman and play the part of a male, and a male may be dressed like a young girl or a lady and play the role of a female. The four performing artists in the photos were all gentlemen, but they played the roles of females in dresses of ancient styles on the stage. They were honored by the audience with the group title of ¡°the four great female character types¡±.
They played on the stage such roles as a heroine in the history of China, a famous princess, the daughter of an illustrious family, a charming girl from a humble family or even a servant girl, with the imitation so skillfully made as to be indistinguishable in the audience¡¯s imagination from the originals, making the audience lost in wonder. But in real life they were men of courage and honor without the least bit of femininity. They were looked up to for their manliness. They taught and brought up many pupils and disciples in their lives. Therefore, some of the performing artists of Beijing opera at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics would most probably be the pupils of their pupils. |
