Shadow theater in China. The history of Chinese theater - how it originated and developed Chinese shadow theater history
Modern China has inherited one of the richest theatrical traditions in the world.Chinese shadow theater is an ancient folk art of this country. It appeared during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), its formation took place in the era of the Five Dynasties (907 - 960), during the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279) it reached its full flowering and spread throughout China. Figures in the Chinese shadow theater were first cut out of paper, and later from horse, cow and donkey skin. The "stage" of the shadow theater is a screen - a rectangular wooden frame in the form of a window, covered with white cloth, behind which the actors sing and control the figures-characters with bamboo sticks. With the help of light directed at the screen, these very expressive figurines-characters, endowed with both romance and comedy, are reflected on it. The arias performed by the actors are closely connected with local folk songs, melodies, and musical dramas.
Chinese shadow theater in different parts of China has differences in the forms of figures of characters, in the manner of performance, as a result of which many styles of this art form have been formed. For example, the South Liaoning shadow theater is very small, its screen is only 6-7 centimeters long, the Hebei shadow theater stage is one meter in diameter; the palace shadow theater is noted for its particularly openwork work, and it is fabulously expensive ... The characters of the shadow theater from different places are also unlike each other; for example, the helmet of the figurines can only be removed in the Sichuan shadow theater; the faces of the characters in the Beijing shadow theater are very peculiar. And yet, depending on the era of which dynasty the theater was born, the figures-characters in the Chinese shadow theater differ in headdresses and decorations, outfits, and facial features. But all of them are united by one thing: delicacy and subtlety of execution.
In recent years, many outstanding works of the shadow theater have been taken abroad one after another and become exhibits in private collections and foreign museums. So, in the leather museum of one of the countries, exquisite works of Chinese shadow theater are collected, but the main attention here is paid only to the art of ancient masters, and few people know about the multifaceted history and content of Chinese shadow theater. This state of affairs greatly upsets and worries Liu Jilin, who has been studying the art of Chinese shadow theater all his life. He sees the meaning of his work in the wide promotion of Chinese shadow theater, his dream is to make this art form the property of mankind, to convey the content, history, culture of Chinese shadow theater to every inhabitant of the planet. Over the past 10 years, he has collected more than 6,000 shadow theater works from various schools from the Ming, Qing, Republic period, up to the 90s, while working on collecting Chinese shadow theater works. His most valuable collection will not leave anyone indifferent.
Shadow theater is a very ancient art form that originated in China about 2000 years ago. Its main feature is the play of flat colored figures on the back of a translucent screen.
The history of this theater is interesting. According to legend, Emperor Wudi (156-87 BC) was very upset by the death of his beloved concubine and suffered for a long time about this. One of his close ministers, being aware of this problem, walking around the courtyard saw children playing with dolls, casting shadows on the ground. Inspired by what he saw, he made a flat figurine of the deceased concubine out of paper and in the evening staged a performance in front of the emperor with the participation of this figure. The Chinese monarch was completely delighted and this softened his heartache. Thanks to this event, shadow theater was born.
In modern shadow theater, figures are made from several layers. First, the desired figure is cut out of paper, and in order to give it strength, a copy of the figure made of tanned donkey, mutton or sheep skin is glued to it. The figurines consist of several parts connected to each other. All parts of the figure are movable. Flat characters most often reach a height of 30 cm, but there are heroes of 70 cm.
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The puppeteer is located on the back of the screen, on the side invisible to the viewer, and controls the figures with the help of metal rods. The audience sees a charming play of shadows on the screen, which, in the form of characters, weave an exciting plot of the play on the stage. As a rule, all this is accompanied by the singing of actors and the sound of traditional music. Chinese shadow theater uses plots from popular novels, fairy tales, tales and legends.
By the way, lovers of souvenirs can easily buy souvenirs in Beijing or another major city in China in the form of figures of characters from the shadow theater.
Unfortunately, in our time, shadow theater is in decline. A little more, and he will be buried under thick layers of simple and digestible mass art, as numerous Chinese emperors were once buried under the thickness of history. Recently, Chinese figures have sounded the alarm and even applied for the inclusion of shadow theater in the UNESCO list. Let's hope that this type of ancient art will still remain on the planet and will continue to delight us with sincere and exciting performances for more than one millennium.
Once upon a time, there lived an emperor in China. This Chinese emperor had a beloved wife. It so happened that she fell ill and died. The emperor was inconsolable. He retired from all business, went to his chambers, hung heavy curtains over the windows, closed all the doors and stopped talking. His courtiers didn't know what to do. The affairs of the empire began to decline, and the emperor was in anguish for his dead wife.
One day, the chief palace courtier called the emperor to his wife's chambers, and when the emperor entered, he saw the silhouette of his dead wife behind the curtain. She got up and walked, her beautiful profile looming behind the curtain against the sun. The emperor was shocked. So the chief courtier showed the emperor the wonders of the Shadow Theater and cured him of longing. The emperor began to ask the courtier every evening to show him performances with a doll that was a copy of his wife. He began to invite other courtiers to view. He watched the shadow of his wife behind the curtain move: walk, play musical instruments, sit by the window. She is so similar to his beloved wife, only she is behind the thinnest fabric. And the emperor suddenly realized that this fabric is not an eternal barrier between them, and his beloved continues to live somewhere, but not here, and he and his wife will meet again someday. It just takes time. Since then, he cheered up and began to engage in public affairs.
This beautiful legend is associated with the beginning of the appearance of the Shadow Theater - an art that came to us in 200 BC, in the era of Emperor Han-Wu-chi. Further, the Shadow Theater began its triumphal march across the earth, it appeared in India, Turkey, went all over Asia, reached Europe with the troops of Genghis Khan, conquered it, reached Russia, conquered all of St. Petersburg, then Moscow.
The performances of the Shadow Theater in ancient times, as a rule, took place at night, right on the street by the light of an oil lamp and the puppets of one performance could have up to 1000 figures, not counting the scenery.
Puppets for such performances were made from skins, the skin was dressed to a transparent thinness, and then a doll figure was cut out of it, patterns were cut out on it and painted. Most often, dolls were made from donkey skin. And that's why people also call the shadow theater - "donkey skin puppet theater".
The height of the doll for the Shadow Theater was most often made 30 centimeters high. The figurines were made movable, they consisted of interconnected parts. The person behind the screen controlled the puppet with the help of special long rods,
(bamboo, steel, wooden), and the audience saw only the shadows of the puppets that were projected on the illuminated screen, saw the movement, the exciting plot, heard the music, singing, but did not see the puppeteer himself, since the light behind the screen was heading towards that at an angle, which made the puppeteer invisible.
The most famous Shadow Theater now is Javanese, Wayang-Kuli: whose dolls are still made from buffalo skin, the skin is thinned so that it becomes thin and transparent, like paper. These dolls are called Wayang Kuli paper dolls. These dolls are very durable. For example, the dolls that are stored in the German Museum have not lost their color so far. Although they are already 1200 years old!
In the west, shadow theater is considered one of the most elegant and elite arts; in Europe, even special festivals are held.
The first information about the existence of a shadow theater in China dates back to the beginning of the 2nd millennium. The Chinese shadow theater drew its plots from a common source with drama and puppet theater - popular historical tales and legends. It is no wonder that it was the people of the East, who were prone to deep observations of nature, contemplation, meditation and penetration into the holy of holies of the essence of things and phenomena, who were among the first who managed to comprehend the character
ter shadows. Connoisseurs and creators of refined forms of art, working with graceful images in poetry and painting, the Chinese appreciated the property of matter to cast a shadow - they saw the graceful in the rough.
The Chinese shadow theater drew its plots from popular legends and ancient historical legends. Figures of characters for performances were made of skin (donkey, mutton, or, as in Fujian, monkey) or colored paper. Often they were decorated with colored silks, so that the Chinese theater with its colorful performances could be called color and shade. The puppets were controlled by three spokes attached to the figure's neck and wrists, and were movable.
According to one version, the art of Chinese shadow theater is rooted in the era of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-206 AD). The emperor of Han Wudi, ruling at that time, was saddened by the unexpected death of his beloved wife and therefore abandoned all state affairs.
6 SHADOW THEATER
natural affairs. The dignitary Li Shao-wen was walking along the streets and, thinking about how to get the emperor out of a painful state, drew attention to the children who were amused by playing with their shadows on the ground. This led the dignitary to an original idea on how to disperse the melancholy of his sovereign. He returned home and depicted the dead wife of the emperor (in profile) on a piece of dense matter. Then I painted and cut out the image, and attached thin strings to the arms and legs. When it got dark, he pulled on a silk screen and placed the candles so that a shadow from the figure he had made appeared on the screen. The figure moved when the strings were pulled.
He invited the emperor, disappeared behind the screen and showed the doll in motion, trying to imitate not only the graceful manners, but even the intonations of the voice of the deceased. Seeing the shadow of his late beloved wife, the emperor of Han Wudi was very comforted, pulled himself together and returned to abandoned state affairs. Since then, the game of shadows has become one of the new entertainments in the emperor's palace. Soon this palace fun grew into a mass popular hobby. This is how shadow theater was born. But there is another, less romantic, version of the emergence of the shadow theater. According to this version, noble ladies in China were not allowed to watch "live" scenes, so for them
gave shadow performances, which at that time were unusually loved and popular. During the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), shadow theater was an entertainment for warriors who were away from populated areas. And during the invasion of Genghis Khan, the shadow theater moved with warriors from one place to another, which contributed to its rapid and widespread spread. Soon, their own shadow theaters arose in Persia, Arab and southeastern countries appeared their own shadow theaters. And in China during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), many theater troupes appeared, the plots of which were inspired by ancient legends about the war between the principalities of Chu and Han.
Over time, shadow theater, like any dramatic art, began to be modified and divided into several directions. Let's get acquainted with the most famous of them.
Eastern school shadow theater - the most famous and authoritative - originated in the Tanshan area.
western school shadow theater, which is otherwise known as the Beijing shadow theater.
paiban piin- the most musical and plastically perfect shadow theater, in the productions of which everything obeys the rhythm of the beats of bamboo sticks.
TheaterLunsi- the most elegant and picturesque, since the figurines, their outfits and decorative ornaments are very beautiful and
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are painted in traditional Chinese painting style.
Shaanxi theater- folklore, all actions in the plots are based on fairy tales and legends about good wizards and journeys to the west.
Lu Piying- paper shadow theater, and yang piying - theater of shadows from goatskin.
Manufacturing technique and craftsmanship Manufacturing technique - this is a complex, time-honored process of selecting material, searching for a bright image and creating it in the form of a shadow figure (silhouette), graphing and coloring.
During the Song Dynasty (960-1279), goatskin was used. Talented artists drew various images on paper and copied on the surface of the unfolded skin, then cut out the silhouettes and painted. Subsequently, the skin of buffalo and donkeys began to be used. In some places, this type of theater is called Lu Pi-ying, which means "donkey skin shadows."
Craftsmen even put together sayings that clearly indicate all the key technological links. For example, they say that donkey skin is the most suitable for a shadow figure, since it is very soft, large in area and at the same time quite thin (even translucent with good dressing), therefore it is suitable for depicting a character’s head. skin on
donkey's back is suitable for carving household items (tables and chairs, screen, etc.). The skin on the neck is suitable for carving animals (such as horses, tigers) or carts, boats, etc. To this day, shadow theaters that arose in the Tangshan area of Hebei Province, on the banks of the Luanhe River, are famous. Many silhouettes and scenery of the shadow theater are valuable exhibits of museums. Typical images of various characters usually had only a profile, i.e. eyebrows, eye sockets, mouth and nose were cut out, and everything else was hollow. The heads of the figurines were traditionally painted in red, green, yellow, white and black. With the help of color, the characters of the heroes of the performance were designated. For example, according to the plot of the ancient novel "Three Kingdoms", the image of the hero Guan Yu, beloved by the people, always looks like this: a red face, thick black eyebrows, a sharp look. With all his appearance, he expresses the characteristic features of an honest, straightforward person and always ready for exploits. Green color is a hallmark of courage and boldness. For example, in the representations of the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, the image of the people's favorite Cheng Yaojin was always green. Black denoted strictness, disinterestedness, justice as the most important traits in the character of the characters. Yellow color usually highlighted the images of people with magical powers,
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| shave off the hair and dry the skin to a transparent state. After that, a sketch of the future figure is applied to the prepared skin, which is cut out using knives and scissors of various sizes and shapes, and then carefully painted. The color of the figurine should not be monotonous, while the doll can be monophonic or very colorful. The key and most difficult element of manufacturing is ironing, which is done after cutting and coloring the figure. At the end of the work, the individual parts are connected together, and the doll is completely ready. Fortunately, while modern cinema and television compete with each other for a mass audience, a group of folk artists continues to survive in China, who annually “plant” more and more flowers of creativity on the screen of the shadow theater in order to develop and preserve this wonderful ancient Chinese art for posterity. art that never ceases to be modern and surprisingly new. |
and white - they marked the images of cunning, treacherous, treacherous people. Usually the theater troupe consisted of five to seven people. The orchestra consisted of stringed musical instruments (Chinese violin "erhu", "hu-qin", "yuetsin" - a kind of lute); percussion musical instruments (small biangu, yungu drums, copper cymbals of various sizes); spiritual musical instruments (trumpet, sonna) and many others. But it should be noted that the musicians usually played several instruments and, in addition, performed the role of backup actors. An important place in the troupe was occupied by actors who deftly controlled the figures with the help of bamboo sticks and forced them to perform various movements. Moreover, the movements were performed exactly according to the plot: the actor synchronized the action, text and music accompaniment. Note: a thin string was attached to the end of the bamboo stick, connecting the moving parts
figurines.
The shadow theater of eastern Gansu became widespread during the Ming and Qing dynasties in the 14th-19th centuries. The figures for the shadow theater in this area are especially beautiful and made with great taste. The black skin of young buffalo served as the material for the manufacture of puppets of the shadow theater. This skin is quite thin, but strong and plastic. In the process of preparing the material for the future doll, it was necessary
SHADOW THEATER
India: dancing gods
The art of shadow theater became popular in India in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Buda Reddy. Indian puppets are the largest in the theater world, and shadow theater performances often take place near the temple of Shiva, the patron god of puppets. According to folklore, in the days when toys were traditionally carved whole from a single piece of wood, there was a craftsman who made unusual dolls from individual parts. One day, the god Shiva and his wife, the goddess Parvati, entered the shop of this master. Parvati, looking at the dolls, was so fascinated that she asked her husband to allow their spirits to move into the dolls so that they could dance.
After the gods had enjoyed the spectacle and were tired, they took their souls and left. The master, who was watching with interest what was happening, wanted to make the dolls dance again. He bandaged their parts and was able to control the puppets with threads.
Shadow theater performances usually took place at night from dusk to dawn. A wide clearing was well tamped down and a huge screen was placed on bamboo poles. Behind the screen, a fire was lit from coconut shells. On the other side, somewhere under a mango tree, there were numerous spectators. The narrator sat in front of the screen, and the inhabitants of the village, holding their breath, listened to his story about the life of the gods and the exploits of the heroes of the folk epic Ramayana and Ma-habharata. During the story, the drum suddenly began to beat, then other musical instruments entered, and dolls appeared on the screen - the heroes of the story. It seemed that they came to people from another world. The shadow theater performance could go on for many nights in a row. Children were not allowed to attend such spectacles. Moreover, men and women watched the performances separately.
Introduction
Puppet theater is a special kind of theatrical performance in which puppets act instead of actors (or along with actors).
The Chinese puppet theater always attracts spectators, because puppets, guided by the skillful hand of a person, show the joys and sorrows of the human world. Dolls have accompanied mankind since the earliest times of its existence. However, in ancient times, they have not yet served as a subject of entertainment or children's toys. On the contrary, they belonged to the area of the sacred world and were associated in people with the afterlife.
Puppet shows are arranged not so much for the simple amusement of the public, but to express gratitude to the gods and expel the forces of evil.
Since ancient times, colorful puppet shows have been a traditional and customary way in China to perform both purely ritual actions and ordinary entertainment performances for the amusement of a venerable public.
The puppet theater of China is of great importance for the world puppet theater, since it is hardly any other country where it has become so widespread.
The Chinese puppet theater has been little studied even for the present, most of its descriptions were made relatively recently, mainly in the 20th century. At the same time, the cultural layer of Chinese civilization is vast and multifaceted, and it is impossible to overestimate its significance. But even for Europeans of the XXI century. it remains largely mysterious. 1
Chapter 1. The emergence and development of puppet theaters
- History of occurrence
In the sources of the VI century. there is a report that in the park of the imperial palace there was a booth with three scenes arranged in tiers. On the lower tier there was a puppet orchestra of seven musicians, on the middle tier, seven monks moved in a circle, bowing to the Buddha, and on the upper stage, Buddhist deities flew among the clouds. All these dolls were powered by water. At the same time, a traditional puppet character nicknamed “bald Guo” appears in China. Representations of puppets, and in particular puppet puppets, are gaining immense popularity among the upper classes of society and are often played out at the funerals of noble persons. In the following centuries, a traditional puppet theater was formed, which received the name "small zajui". 2
In the XIII century. a resident of Hangzhou gives the names of 71 puppet theater plays, many of which had analogues among the jiangju plays. Chinese puppeteers of that time most readily used plots from folk tales. Naturally, the element of fantasy and grotesque was expressed especially strongly in the puppet theater, and legends about saints, mythical heroes, ambassadors from distant lands, presenting fabulous treasures to the ruler of the Middle Empire, etc., have always occupied a prominent place in the repertoire of puppet troupes. truth," a contemporary of that era commented on puppet shows. As before, "bald Guo" enjoyed the love of the audience, to which now his permanent partner, "venerable Bao", who apparently performed the duties of a presenter, was added. Fujian at the end of the thirteenth century. there were about 300 troupes that played performances with the participation of "bald Go". At the same time, traditions of musical accompaniment of puppet plays developed, usually played to the accompaniment of a drum and flute.
In the Song era, "floating dolls" were known - the descendants of the mechanical dolls of antiquity. According to tradition, performances of water puppets were held in special booths, but they were controlled by puppeteers. Along with plot plays such as zajui, the program of these performances included circus acts, various fantastic scenes, such as "turning a fish into a dragon." There were also so-called body dolls, the appearance of which is not entirely clear. According to one version, people played in the theater of "bodily puppets", according to another - that was the name of glove puppets. There are also reports of dolls set in motion by gunpowder. In the following centuries, three types of puppets were produced in China: puppets, glove puppets, and cane puppets. The puppet theater - mainly of glove puppets - was most popular in Fujian and Taiwan, where until recently there were more than a thousand puppet troupes. 3
There are two types of traditional Chinese puppet theater: puppet theater and shadow theater proper. And of the two arts, the first has a longer history and is more famous in the country. Since ancient times, colorful puppet shows have been a traditional and customary way in China to perform both purely ritual actions and ordinary entertainment performances for the amusement of a venerable public. Not later than the 10th century, in the era of the Sung dynasty, when other stage genres had yet to acquire their finished forms, the performance skills of puppeteers had already reached a high professional level. Starting from those ancient times and up to the present day, puppet shows and performances in which "live" actors are involved - these two main branches of traditional Chinese theatrical art - actively exert mutual creative influence on each other. The peculiar historical and cultural conditions under which China's puppet theater was formed explain why it has gained an established reputation as a spectacle of great emotional and spiritual charge, not some second-rate craft or child's play. 4
Chapter 2. Archaic types of puppet theaters
2.1 Theater of flat images
The theatrical art of China, as well as other peoples of the world, goes back to the archaic-religious tradition - to ritual actions that differ in cult and regional affiliation. These are, firstly, mysteries-carnivals (such as the “Great Exile” cleansing ritual included in the script), which included a procession of mummers dressed in animal skins and with zoomorphic masks. Secondly, mysteries-staging, reproducing episodes of the life of divine characters. Such dramatizations, reconstructed on the basis of the Chu stanzas, belonged to the Chu religious tradition. They were played out by local clergy on the basis of a certain scenario and included dialogue (recitative-improvisation) and choral (choral accompaniment) parts. Thirdly, court theatrical performances, such as, for example, the Chou's "Big Warrior Dance", which, according to written sources, was a mass stage performance of the conquest of the Yin state by the Chou people. 5
This form of folk art is born at the intersection of fine, verbal and musical art. This gives the performances of static paintings with theatrical art in common.
If we establish links between this form of folk theater and puppetry, then it can be seen as a rudimentary stage in the development of the artistic language of the puppet theater. Showing pictures hidden in a box was a common street entertainment in China. Inside the box, the pictures were moved with the help of a rope device. Sometimes the pictures were made by street actors themselves, but more often they bought cheap printed ones. Pictures have always been painted.
Pictures were grouped according to some plot, often borrowed from Chinese folk drama, only hours-long plays were reduced to a few minutes. It is quite clear that these street performances had nothing to do with religion. As a rule, they were purely entertaining and commercial in nature.
The actor sang arias, composed dialogues, changing his voice in accordance with the character of the characters, while the pictures changed. The owner of the picture box was accompanied by musicians and an assistant - a son or student. The boy collected money from passers-by, helped to drag equipment.
With all the limited material on the theater of flat images, it can be concluded that the main element of their artistic language was music. It was she who conveyed emotions, created the basis for words, delimited episodes and marked the beginning and end of the performance. The presentation of static pictures is something like the initial phase of the puppet theater, in which all other elements are already present except for the main one - movement.
2.2 Other archaic forms of puppet theater
In one of the ancient books, a classification of puppet theaters is given. There are gunpowder puppets, floating puppets and "living puppets". Very little is known about these types of dolls.
Gunpowder dolls do not exist now, just as there is no description of their device. They were probably not powered by live actors and were mechanical, and the dynamic force was explosions of gunpowder, something like a modern internal combustion engine. In this case, these dolls can be called pyrotechnics.
Regarding floating dolls, there is somewhat more information, but also not enough to imagine the performance itself. These dolls depicted a man to the waist and were mounted on wooden circles or crosses, allowing the dolls to float on the water of park ponds.
As for the "living dolls", the performances are typical only for the Song era. “Living dolls” are costumed children sitting on the shoulders of adults and imitating the game of dolls with their movements.
Chapter 3. Types of puppet theaters
3.1 Shadow theater
Chinese shadow theater is one of the types of theatrical puppet art, the founder of Chinese drama. The shadow theater has a 2000-year history and was one of the most popular theatrical genres among the people.
It is believed that the shadow theater completely borrowed the form of the traditional theater of a live actor. Others consider the shadow theater to be the ancestor. In any case, the relationship is clear.
There is an opinion that its birth belongs to the Tang era, that is, to the seventh-ninth centuries, or somewhat later, to the period of the five dynasties, and its final formation to the eleventh century.
The shadow theater, according to legend, owes its origin to the imperial grief. In time immemorial, when the wife of Emperor Han Wudi died, he was so sad that for a while he even left the government. Then, having spied how children play with shadows on the street, his dignitary invented shadow theater. The very first performance depicted the emperor's wife. Seeing the shadow of his beloved wife as if revived, the emperor was a little comforted.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), shadow theater was already developing in several directions. Only in one province of Hebei there were two main directions. These are the Western school, which was popular in the area around Beijing and was called the Beijing shadow theater, and the Eastern school, which is called the Tangshan shadow theater, because it is popular in the Tangshan area (Hebei Province). It can be said that the Tangshan shadow theater is the most famous and influential in the country. In this area, even in such a small district of less than 100 li (1 li \u003d 0.5 km) county as Latin, there were more than 30 theater troupes.
For the presentation, a large translucent white screen and flat colored puppets controlled on thin sticks are used. The puppets lean against the back of the screen and become visible. The name Shadow Theater is not entirely correct - on the other side of the cloth or paper screen, flat figures are illuminated by a lamp, and the viewer sees not shadows, but colored figures of puppets.
The doll is first cut out of paper. The paper is thin, so the doll is fragile and needs to be strengthened. For this, exactly the same figure is cut out of tanned mutton, horse or donkey skin, which is fastened with the first, paper one. Since the material for most puppets is donkey skin, the shadow theater is popularly called “donkey skin puppet theater”. The technique of cutting figures is borrowed from the art of folk paper cutting. The figurines look like they are alive. The height of the doll is most often 30 centimeters, but there are also large ones, 70 centimeters. The figures are movable at the joints of the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and knees. It is controlled by three iron spokes. The main needle is attached to the neck, and it turns out that the doll seems to be hanging on it. The other two are attached to the wrists. The needles are inserted into thin reed sticks.
The basics of the plots of shadow theater performances are usually taken from popular novels, legends, musical tales, legends, fairy tales, legends, which are interesting and understandable to ordinary Chinese viewers, especially peasants.
Nowadays, with the advent of new types of entertainment, shadow theater, like many other types of traditional folk art, is threatened with extinction. China is already talking about the need to apply for the inclusion of shadow theater in the Register of World Heritage Sites of UNESCO in order to avoid the disappearance of this type of oriental art.
Fortunately, while modern cinema and television compete with each other for the viewer, there continues to be an impressive group of Chinese folk artists in China, who annually plant new flowers of creativity on the stage of the shadow theater in order to develop and preserve for posterity this wonderful ancient Chinese art that never stops be modern and new.
Now, when there are very few street performances left, shadow theater is becoming a chamber art. In China, theater reviews and competitions are held throughout the country, there are troupes that speak on the topics of modernity in the language of traditional theater. However, from time to time there are rumors that the most ancient art is in danger of extinction, that the shadow theater needs development and support. 6
3.2 Finger puppets (glove)
There are very few detailed descriptions, almost all of them were made relatively recently, mainly in the 20th century. The earliest mention of the puppet theater appears in the Tang period (618-907). In the literature of the Song era (960-1279), Chinese researchers found a term pushed by some of them as "hand puppet", "glove puppet". But this cannot be taken for granted. The deep past of glove puppets remains unclear today. There are also several legends about glove puppets.
The first legend tells that the emperor once thought that the dolls were winking at his wives and dignitaries. The ruler ordered the puppet maker to be killed, but before the executioner could approach the puppeteer, he quickly cut his actors with a knife to prove that they were made of wood and leather. The emperor calmed down and allowed the master to continue his performances, but, so that there would be no more misunderstandings in the future, he forbade women to watch performances.
The following legend tells about the origin of the first doll. This legend is recorded in the Tang Dynasty of Duan An-tze in his book "Records of Folk Songs". This legend tells how the leader of some nomadic tribe, Khan Modo, laid siege to the city of Pingchen. The city was saved by one of the emperor's close associates. Knowing that the khan's wife was very jealous, he ordered to make a beautiful doll and with the help of some devices made her dance on the city stage.
The wife, seeing the dancing doll, mistook her for a living woman, was afraid that, having captured the city, the khan would make the beauty his concubine. In this case, both the khan's love and the khan's mercy would have been lost. The danger was so great and real that the frightened khansha persuaded her husband to lift the siege from the city.
Naturally, none of the legends reveals the origins of the puppet theater in China, but the very existence of these legends suggests that even in those days, the puppet theater was an everyday, constant phenomenon, part of the public life of the people, one of the elements of folk spectacles.
The action in this theater takes place in a bright frame against a colorful background. There are usually no scenery, but there may be one or two chairs on the stage in which the characters are having a dialogue or uttering a monologue (more precisely, they sing arias). In some plays, these are not chairs, but a bed. Since there are no decorations, the place of what is happening is determined by the word. Also of great importance are the curtain doors leading from the back of the stage forward. There are always two of them, in the southern tradition there are three. If the scene changes, then the character exits through the left, from the viewer, door. If the episode ends, he leaves the stage through the right door.
Glove puppets are small in size. Some dolls are additionally mechanized: their eyes rotate, their mouths open. They also move their fingers. Their joints are mobile. If the hand is turned palm up, then all fingers are equally extended, but as soon as this hand changes position and turns palm down, the fingers bend under their own weight. In addition, they are able to hold objects with one hand. To do this, the doll's hand is made in the form of fingers clenched into a fist. A hole is made inside, and, when necessary, a sword, bow, and yoke are inserted into it.
It should be noted the thoroughness and subtlety of the decoration of sculptural details and clothing. Their heads and dress very accurately imitate the make-up and costume of the actors of the Chinese national drama. Puppets are not made by puppeteers themselves, but by professional sculptors. It can be said that the face and make-up of the dolls create a symbolic description of the physical, moral qualities and even display the biography of the character. The traditional performance of glove puppets lasted no more than half an hour, its short plays and numbers took only a few minutes. It took place on the street, among a crowd of passers-by, or in the courtyard of a private house, where the actor was invited, having agreed in advance on the play and payment.
In Beijing, the puppeteers worked alone; in the south, they often worked with an assistant and a group of four or five musicians. In China, the concepts of puppeteer and storyteller are not separated. The actor controls the puppets and speaks for them. The puppeteer always works inside the screen, creating the illusion of independence of the puppets.
The type of character is expressed by the voice, the whole appearance, the shape of the head, the coloring of the face.
But the main means of expression is plastic. The plastique of China's glove puppets is very "eloquent", as in pantomime. The characters have different walks, they can swordsman, juggle, wear a yoke, dance, after hard work or battle, they breathe rapidly, in their sleep they snore, if it's hot, they wipe the sweat, etc. the puppet tiger can itch, catch a flea on the back paw. If the commander develops a battle plan, then he walks with his hands behind his back.
Thanks to the "classical" content and high culture of performance, this theater was able to serve the most diverse segments of the population - from refined intellectual families to ordinary peasants. 7
3.3 Dolls on a stick
The volumetric doll on a stick has become widespread in China. It was especially popular in the south. The most developed form has developed in the province of Guangdong. Two traditions of this theater are best known: northern (Beijing) and southern (Cantonese).
Performances of small puppets have been preserved in the form of one-man street theater. This theater was intended mainly for street performances, in contrast to the shadow theater, which played in private homes by special invitation.
Stylistic features of northern street puppets on a stick:
- Small size (same size as glove puppets, even smaller heads)
- A long stick for controlling the head and body (limits the doll's mobility);
- A symbolic image of the hand - and the sleeve is a spiral twisted wire.
Much more is known about the southern performances of the puppet on a stick, especially the famous Guangdong performances. Local puppeteers attribute its appearance to the Tang era. There is a legend about the origin of this type of puppet theater. It says that at the court of the emperor, who ruled in 712-756, performances were played in which the emperor himself and his entourage took part. One of the sovereign's ministers was from Guangdong. Leaving the service and returning to his homeland, he decided to arrange performances like those in the capital. However, he could not attract anyone to participate. And then he ordered to make dolls for dances controlled by sticks. From them came the custom to show puppet shows.
It is believed that initially the puppets on a stick danced and showed short scenes without singing. Copying the repertoire of musical dramas began later. Over time, Beijing drama began to penetrate the southern Chinese tradition of performance. In modern puppet theaters, borrowings from Peking and Cantonese operas are closely intertwined, in different troupes only one or another influence prevails. The repertoire of Guangdong puppeteers differs little from the repertoire of traditional musical drama. Each doll consists of several parts that are assembled before the performance and disassembled after.
The main element of the doll is the head. It is carved from wood along with a stick-handle. The heads are large, up to 20 cm in height. The core is hollowed out from above, then it is closed with hair. Parts of the face can be movable: dolls can rotate their eyes, close their eyelids, open their mouths, move their nose.
In the set of the troupe there are from 35 to 60 heads. They differ in shape and coloring. There are eight types of heads:
- type of young heroine;
- type of young scientist;
- type of a man of mature age with sharper facial features;
- type of a young warrior with an almost square face;
- type of clown - a large nose that can move, a laughing mouth, eyes are mobile, the tongue protrudes;
- type of procuress (comic female character) - caricatured facial features;
- type of a mature man with even sharper facial features;
- type of rebellious and barbarian kings - similar to the previous ones, but with extremely sharp facial features.
In addition to these heads, the heads of a horse, a tiger are carved.
The profession of a puppeteer was mostly hereditary. But it happened that poor families sold the boys to the owner of the troupe. The boy became a student. the students were treated harshly: they were forced to do all the dirty work, they were punished with whips for the slightest service, they were set aside without food. The training went on for years.
Cantonese troupes employed at least six people. They performed with musicians who were not considered members of the troupe, but simply invited for the season.
Guangdong puppet troupes worked by invitation only.
Previously, until the Second World War, performances lasted all night. Perhaps this custom has ancient religious roots, but later the duration was determined by domestic reasons: people were afraid to return home through the dark streets and preferred to wait for dawn in the theater.
All puppet plays are musical. Events on the stage are accompanied by certain melodies. The main characters sing arias. The state of the heroes is expressed not only by vocal means, but also by the instrumental performance of melodies. The puppeteers adopted all the musical accompaniment from the performers of the musical drama, and ideally they should be good opera singers.
The puppeteers are hidden from the viewer by a screen. It looks like the doll lives its own life on stage. Each puppet has its own puppeteer. In his left hand he holds both sticks of the hands, in his right - the stick of the head. The most difficult thing here is to control the hands of the puppets. The puppeteer holds the cane of one hand between the index finger and thumb, and holds the other with the other fingers. The middle finger can move from one reed to another. The difficulty lies in the fact that sometimes the doll's arms must move in different directions, and the canes are curved in the direction of the contour of the doll's clothes. Creating the right gesture requires many years of experience and great skill.
The conventions of the Chinese theater of the puppet on a stick are subject to the general Chinese national traditions, the rules of the Chinese theatrical language, but they have some specifics. These deviations are connected with the nature of the puppet theater in general, and in this case with the nature of the puppet, controlled from behind the screen with a stick in combination with canes.
Distinctive features of stick puppet theater in southern China:
- the puppeteer is always hidden from the viewer by a screen;
- illusory display method;
- the actual absence of hands and body in dolls; lack of legs;
-Mobility of face parts;
- direct connection with the repertoire of the traditional theater of live actors (performing the same plays).
3.4 Puppet theater
The term kuilei, which in Chinese refers to a wooden puppet, often meaning a puppet, first occurs in an ancient book written around 178. But this book does not give an indisputable fact that allows one to speak of the existence of puppets in the 2nd century, since it in a broader sense - refers to the theater of puppets, and to the theater of actors in masks. So, most likely because both puppets and masks were carved from wood.
The existence of puppets in the 18th century is indisputable. This is evidenced by a poem by Emperor Minghuang, or Xuanzong (reigned 712-756), from the Tang Dynasty, in which he compares a person to a puppet on strings that comes to life only for a certain period of time during a performance. In the Tang era, puppet performances were called qiansi - "the theater of silk threads." In the Song era, puppet shows were very popular, but no descriptions of the puppets of that era are found in the literature, in any case, not found. The plays are no different from traditional theater plays and from those used in other types of puppet theatre. The puppeteers did not have the full text of the plays. They knew, as a rule, their roles by heart. But usually the main actor kept the full text of the play.
At the plot level of the performance of Chinese puppets, thus, the general Chinese theatrical repertoire was reproduced. You won't find anything special, peculiar only to this type of theatre. The specificity of the content is revealed at a deep level, it is in the magical sense of representation, most often hidden (and sometimes forgotten) and associated with the ancient Chinese ideas about the magical properties of wooden puppets.
No other Chinese puppet theater was as fused with magical ceremonies and religious rites as the puppet theater. The main thing used to be in the magical power of dolls, connected with human life and capable of influencing it. In modern China, this is almost non-existent. But in Taiwan in the 70s, researcher J. Pempano found it well preserved.
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