Drama knowledge of Cantonese Opera

Cantonese Opera, also known as "Guangdong Opera" or "Great Opera", is one of the traditional operas of the Han nationality. It originated from Nan Opera and is popular in Lingnan and other places where Cantonese people live. It began to appear in Guangdong and Guangxi during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. It is a performing art that combines chorus, chanting, playing, music by musicians, stage costumes, and abstract shapes. The following is a little knowledge about Cantonese opera, welcome to read and refer to it!

1. Historical origins

Cantonese opera is an operatic style that Guangdong artists absorb from other provinces into Cantonese opera troupes, and combine it with Yiyu and singing. A type of drama formed by incorporating local ballads and ditties. During the mid-Ming Dynasty, there were local people in various parts of central Guangdong who made a living through drama. Starting from the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Yiyang and Kunqiang appeared. During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, there were local talents in Guangzhou who sang Cantonese tunes when acting. During the Qianlong period, local troupe artists established the Qionghua Guild Hall, a peer organization in Dajiwei, Foshan Town. From the Qianlong to Daoguang years, hundreds of Waijiang opera troupes from other provinces entered Guangdong and established the Guangdong Province Waijiang Liyuan Guild Hall in Guangzhou. The local troupe learned artistic nourishment of vocal tune and performance from the Waijiang troupe, and gradually formed a performance style that mainly sang Bangzi tune. In the fourth year of Xianfeng (1854), Li Wenmao, a local troupe artist with Liyuan children as the backbone, organized the Red Scarf Army to revolt against the Qing Dynasty. The Qing government strictly prohibited local troupe performances, so the artists had no choice but to switch to Waijiang Troupe or pretend to be Peking Opera. In the early years of Tongzhi, local classes emerged again, and the Bahe Guild Hall was established in Guangzhou in the 15th year of Guangxu (1889). At this time, the local class also absorbed the Erhuang tune, and could mainly use Bangzi and Erhuang tunes, as well as large tunes (localized Yiyang tune and Kun tune), to perform Jianghu Shibaben, New Jianghu Shibaben, and Dapangchang Shiba This and many other plays. The performance roles are divided into ten categories: Wusheng, Zhengsheng, Xiaosheng, Xiaowu, Zongsheng, Gongji, Zhengdan, Huadan, Jing and Chou. The martial arts skills are the southern martial arts evolved from Shaolin martial arts. When performing the original "The Prime Minister of the Six Kingdoms", more than a hundred people appeared on the stage, with flowers blooming and local sounds mixed, which was very different from other dramas. Early Cantonese opera troupes took specially rented "red boats" to shuttle back and forth to perform in various ports along the Pearl River. Therefore, Cantonese opera artists were also called "red boat disciples". At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, theaters were built one after another in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao. Local troupes, newly called Cantonese opera, gradually moved from rural stages to urban theater performances. After that, provincial and Hong Kong troupes emerged that moved between large and medium-sized cities. In order to meet the needs of urban audiences and theater performances, opera masters emerged who wrote scripts as a profession. Most of their new plays were gorgeous and ingenious Shengdan plays. The Xiasifu Troupe, which performs in western Guangdong, is still good at performing the original plays starring Wu Sheng and Xiao Wu, and maintains its rough and simple artistic characteristics. During the Guangxu period, the prefectural troupes left their hometowns and moved to other ports one after another. At this time, more and more performances were performed in overseas countries.

Before and after the Revolution of 1911 (1911), some Cantonese opera artists were influenced by the ideological trend of the democratic revolution and participated in the activities of the Tongmenghui initiated by Sun Yat-sen. Some people in society organized groups of idealists to promote the idea of ??democratic revolution through activities to improve Cantonese opera. Later, influenced by the reform trend of Cantonese opera and the need to compete with the emerging movies with a spirit of change and innovation, various factors of the comprehensive art of Cantonese opera have undergone significant changes. The repertoire includes themes from ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, and there are thousands of new screenwriters. Xiaosheng and Xiaowu should change from singing in falsetto to singing in real voice. Bangzi, Erhuang, Yiyang, Kun and other tunes have been greatly different from the original tunes. Bangzi and Erhuang have created new ban patterns and sentence patterns, and applied popular folk tunes such as Muyu, Nanyin, Cantonese and Banyan to Singing music can comprehensively use a variety of voices by concatenating tunes and changing patterns. In addition to the original ethnic accompaniment instruments, Western instruments such as violins, saxophones, and guitars are added. Cantonese opera singing music is more flexible and has beautiful melodies. . The performing arts absorbed the kung fu of Peking Opera and the martial arts of the Northern School, and drew lessons from movies and dramas that emphasize real and life-like performance methods, forming a performance system with Wusheng, Wenwusheng, Xiaosheng, Zhengyindan, Erbang Huadan, and Chousheng as the main pillars. Sheng, Dan and Chouxing have produced various schools of singing. From the 1930s to the 1940s, the Cantonese opera stage was full of stars. Five major schools emerged, namely Xue Juexian, Ma Shitsang, Bai Jurong, Liao Xihuai and Gui Mingyang. They dominated the reform direction of Cantonese opera and created many excellent repertoires. The stage scenery has changed from one table and two chairs to flat, three-dimensional scenery and even mechanical scenery. The lighting has developed from fire lamps and large lights to electric lights and colored rotating lights.

There are different opinions on the emergence and formation of Cantonese opera. But it is generally believed that Cantonese opera began to sprout in the middle of the Ming Dynasty and was conceived in local classes.

Generally speaking, the sources of local classes are quoted from "A Brief History of Guangdong Drama" written by Mai Xiaoxia. According to "A Brief History": When Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, the famous Beijing actress Zhang Wuhao fled to Guangdong. , sojourned in Dajiwei, Foshan Town. He taught the Red Boat disciples with Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera, changed his organization and expanded his scale. The Qionghua Guild Hall was founded to record the origin of Cantonese opera local classes. In fact, this greatly shortened the history of Cantonese opera local classes. Qionghua Guild Hall was not founded until the Yongzheng period[3]. According to historical records, as early as the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty By the Wanli period, in Foshan and Guangzhou, local classes had established the industry organization Qionghua Guild Hall. After continuous development, it was formed by combining Yiyang and Kunqiang with folk tunes such as Nanyin, Dragon Boat, Muyu, Cantonese Acura, Xianshui Song and Guangdong instrumental music that are popular in Guangdong. Until the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, it gradually evolved into a blend of northern and southern, Chinese and foreign singing music, sung in the vernacular, thus forming a local drama with distinctive Lingnan characteristics - Cantonese opera. What makes Cantonese opera unique from other provincial operas is that it not only belongs to the category of Chinese freehand drama, but also has a light, smooth, new and changeable personality, and enjoys the reputation of "Red Bean of the South".

2. Performing Arts

1. Singing, chanting, and fighting

The performance skills of Cantonese opera actors are divided into four basic categories-singing, acting, chanting, and fighting .

Singing refers to singing skills. Different singing methods have different ways to match different roles, including flat throat and sub-throat. Flat throat is the tone used in normal speaking. Generally, male characters, niches, use flat throat to perform. The sub-throat is an octave higher than the flat-throat, and often uses falsetto to play female roles. In addition to classifying by scale, they will also be classified by sound characteristics. Big throat is the use of a rough voice. At the same time, Cantonese opera will also absorb unique singing styles from different places, such as Guangdong Nanyin and Muyu from Fujian, and Guangdong's local folk songs Yuegu and Banyan.

Doing refers to doing work, also known as body posture, that is, physical performance. These include gestures, steps, walking positions, eye closing, hand movements, body postures, water sleeves, feather skills, shaving skills, water hair, abstract performances and traditional martial arts.

Nian refers to reciting the lines, that is, reading out the lines. Use words to explain the plot and the thoughts and feelings of the characters.

Fighting refers to martial arts, such as: dancing with water sleeves, water hair, playing with fans, wielding swords and guns, playing with sticks, waving flags, etc.

2. Singing

Ma Shi-tsang, who created the unique singing tune of Cantonese opera, Ma tune?

Ma Shi-tsang, who created the unique singing tune of Cantonese opera, Ma tune

In the early Qing Dynasty, the Waijiang Troupe introduced Geyang and Kunshan accents to Guangdong. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, local troupes gradually emerged, but the singing style was still dominated by bangzi. Later, with the decline of Kunqu Opera and the influence of Huizhou Troupe, it turned to singing tunes based on Xipi Erhuang. During the Revolution of 1911, the Patriot Troupe changed the theater Mandarin to vernacular, also known as the new accent. During the Anti-Japanese War, famous old opera singers emerged one after another, each studying Cantonese opera and developing their own singing styles.

For example: Xue Juexian's "Xue Qiang" is free and elegant, with a mellow charm. Ma Shitseng's "Ma Tune" is half-singing and half-spoken, and is very popular. The little star's "Xing accent" is full of delicate emotions, low back and forth, and soul-stirring. Luo Jiabao's "Xiaqiang" is a combination of real and false voices, which is fresh and pleasant to the ear. There is also Hongxian Nu's "Hongqiang", which is characterized by sweetness, crispness, roundness, moistness and delicateness. Xinma Shizeng-Qingyue's long "Xinma" Qiang?, He Feifan's "Fanqiang", Fang Yanfen's "Fangqiang", Chen Xiaofeng's "Fengqiang" and so on.

3. Body posture

Actors use symbolic gestures and movements to interpret the characters and emotions of the characters in the play, the changes in time and space, and the development of the plot. The basic steps include: standing posture, platform step, seven-star step, pointing palm, cloud palm, appearing, running on the round platform, opening the door, pulling the mountain (cloud hand), mounting the horse and carrying the offering.

The stage step for a young student is the T-step, which should show majesty and grandeur. Hua Dan's stage steps are skidding steps, which need to show lightness. In order to express psychological states such as hesitation and considering how to respond, or situations such as searching for a target or finding a way out, actors will use the "Water Wave" program to express it.

For example, the martial arts of Tiao Da Jia (southern school), Ma Dangzi, Qi Ba (northern school) and various fists, swords, swords and guns, etc. The big jump is composed of a series of body movements, including the actor's appearance, pulling up the mountain (cloud hand), hanging one leg, appearing, seven-star step, pinch step (wrong step), Qiao step, cloud step, small jump, kick, kick A series of actions such as armor (kicking robe armor), bodywork, face washing, tailwind flag, and round platform walking.

Among them, Xu Gong is a specialty in martial arts. There were many styles of early Xu Gong performances, including ten techniques such as throwing, flicking, plucking, stirring, twisting, struggling, holding, kneading, blowing, and shaking with fingers to express leisure and happiness. , thoughtful, unexpected, surprised, angry and other expressions.

3. Classification of trades

The roles in dramas are called trades in Cantonese opera and Chinese opera. The roles of Cantonese opera were originally Yimo (old students), Erjing (huamian), Sanzhengsheng (middle-aged male characters), Sizhengdan (Tsing Yi), Wuzhengchou (male and female leads), and Liuyuanwai (big flowery villains). ), Qi Xiao (Xiaosheng, Xiaowu), Ba Tie (two gangs of Hua Dan), Jiu Fu (Lao Dan), Shi Za (underlings, minor players, etc.), collectively known as the ten major professions.

Later it was simplified into a six-pillar system, namely Wenwusheng, Xiaosheng, Zhengyindan, Erbanghuadan, Chousheng and Wusheng. These are classified according to the character's age, gender, personality, appearance and other characteristics. ?Mo? represents the elderly character. ?生? represents the male role. ?Dan? represents the female role. ?Jing? is a male character with a strong and violent personality. ?Ugly? is a funny character.

4. Performance venues

In the history of Cantonese opera, the performance locations of Cantonese opera have continued to evolve like other Chinese operas. Cantonese opera performance venues are generally divided into temporary theater booths and permanent stages. During the Ming Dynasty, when people lived a prosperous life, wealthy families would set up their own theater stages and recruit private theater troupes. The Huafeng Stage outdoors in front of the Foshan Ancestral Temple was a fixed stage for entertaining common people. By the beginning of the 20th century (the early years of the Republic of China), Cantonese opera performances entered theaters. With the continuous improvement of facilities, audiences can enjoy Cantonese opera performances more comfortably. In the past, there were many famous theaters in Guangzhou, Foshan and Hong Kong, while Hong Kong had Taiping Theatre, Kosheng Theatre, Central Theatre, Po Hing Theater and Lee Stage. They all witnessed the golden years of Hong Kong Cantonese opera.

After World War II, amusement parks began to enter the lives of Hong Kong citizens, and some famous amusement parks such as Kai Tak Recreation Ground and Lai Yuen Recreation Ground also became venues for Cantonese opera performances. When Lee Theater was demolished and rebuilt into Lee Theater Plaza in 1991, Sunbeam Theater became the center of Cantonese opera in Hong Kong. As Cantonese opera declined in Hong Kong, Cantonese opera troupes mainly performed in places such as the Sunbeam Theatre, Kwai Tsing Theater and Ko Shan Theatre.