![]() ![]() He is at liberty to improvise, and the spontaneity of his performance is part of his technique. This is the only role that consistently uses colloquial speech. He is not necessarily a fool, but often a serious or evil character. The chou is the clown or comic of opera stage. These roles require skill in fighting and gymnastics, and a powerful voice capable of protracted enunciation of tremendous volume. In addition to their bold make-up, the jing actor wears multi-layered costumes with padded shoulders to give bulk, and high soled boots to increase their height. These are the jing roles, or the brave warriors, swashbuckling bandits, upright judges, and occasionally the gods and supernatural beings. The guimen dan »Óªù¥¹ represents the young, unmarried girl, the cai dan ±m¥¹ the wicked maidservant, and the lao dan ¦Ñ¥¹ the old woman.Ī particularly striking feature of Beijing opera is the practice of painting the face and forehead with bold, colorful patterns. The wudan ªZ¥¹ roles represent feminine and elegant maidens skilled in fighting, horseback riding and what might be considered masculine skills. The huadan ªá¥¹ is often a woman of questionable character a coquette full of charm and seduction. The zhengdan ¥¿¥¹ roles symbolize the upright and faithful wife or devoted daughter, requiring grace and elegance. It was not until the late eighteenth century that women were banned from the stage, allowed to return again only in the early twentieth century. Women had performed on stage in Chinese theatre since the twelfth century. To achieve this the actor has to appear more feminine than any woman, not by caricature, but by the actor's skill in conveying the essential points that typify women in the eyes of the audience. The technique of the dan must not only fulfill the requirements of stage practice, but also has to create the impression that it is a woman who is acting. The task of the male dan actor is to interpret feminine character and behavior for audiences to whom symbolism presents no difficulty. The dan actors play all of the women's roles, which, until recently, were played by men. Sheng are further divided into military roles (wu sheng ªZ¥Í), if the part requires stage fighting and acrobatics, and civil roles (wen sheng ¤å¥Í), if the part requires singing and acting only. They have no painted make-up and, with the exception of the conventional young man (xiao sheng ¤p¥Í), they wear beards. The sheng are always male characters who represent scholars, statesmen, warriors and so forth. Training of opera performers begins at a very early age and is not only physically demanding, but often quite brutal, as is powerfully depicted in Chen Kaige's film, Farewell My Concubine. Each role has its own vocabulary of gesture, walking, and vocal technique. In Beijing opera, the actor's roles are divided under four main headings, sheng, dan, jing, and zhou, or male, female, painted face, and comic. ![]() Chinese Opera Types of Roles in Beijing Operaĭepartment of Theatre and Dance, Hamilton College
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