Stage Setting
STAGESETTING Stage Time and Space View
Drama, as a special form of reflecting life, requires that the scene of life in the show be expressed in the limited space of the stage and the limited time of a performance, which will inevitably produce an infinite space reflecting the scene of life (in a relative sense) and the stage. There are two contradictions between the limited space, the infinite time for the continuation of the drama plot and the limited time for the actual performance. Traditional Chinese opera has its own approach in resolving these contradictions. It publicly expresses the hypothesis of the stage, admits that drama is a drama, and adopts a detached attitude towards the treatment of stage space and time, and does not investigate whether the use of stage space is in line with life. The scale does not ask whether the performance time is in line with the continuation of the plot time. Instead, it relies on the structure of the branching system and virtual expression techniques to create a unique artistic conception on a stage without any installations, and make a broad image of life.
Hypothetical Stage Height
The highly blurred stage is the most important and unique way of expression of Chinese opera art. There is often nothing on the opera stage. However, when this character appeared in the music and danced with wooden paddles, the audience was immediately taken into a flat boat and bumped on the turbulent river. The audience and the characters seem to be in the same boat, and experience the feeling of meeting in autumn together. In roleplaying, the high whip, the “vaulting horse” performance, and sometimes the horse Selected stills from “The Peony Pavilion· A Dream in the Garden”
boy’s tossing and turning, can immediately bring the audience into the battlefield of the golden horse and iron horse. Spectators and characters experience sword and shadow, light and sword, and the battle of flesh and blood
imagination, through the roles of singing, doing, reading, and dancing, can the time, place, and environment be concretized. Then let the audience begin to associate and be recognized.
After the role was played, the stage was still empty. However, the audience admitted that the rowing and galloping on the stage was “real”. It should be said that traditional Chinese opera performances are performed on an empty stage without scenery, using virtual actions to mobilize the audience’s associations, and jointly create a specific drama situation composed of factors such as environment, events, and character relationships. Sometimes, a table and two chairs are placed on the opera stage, but they often do not represent any specific scene. Only when an actor comes on stage, relying on the actor’s
The detachment of the concept of stage space in opera is manifested in two aspects: The determination of the stage environment is based on the activities of the characters. There is a certain stage environment for activities with characters; for activities without characters, the stage is just an abstract space; even if there are some decorations or music performances sometimes, if the performances of different actors are combined, it will only play a role. A certain suggestive effect cannot independently show the dramatic environment. Therefore, the character’s on and off stage becomes the hub of the drama environment change and plot development.
Spatial Performance
For example, in “The Peony Pavilion A Dream in the Garden”, Chunxiang sang two tunes with Du Liniang, and “the twelve pavilions were actually seen all over.” The audience followed them to see the golden powder in the gallery, the moss in the pond, the broken wall, the Yunxia Cuixuan, the Yanbo painting boat, the tea mushroom stand, the peony pavilion, hear the singing of fireflies, and see the mountain azaleas. It can be described as one step at a time. However, when the actor has finished singing and dancing, all this will cease to exist, and the stage is still empty. Everything is false, everything is false. In the first scene of “The Meeting of Heroes”, although there are big tents and tables and chairs on the stage, it does not specify the specific environment, so Huang Gai and Gan Ning can dominate in front of the big tent. When Zhou Yu appeared, the stage was determined
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