ARTicles vol. 2 i.2: Six Hundred Years in the Making

Chen Shi-Zheng, one of the most forward-looking directors in the world today, has found inspiration by looking back six hundred years to a play called The Injustice Done to Tou O by Kuan Han-ch’ing, the father of Yuan drama. This play forms the basis of Charles Mee’s Snow In June.

When the Mongolians invaded China, they established the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). During the Yuan dynasty native Chinese scholars wrote plays often as a political protest against the Mongols for the havoc wreaked by their conquests. In addition, the Mongols, unlike the native Chinese dynasties, distrusted scholars and limited their access to important government posts. The Mongols relegated scholars to one of the lowest ranks on the ten grades of honor, placing them between singing girls and beggars.

In addition to irreverence toward Mongolian power, love was a popular theme in Yuan drama. A wide array of female protagonists drove these romances: respectable ladies at court, spirited maids, and witty courtesans. By showing vigorous action and stoic valor the heroines embodied Confucian virtues.

Law courts were another common theme in Yuan drama. Judges could be wise, foolish, or scoundrels, and retribution was a primary concern in many plays. Often, as in The Injustice Done to Tou O, a ghost would aid the mandarin or governor in solving the case. Although the supernatural world was not central to the story, spirits appeared frequently. Because the Chinese regarded the spiritual world as very close to the human world, the appearance of ghosts was not out of the ordinary.

During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Kuan Han-ch’ing’s The Injustice Done to Tou O became a subject of kunju operas. Qian Yi, the actress playing the Girl in the A.R.T. production of Snow In June, is trained in the ancient style of kunju. Although the original music in Snow In June is composed by Paul Dresher, parts of Ms. Qian’s performance draws from the kunju tradition. Kunju began in 1368 when the Ming dynasty pushed the Mongolians out of China. Unlike the Yuan, the Ming were a cultivated royal family, who patronized the theater. A favorite play of the first Ming emperor was The Lute, written in a new form called chuanqui and distinguished by complex, poetic language.

Although the music that originally accompanied chuanqui has not survived, its sixteenth-century incarnation still exists. Wei Liangfu, a scholar and singer from the southeastern town Kunshan developed music based on local singing styles. Listeners called the gentle flute music “water polishing music.” In 1579 it was applied to a chuanqi play called Washing Silk by Huanshi Ji. The delicate music and the literate drama blended well together and kunju drama was born.

Other characteristics of kunju include elaborate symbolism and stylized movement. In general, the Chinese dramatic tradition is a combination of song, speech, mime, dance, and acrobatics. Stages are bare, consisting often of only a table and two chairs. Props are seldom used–action is communicated in formal gestures. Waving a tasseled whip represents riding a horse, letting it hang straight down, a dismount. Walking around the stage shows a long journey. The performers presented, rather than represented the story and the audience knew the characters and action based on these popular conventions.

Kunju became the dominant dramatic form for the next two hundred years, producing plays that are still popular in China today. In 1999 Chen Shi-Zheng staged the kunju drama The Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu at the Lincoln Center Festival, starring Qian Yi. The performance, done in the kunju style, ran twenty hours and lasted three days.

Kirsten Bowen is a first-year dramaturgy student at the A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theater Training.