Hostname: page-component-5447f9dfdb-t9wd7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-30T17:02:35.880Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Theatre of Purgation and the Theatre of Cultivation

A Comparative Study of Theatre and Culture from a Chinese Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2021

William Huizhu Sun
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In China, theatre studies has been dominated by Western discourse on serious drama, mostly the theatre of purgation. It is equally important, however, to study popular Western theatre genres, such as musicals, comedies, and relatively uplifting plays, especially in terms of their similarities with Chinese opera—an epitome of theatre of cultivation.

Information

Type
Article
Information
TDR , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , June 2021 , pp. 8 - 28
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press for Tisch School of the Arts/NYU

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References

Aristotle, . 1993. The Poetics . In The HBJ Anthology of Drama, ed. Worthen, W.B., 98–106. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace & Company.Google Scholar
Boal, Augusto. (1974) 1985. Theatre of the Oppressed. New York: Theatre Communications Group.Google Scholar
Yu, Cao. (1934) 1994. Thunderstorm. Beijing: People’s Literature Press.Google Scholar
Rongnu, Chen. 2016. “Greek Drama on Chinese Stages: An Interview with Luo Jinlin.” In Comparative Literature and World Literature vol. 9, ed. Yuehong, Chen and Hui, Zhang, 1–21. Beijing: Peking University Press.Google Scholar
Shixiong, Chen, and Guochen, Dong. 2021. “Quangang Hokkien Opera: Development by the People.” TDR 65, 2 (T250):63–76.Google Scholar
Faulkner, William. 1950. “Nobel Prize Speech.” 10 December, Stockholm, Sweden. Accessed 16 March 2018. www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/williamfaulknernobelprizeaddress.htm.Google Scholar
Chunfang, Fei. 2015. “In Search of Playwrights Being ‘Post-ed:’ One Evening Tour of New York Theatre.” Drama (Beijing) 2:35–45.Google Scholar
Jin, Fu. 2016. 20世纪中国戏剧史 [A History of Chinese Theatre in the 20th Century]. Beijing: China Social Science Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Glover, Eric M. 2021. “Joy and Love in Zora Neale Hurston and Dorothy Waring’s 1944 Black Feminist Musical Polk County .” TDR 65, 2 (T250):45–62.Google Scholar
Changyong, Huang. 2021. “Shanghai: The Road to a Modern Performing Arts City. TDR 65, 2 (T250): 150–166.Google Scholar
Kennedy, John F. 1961. “Inaugural Address.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Accessed 21 December 2020. www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/historic-speeches/inaugural-address.Google Scholar
Law, Ho Chak. 2021. “Restaging Zhu Yingtai in Early Communist China: Shaoxing Opera, Color Film, and the ‘New Woman.’” TDR 65, 2 (T250):77–94.Google Scholar
Fanlong, Liao. 2018. “An Analytical Report on China’s Professional Theatres.” Keynote speech at the conference on Theatre Operation in China, Beijing, 22 May. Accessed 3 March 2020. www.360doc.com/content/18/0531/18/45262611_758565577.shtml.Google Scholar
Lippman, Amy. 1984. “Rhythm and Truths: An Interview with Sam Shepard.” American Theatre, 1 April. Accessed 15 January 2020. www.americantheatre.org/1984/04/01/rhythm-truths-an-interview-with-sam-shepard/.Google Scholar
Niansheng, Luo. 1962. Yalisiduode: Shixue [Translation of Aristotle’s Poetics]. Beijing: People’s Literature Press.Google Scholar
Jin, Mao, ed. 1958. Sixty Operas. Beijing: Zhonghua Book House.Google Scholar
Martin, Carol. 2021. “Foreign Assembly: Toshiki Okada’s Time’s Journey through a Room in the US.” TDR 65, 2 (T250):95–105.Google Scholar
Nathans, Heather S. 2021. “Defying ‘Death at the Wheel:’ The Unexpectedly Long Life and Far Reach of Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl .” TDR 65, 2 (T250):29–44.Google Scholar
Peking University Aesthetics Program, Dept. of Philosophy, ed. 1980. Sourcebook of the History of Chinese Aesthetics, vol. 1. Beijing: Zhonghua Book House.Google Scholar
Jixiang, Peng. 2006. General Theory of the Arts (艺术学概论). Beijing: Peking University Press.Google Scholar
Jixiang, Peng. 2015. “China’s Traditional Culture and the Spirit of Chinese Arts.” Guangming Daily (光明日报 Beijing), 5 November.Google Scholar
Plato, . 1969. Plato in Twelve Volumes, trans. Shorey, Paul. Vols. 5 and 6. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Seetoo, Chiayi. 2021. “An Illusion that Mirrors a Dream: The Storytelling of Stan Lai.” TDR 65, 2 (T250):106–130.Google Scholar
Seetoo, Chiayi, and Zou, Haoping. 2016. “China’s Guangchang Wu: The Emergence, Choreography, and Management of Dancing in Public Squares.” TDR 60, 4 (T232):22–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liang, Shen. 2014. “Performing Dream or Reality: The Dilemma of Chinese Community-Based Theatre.” TDR 58, 1 (T221):16–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liang, Shen. 2021. “Drama Etudes: A Pedagogical Experiment in China.” TDR 65, 2 (T250):131–149.Google Scholar
Sierz, Aleks. 2001. In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today. London: Faber & Faber.Google Scholar
Qingmei, Tao. 2016. “The Models, Problems and Solutions of Construction of Grand Theatres in China.” Perspectives in Culture (文化纵横, Beijing) 5.Google Scholar
Wang, Chong. 2014. “Did You Understand Wilson’s Silence and Humor?” The New Beijing Newspaper (新京报), 9 December:C08–09.Google Scholar
Guowei, Wang. 2013. A History of Song and Yuan Dynasty Opera; Comments on Poetry . Changchun: Jilin People’s Press.Google Scholar
Wichmann, Elizabeth. 1991. Listening to Theatre: The Aural Dimension of Beijing Opera. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.Google Scholar
Lin, Xiao, ed. 2015. The Marriage of Beijing Opera and Greek Tragedy: Essays on the Experimental Beijing Opera Oedipus the King. Hangzhou: Zhejiang People’s Press.Google Scholar
Changhai, Ye. 2014. A History of Chinese Theatre Studies. Beijing: Zhonghua Book House.Google Scholar
Fanren, Zeng. 2000. “On Jiang Kongyang’s Thoughts of Aesthetics.” Literature, History, Philosophy 5:25–31.Google Scholar

TDReadings

Evans, Megan. 2012. “‘Brand China’ on the World Stage: Jingju, the Olympics, and Globalization.” TDR 56, 2 (T214):113–30. https://doi-org/10.1162/DRAM_a_00170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fei, Faye Chunfang, and Sun, William Huizhu. 2006. “ Othello and Beijing Opera: Appropriation as a Two-Way Street.” TDR 50, 1 (T189):120–33. https://doi-org/10.1162/dram.2006.50.1.120.Google Scholar
Liu, Siyuan. 2009. “Performing Gender at the Beginning of Modern Chinese Theatre.” TDR 53, 2 (T202):35–50. https://doi-org/10.1162/dram.2009.53.2.35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, William Huizhu. 2009. “Performing Arts and Cultural Identity in the Era of Interculturalism.” TDR 53, 2 (T202):7–11. https://doi-org/10.1162/dram.2009.53.2.7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, William Huizhu. 2016. “Social Performance Studies: An Evolving Process of Endless Dualities.” TDR 60, 4 (T232):14–21. https://doi-org/10.1162/DRAM_a_00593.CrossRefGoogle Scholar