Shanghai Theatre Research Articles

Editorial

Cooperation between Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL) has a nearly twenty-year history. The current project between STA and HVL, which began in 2018, is financed by the Norwegian Government. The partners seek to strengthen the quality of education and research within applied theatre, especially the fields of process drama and theatre in education (TiE). The current project between STA and HVL, which began in 2018, seeks to strengthen the quality of education and research within applied theatre, especially the fields of process drama and theatre in education (TiE). This issue presents some important contributions made by the project to the international field of applied theatre.

Hyperspectral image-based vegetation index (HSVI): A new vegetation index for urban ecological research

Accurately monitoring the quantity and quality of urban vegetation contributes to regional greening efforts and improves the understanding of vegetation's impact on the environment. However, factors such as building shadows and synthetic materials can greatly obstruct vegetation estimates. Additionally, vegetation indices (VIs) saturate quickly in high biomass conditions, complicating vegetation quality assessments. To address these issues, we propose a new vegetation index, namely the hyperspectral image-based vegetation index (HSVI). HSVI is built in three steps: band selection, saturable band reconstruction, and index structure redefinition. Firstly, we select four representative bands and construct an enhanced vegetation index (EVI) to eliminate the interference of complex urban surface factors. Secondly, we reconstruct the easily saturable band (760 nm) through an exponential function to form an optimized enhanced vegetation index (OEVI). Finally, the index structure is redefined by adding the denominator of the sum of the red edge (689 nm) and green (520 nm) bands to OEVI to further enhance the spectral information of vegetation and eliminate the saturation problem typical of VIs. Three datasets with different geomorphological features (Shanghai Theatre Academy, Dazhu Mountain, and the University of Houston) are used to compare the performance of HSVI with six VIs widely adopted in urban ecological research, i.e., the difference vegetation index (DVI), the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the simple ratio (SR), the optimized soil-adjusted vegetation index (OSVAI), the modified transformed vegetation index (MTVI2) and the wide-dynamic-range vegetation index (WDRVI). The results show that the vegetation extraction accuracy of HSVI is more than 90%, which is significantly higher than those of the other VIs. Additionally, HSVI also solves the VIs saturation issue. Therefore, HSVI shows high potential usefulness for urban ecological research applications.

Ibsen, Power and the Self: Postsocialist Chinese Experimentations in Stage Performance and Film

Ibsen, Power and the Self: Postsocialist Chinese Experimentations in Stage Performance and Film

Drama Etudes

Teaching theatre and drama in primary and secondary schools is a very difficult task worldwide. In China, there is a huge demand for drama teachers who also know practical theatre. Taking on this mission, the Shanghai Theatre Academy started a program of “drama etudes.” This pedagogical experiment stimulated debate about opposing concepts in theatre education: imitation vs. improvisation.

The Legacy of Kristin Linklater

A few weeks before her death, Kristin Linklater gave what was to be her final presentation, online because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, entitled: ‘Methods of Performing Arts and the Pioneer Practices in This Discipline’. In this speech presented at a Forum of Theatre, Film and TV at the Shanghai Theatre Academy on training young performers, she emphasizes the need to ‘train the person who will become the actor before we can train the actor’ and she explores the necessity for truthful performance which the art of acting demands even more now that many performances are so closely observed through the lens and microphone. This text of this short speech, and Kristin’s contribution to the development of voice practice, is contextualised through a personal tribute from Joan Mills, the Voice Director of the Centre for Performance Research, who knew Kristin for over thirty years and invited her many times to the Giving Voice international festival of voice in performance.

The Kindness of Strangers: Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire on the Chinese Stage

The Kindness of Strangers:Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire on the Chinese Stage Wei Zhang (bio) and Shouha Qi (bio) Introduction Toward the end of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, when the Doctor and the Matron come to take Blanche DuBois to the mental institution, she struggles for a while, surrenders, and (as she is being led through the portieres by the Doctor, holding tight to his arm) says this famous line: Whoever you are—I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.1 To a large extent the line encapsulates the reception of Tennessee Williams in China. He remained a "stranger" to the Chinese for decades after his string of successes in the US (The Glass Menagerie,1944; A Streetcar Named Desire, 1947; and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1955) just as the Chinese remained little more than strangers to him. Compared to Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams is a latecomer to the Chinese drama scene, an acquired taste, and a very belated bloomer on the Chinese stage, so to speak. Unlike O'Neill and Miller,2 Williams never visited China, and other than the title of his first play ever to receive a production (Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay! 1935) and a few passing references (e.g., Blanche's incredulous reaction to Stella's content with Stanley: "I don't understand your indifference. Is this a Chinese philosophy you've cultivated?"; China as "exotic other" in The Night of the Iguana: "swim out to China," a "Chinaman cook" "imported from Shanghai," etc.), China does not figure much in meaningful ways in the dramatic world created by Williams. His international travels would mostly take him to the other side of the Atlantic: Williams and Europe were "tempestuous [End Page 97] lovers" after all.3 Williams's fortunes in China began to change in the 1980s as China opened its door to the outside world and embarked on reforms. Since then interest in Williams has gained momentum as evidenced by the hundreds of papers published in journals and numerous graduate theses and dissertations on Williams from a myriad of critical perspectives. Although originality may be rare and repetition is inevitable, the sheer volume testifies to how far China has come in the last few decades toward embracing this "wounded genius"4 from America. Williams's plays, especially A Streetcar Named Desire, have seen quite a few notable productions on the Chinese stage too.5 This article is a study of Chinese (re)interpretations of A Streetcar Named Desire on the stage, more particularly, the 1988 production by Tianjin People's Art Theatre, the 2002 production by the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and the 2016 production (reproduced 2017–2019) by the Shanghai Dramatic Art Center. These three productions, set against the backdrop of three decades of dramatic changes in every facet of China's socioeconomic and cultural life and mores, show a trajectory of deepening kindness in the form of understanding and overcoming sociocultural and moral barriers to empathize and identify with strangers as ourselves. Although he achieved huge success on Broadway around the same time as Arthur Miller, Williams didn't catch any comparable attention from the Chinese before the 1980s. Ying Ruocheng, who read Miller's Death of a Salesman in college when it was first published in 1949 and dreamed of one day mounting it on the Chinese stage,6 did put out a translation of Williams's 1953 play Something Unspoken in the third issue of World Literature in 1963. This compact one-act play portrays a Southern grand dame, Cornelia, who craves for, or rather demands, an absolute, unanimous vote of confidence—despite an acute inner sense of insecurity—and will not accept any office except the highest until Grace, her secretary, gathers up the courage to tell her the inconvenient truth.7 It is not clear why, of so many of Williams's plays, Ying Ruocheng chose Something Unspoken to translate at a time when China had just suffered a horrendous "Three-Year Famine" (1958–1961), largely resulting from the feverish policies of Mao Zedong who, despite the disaster, continued to strike back and crack down on anyone who...

A Report on “East and West—International Conference on Mei Lanfang, Stanislavski, and Brecht,” Beijing, China, October 2018

A REPORT ON “EAST AND WEST— INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEI LANFANG, STANISLAVSKI, AND BRECHT,” BEIJING, CHINA, OCTOBER 2018 DA LIN Mei Lanfang Memorial Museum “East and West—the International Conference of Mei Lanfang, Stanislavski and Brecht,” hosted by the Mei Lanfang Memorial Museum (Mei Lanfang Jinianguan 梅蘭芳紀念館), took place on October 22 through 24, 2018, at the Tibet Hotel (Xizang dasha 西藏大廈) in Beijing. This conference was held to explore the historic meeting and communication among these three great theater practitioners, and reevaluate the significance of Mei Lanfang’s (1894–1961) performances in a global perspective. Thirty papers were presented at the conference by scholars from mainland China, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and the US. The whole text of eighteen papers and the abstracts of the rest were printed and distributed in a bound volume at the conference. Papers were written in Chinese, English, and Italian, and presentations and discussions were simultaneously interpreted in the three languages. Three major themes emerged in the conference papers: (1) exploration of the theory of the “system” (tixi 體系) in Mei Lanfang studies and Chinese theater studies in general; (2) new discoveries of historical documents concerning Mei Lanfang in Chinese and other languages; and (3) reflections on Mei Lanfang in cross-cultural dialogue. The first group of papers is mainly concerned with the systemization of Mei’s performances in relation to Chinese opera. This focus is rooted in an attempt to postulate a comprehensive and theoretical framework of Mei Lanfang studies, as proposed in the paper by Mao Zhong 毛忠 (Mei Lanfang Memorial Museum) who stressed Mei’s own innovation based on accumulation of his predecessors’ practices. Some scholars were inclined to evaluate Mei’s artistry within a system of Chinese opera, such as the paper presented by Tseng Yong-yih (Zeng Yongyi 曾永義, Shih Hsin University) on general attributes of Chinese opera as a virtual, symbolic, stylized art that inspired Western drama practitioners and theorists, such as Stanislavski and Brecht. Ma Guojun 麻國鈞 (Central Academy of Drama) offered a similar insight into an examination of Mei as a legendary performer of female roles (dan 旦), and suggested that a more comprehensive study should be made in an expanded scope of Asian classical theaters, many forms of which use a system of role types (hangdang zhi 行當制). Chang-Sook Lee (Seoul National University ) approached the “system” of Chinese opera with respect to a sense of “stylization ” (chengshi 程式), as manifested in Mei’s performances, with which actors can CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature 37. 2 (December 2018): 157–160© The Permanent Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature, Inc. 2019 DOI 10.1080/01937774.2019.1594020 create characters’ spiritual expressiveness that transcends time and space, and make these characters always comprehensible to the audience. Wang Ankui 王安奎 (China Art Academy) dealt with macroscopic and microscopic understandings of a “system,” the former referring to the aesthetic philosophy about a performing art and the latter denoting specific practices including both composition and training. He suggested Mei Lanfang studies should extensively explore the macroscopic system to make possible communication between the performing arts of China and those of the West. An interesting debate took place between Zhou Huabin 周華斌 (Communication University of China) and Sun Huizhu 孫惠柱 (Shanghai Theatre Academy). Zhou traced the proposition of “three systems of Stanislavski, Brecht and Mei Lanfang” back to an article by Sun in 1982, and attributed the origin of this categorization to the post-World War ideological opposition between socialist and capitalist countries, as well as a patriotic promotion of Chinese culture. Zhou called for a modification of this categorization considering that the meaning of “system” has changed in a globalized context in the twenty-first century. In response, Sun confirmed the early origin of “system” from the field of Russian theater and pointed out that approaches and methods are more commonly used to refer to one’s distinctive theatrical style in Western scholarship, instead of “a system” which usually denotes an organized set of ideas and practices imposed upon practitioners. Additionally, Sun enhanced his current argument that Mei’s creativity encompassed the areas of singing, acting, playwriting, and theatricalization, therefore it is more appropriate to understand Mei’s style in a systematic way than it...

Stimulate puppets’ law of motion in the natural relaxation An interview to puppet master and educator Mr. Tan Zhiyuan

Interview Time: February 12, 2015, at 4PM -10PM. Interview Venue: Tan Zhiyuan’s home. Interviewed by Wang Xiaoxin (hereinafter, WANG), lecturer of Shanghai Theatre Academy Puppet Program, M.A. of Peking University, Special Research Fellow of Yale University Drama School. Interview to Tan Zhiyuan (hereinafter, TAN), Former Vice Chair of the China National Puppet Arts Troupe, First-grade Puppeteer, Member of Chinese Dramatists Association, Member of Council of China Puppetry and Shadow Arts Association.Rod puppet is an important form of Chinese puppet. Its structureand performing techniques are quite different from that of marionette andhand puppet. Rod puppet can be manipulated by a main-rod (connectedto a puppet head) and two hand rods (connected to puppet’s hands),known as three rods, and it is named as for its resemblance to oldman’s walking stick. In China, the most representative rod puppet troupe is China National Puppet Arts Troupe2, in which Mr. Tan used to work.

Social Performance Training in China: Moving from a Monologue Culture to a Dialogue Culture

Social performance studies and the practices it generates are playing a constructive role in converting Chinese society from a monologue culture to a dialogue culture. In the past decade or so, the team from the Shanghai Theatre Academy has led social performance training in various fields and industries to help professionals improve their ability to interact with others and exchange ideas.

The Ambiguous Table: Dramatic Representations of Women at Dinner

An actual dinner party is nearly always characterized by the presence of three central elements: a meal, a table, and a gathering of people, who usually converse. In this article Campion Decent considers the dinner party as a social event and questions how artists draw on its elements to inform artistic representations of dinner. He examines the use of dining events in drama, notably in five texts authored by women between the late 1970s and the present day–Tina Howe's The Art of Dining (1979) and One Shoe Off (1992), Caryl Churchill's Top Girls (1982), Moira Buffini's Dinner (2002), and Tanya Ronder's Table (2013). These texts share an emphasis on the symbolic idea of food or dining, feature tables with a woman at their centre and offer dialogue allied to the experiences of women. While the dining events that they depict are populated with vastly different characters and distinct conversations, the tables nevertheless function as potent yet ambiguous symbols both of women's oppression and of the potential for creative freedom. This article draws on research in anthropology, sociology, food studies, theatre and performance studies, and women's studies to illustrate the fertile complexity of ideas involved in the symbolic dinner. Campion Decent has recently completed his doctoral studies at La Trobe University, Melbourne. He is an award-winning playwright, with productions at Sydney Theatre Company, the Griffin Theatre, and the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Sydney. He has presented papers at Stanford University, Shanghai Theatre Academy, and Victoria University of Wellington.

Phillip B. Zarrilli

Phillip B. Zarrilli is an emeritus professor of performance studies at the University of Exeter and a fellow at the International Research Institute, Interweaving Performance Cultures at Freie Universitat, Berlin. He lived in India for a total of seven years between 1976 and 1993, where he underwent intensive training in and conducted research on kalarippayattu as well as researching kathakali dance-drama. His book The Kathakali Complex: Performance and Structure (1984) shared groundbreaking research on the Indian performing tradition in English. Zarrilli works internationally as a director, performer, teacher, actor trainer, and scholar and was recently invited to speak at the international conference Turning Point of Theatre at Shanghai Theatre Academy in China.

Spatial construction in Shanghai lady: a Chinese adaptation

This article aims to provide spatial analysis of an adaptation of Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea and the musical Shanghai Lady staged in China in 2009 and directed by Shi Jun, a young Chinese associate professor from Shanghai Theatre Academy. The notion of space may be viewed from two perspectives: first, as a textual construction, it reflects the characterization applied and theme shaped by the director; second, as an on-stage theatrical technique, it conveys the director’s understanding and innovative manoeuvre of adaptation in the target culture. The article tries to analyse the spatial renovation in Shanghai Lady, both in the text and on the stage, from the two perspectives mentioned above and aims to reveal the contemporary Chinese ideological reception of Ibsen’s plays and the literary techniques exhibited in its adaptation.

Performing Dream or Reality: The Dilemma of Chinese Community-Based Theatre

In recent years, teachers and students at Shanghai Theatre Academy did several community-based theatre projects among the migrant workers and their families who came from the Chinese countryside. When we applied Augusto Boal's techniques of Theatre of the Oppressed, we found that many community members prefer performing their dreams to performing their unpleasant reality.

Adaptation as Hospitality: Shanghai Theatre Academy Winter Institute 2013 Performance Series

The productions of the Shanghai Theatre Academy Winter Institute 2013 performance series ranged from a Yue opera adaptation of Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea to modern dance theatre to an exhibition by students. Each production worked in a unique way within the framework of the encounter between foreign and local, guest and host. Together they offered a vision of cross-cultural theatrical exchange that is reconstitutive and inclusionary.

A REPORT ON THE SHANGHAI THEATRE ACADEMY WINTER INSTITUTE 2013: “SHANGHAI ENCOUNTERS”

On January 10–20, 2013, the Shanghai Theatre Academy (Shanghai xiju xueyuan 上海戲劇學院; hereafter STA) held its second annual Winter Institute, an eleven-day global theater institute and workshop co-sp...

A Report on the Shanghai Theatre Academy Winter Institute 2013: “Shanghai Encounters”

A Report on the Shanghai Theatre Academy Winter Institute 2013: “Shanghai Encounters”

Behind the Play: The World and Works of Nick Rongjun Yu

The dramaturgy of Nick Rongjun Yu, the most prolific playwright in China, has been omitted from English-language anthologies and is overlooked by many Beijingcentric scholars, but his plays written during the past decade have been staged more than those of any other living Chinese playwright. He is deputy general manager of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre (SDAC) and also its long-time director of publicity, marketing, and programming. As a writer, he plays a unique game with government censors; as an administrator at SDAC, he has instituted reforms and successful commercial strategies; and his efforts at expanding pan-Asian and international collaboration have transformed the Shanghai theatre scene. This essay gives a brief overview of his career and an introduction to his play Behind the Lie , translated for this special issue of Theatre Journal .

Shanghai Alleys, Theatrical Practice, and Cinematic Spectatorship: From Street Angel (1937) to Fifth Generation Film

This article argues that a certain type of Shanghai film of the Republican period, exemplified by 1937's Street Angel ([Formula: see text], Malu tianshi), makes use of a specific mode of spatial organization, modelled on the theatre, to represent the urban environment. In the case of Street Angel, and later on in 1964's Stage Sisters ([Formula: see text], Wutai jiemei), the interaction between performers and audiences characteristic of the Shanghai theatre experience serves as a crucial ground on which to base calls to political action. For a variety of related reasons, both the city of Shanghai and this mode of spatial organization so closely associated with it vanish from the big screen in the 1980s and 1990s, and begin to make a return only at the turn of the new century.

Is Performance Studies Imperialist? Part 3: A Forum

Diana Raznovich is an Argentine playwright and cartoonist whose work has been published, performed, and translated throughout the world. Richard Schechner, TDR’s Editor, is University Professor at NYU’s Performance Studies Department and the Founding Artistic Director of East Coast Artists. His most recent production was Hamlet (in Mandarin) at the Shanghai Experimental Theatre Festival, October 2007. Eugenio Barba is a TDR Contributing Editor and the Founder-Director of Odin Theatre in Hostelbro, Denmark. Kusuhara Tomoko is Professor Emeritus at Keio University, Tokyo. Takahashi Yuichiro teaches performance studies in the Department of English, the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Dokkyo University, Tokyo. William Huizhu Sun is the Vice President of and Professor in the Shanghai Theatre Academy and Contributing Editor to TDR. Diana Taylor is Professor of Performance Studies and Spanish at NYU and Director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Guillermo Gomez-Pena is a TDR Contributing Editor, performance artist, and theorist.

Mrs. Warren's Profession in China: Factors in Cross-Cultural Adaptations

The failure of the first productions of Shaw's plays in China performances of Mrs Warren's Profession in October 1920 by the New Shanghai Theatre, had a far-reaching influence on modern Chinese drama. The producer, Wang Chung-hsien, reflecting on the failure, argued that the performances drew attention to the need for new adaptations in Chinese drama to accommodate China's new sociocultural ideals and the needs of a Chinese