| The 1990s was a period of rapid transformation in China. Leaders Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji accelerated policies initiated by Deng Xiaoping, as China embraced "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics." Far-reaching socio-economic and cultural change cut across every facet of Chinese society and had a tremendous impact on huaju ("spoken drama") and the State Theatre System. This study examines how and to what extent the conditions and challenges of the 1990s fostered a climate for experimentation and impacted the aesthetics of huaju.; The research first establishes a context for huaju---its evolution and ideological background over the last century proceeding to a more detailed view of the 1990s. This decade witnessed significant new phenomena: a rising entrepreneurial class, a vibrant alternate "gray" culture, the proliferation of "little theatres," "free-lance" theatre artists, and the "independent theatre studios" of directors Lin Zhaohua, Meng Jinghui, and Mou Sen. Focusing on Beijing's prestigious China National Experimental Theatre (CNET), the research provides a detailed analysis of the inner workings of the State Theatre System---the transition from "iron rice bowl" to "contract system," new management, producing, and financing practices, and the endeavor to build an audience for huaju amid dwindling State subsidies.; The study characterizes the range of styles and genres at CNET during the 1990s: "main melody," "personal realism," "nationalization," "foreign," and "experimental/avant-garde" plays. Representative productions, embodying a variety of Western and indigenous Chinese performance styles, aesthetics, and techniques, are examined. The research highlights the experimental work of leading avant-garde directors, Lin Zhaohua and Meng Jinghui, and presents an in-depth analysis of four CNET productions: Lin's Go Man, Meng's The Nun and the Monk and Gossip Street, and Tian Qinxin's Fields of Life and Death . Following the production process---from conception; through rehearsal; to performance; and official, critical, and popular reception---the study explores directorial methods, acting techniques, director/actor/designer interactions, and current theatre practices as they impact dynamics of mise-en-scene. During the 1990s, the parameters of both form and content in huaju grew more complex, as experimental techniques, once the exclusive domain of the avant-garde, were increasingly appropriated by the mainstream. |
