| This dissertation analyzes the life and work of Huang Zuolin (1906-), a leading Chinese theatre director. Huang is among the first generation of Chinese theatre artists who studied theatre in the West and returned to China to help develop spoken drama (huaju), based on Western-style modern drama, as differentiated from traditional Chinese sung dramas, such as Beijing opera. His life and career closely reflect the social, political, cultural and artistic reality of Chinese theatre in the 20th century.; After the introduction, the study covers the background of Huang's theatre, his theatre during the war years, his theatre in the pre- and post-Cultural Revolution years, and his impact on contemporary Chinese Theatre.; Huang and his wife, Danni, were the first to teach formal courses on Stanislavsky techniques in China, and he founded one of the first successful professional spoken drama companies in China, the Bitter Toilers' Troupe. After the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, Huang helped to found the Shanghai People's Art Theatre, one of China's leading national theatres, and was its President and Artistic Director till he retired in 1985. He was also the first theatre artist to introduce both Brecht's theories and plays to China. Huang's 1979 production of Brecht's Galileo was such a phenomenal success that it signaled the resurrection of spoken drama after the end of the so-called Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).; Huang's own distinctive concept of theatre, xieyi theatre, which he first advocated in 1962, and which attempts to create a kind of spoken drama that blends elements of Chinese traditional sung drama and the Brechtian model, continues to influence new generations of Chinese spoken drama artists. In recent years, he has also made his ideas influential in Chinese traditional theatre circles.; There are three important characteristics fundamental to Huang and his theatre: global perspective, engagement to the reality and progress of China, and combined Shavian and Brechtian comic vision. He relies on written texts for his directional concept, and has always searched for plays to realize his ideals, a torturous pursuit partly due to the volatile socio-political circumstances in contemporary China. Huang's artistic endeavors have often been compromised, but his ideals remain intact. |
