The Studies About The Performance In Cathay Theatre During China's War Of Resistance Against Japan

During China's War of Resistance against Japan(1937-1945), the performance of Chongqing drama, flourishing as never before, was extensively popular and contributed greatly to"The Golden Age"of Chinese drama. Cathay Theatre, as a bright pearl in the theatres of Chongqing (even those of China), took the lead of performance, and became the spectacular in this Mountainous City(refers to Chongqing). This phenomenon was caused by many various factors: the base founded by Chongqing drama during the pre-war; a gathering of dramatic talents in the Mountainous City during the war; the strategic shift of theatre performance from mobile performance; the large number of audience in Chongqing; and itself construction, etc. Just because of the combination of these factors and their cooperative efforts, Cathay Theatre created a wonder in Chinese dramatic history.The performance in Cathay Theatre was to seek the privity and balance among the dimensions of politics, art and market. It was restricted by the factors of politics, the art itself and the consumer market. Because it was in the atmosphere of the war against japan and the establishment of the country, the performance, naturally, had the characteristics of times, and corresponded with the strategy of the governemnt and the mood of thwe public. Simultaneously, by means of administrative rules and regulations and taxes, the government pushed the drama into the way that can be accepted. The troupes that could perform in Cathay Theatre were mostly professional ones, which, comparing with spare time troupes, had perfect performance systems, gathered a lot of talented actors, and therefore, paid more attention to the improvement of the art standard. However, the professional theatres was influenced by the performance market as well as the quality. And the theatre troupes, for the largest profit of the operators, had to eye toward the income of the box office. Thus they had to respect the laws of the market, choose carefully the lists of plays, draw up the suitable price of tickets, and pay particular attention to the sale promotion...When the privity and balance, to some degree, were realized, the standard of the art of performance was improved greatly, and the benefit was increased too, which was liked by both the authorities and the audience. However, this privity and balance was always relative. When there was a break among them, the development may be damaged, which led to the anomie of performance market, made the activities of performance walk with difficulty, even hard to extricate itself. Although these consequence became prominent only after 1943, Cathay Theatre revealed its importance for the first time during its performance, particularly during its flourishing period. Even so, as the tap theatre in Mountainous City during the war, Cathay Theatre made the enormous contribution to the development of drama, the war and the improvement of the city's cultural image.