The Theory Of Kun Opera’s Stage Performance In "Collection Of Tasting Musicand Appreciating The Ancient"

Development to the Qing Dynasty, Excerpts which is the main performing node of Kun opera became fixed.Streamlined performance promoted the acting skill of Kun performers.When performance system fell into a pattern,Figure spectrum boarded the stage of history.Figure spectrum is a special notebook where record stage property,stage wear,posture,expression,gongs and drums,blocking in,serving for performers and trainers.At present,there are only two famous Figure spectrums in the world,the one "Figure spectrum of Kun opera" which consist of15copies is stored in Shanghai Library,and the other is"Collection of Tasting music and Appreciating the Ancient" which is now the only published one.There are sixty-six plays(actually sixty-five) recorded in"Collection of Tasting music and Appreciating the Ancient",containing sixteen plays of "Pipa",eight plays of "The story of Hairpin",six plays of "Red pear",four plays of "Children’s Happiness",six plays of "The Palace of Eternal Youth",ten plays of "The Peony Pavilion"(removed "Dui hua",actually nine plays),six plays of "The Romance of West Chamber",four plays of "Mingfeng"and six plays of "Tie Guan Map". According to Scholars,the book is written before1782,the version prevalent now,such as Qiugui Wang’s"Edition Opera Stratum" and Academy Press’s version are both revised by Dongxiang Jishan Wang during TaoKuang fourteen year.According to the preface wrote by Qinyin Weng,the book was bought form the capital by Jishan Wang and taken to the South.The significant difference between "Collection of Tasting music and Appreciating the Ancient"and other Kun opera Anthology is that there are notes on stage wear,stage property, performer’s singing and chanting,blocking in detail. It’s really a Stage performance textbook which has a purpose of rectifying existing evils in performance,and the theory of Kun opera’s stage performance in the book makes example for today’s Kun opera.The paper is divided into three parts:theory of stage property and wear;theory of performance;theory of blocking.Part one take stage property and wear in contrast with clothes in Ming Dynasty and stage wear in Qing Dynasty,drow some conclusion that stage property and wear must be consistent with the character and story in a play;the colour of stage wear must be coordinate;stage property and wear would better made it brief.Part two discusses mainly about the performance which is the core of Kun opera.The chapter displays form two aspects:One is the technical of performing such as singing,chanting and posture must follow certain rules which are stylized,singing and doing together,smooth.The other is that striving for the spirit of the character is the highest standard of stage performance.To achieve this standard,performers have to grasp the fundamental tone of character,follow real life,grasp character’s emotion accurately.Part three named theory of blocking,mainly discusses the theory on cooperation,spatial scheduling and plot scheduling.