A Tetrad Analysis Of The Little Theatre In Traditional Chinese Operas

The origin of the concept of "Little Theatre" can be traced back to the end of 19th century and the early of 20th century in European and American Drama.Over more than 100 years,implications of the concept have been constant changes.Traditional Chinese Opera plus Little theatre has been a practical trial driven by the need of "modernization of the opera to attract younger generations of audience".In reality,Little theatre,with its abundance of implications and flexibility in space,brings new opportunities to opera innovations.Focusing on the "Little Theatre" as a new type of media rather than on specific opera plays may provide a relatively new view on studies of Little Theatre Opera.Media Theories of Marshall McLuhan,especially the epitomized "the tetrad theory"provide us a panoramic perspective on examining media and the society,which is suitable in the case of the Little Theatre and traditional Chinese operas.Through 23 representative theatres of Little Theatre Jingju and Kunqu,and interviews with a well-known director,this paper,adopting the tetrad as analysis frame,analyzes and summarizes the impacts of Little Theatre to traditional Chinese operas.Objectively speaking,Little Theatre has enhanced development in opera talents and audience experience,and brought more changes in opera creation and performance.Besides,due to its spacial characteristics,short-distance-performance friendly approaches and equality between performers and audience become salient.However,if the implication of being avant-garde and creative goes to far,it will also push related opera theatres to change too much as to beyond acceptance.Although Little Theatre Opera has been given the hope of being better modernized,in practicality,Little Theatre Opera practitioners still face the fundamental question of Tradition VS Modernization that bothers practitioners for generations.In the meantime,the future development of Little Theatre Opera lies in how practitioners interpret or shape the implications of the concept.