A Study Of The National Theatre Movement In The 1920s And Contemporary Chinese Avant-garde Drama In The 1980s

The debate between the National Drama Movement and the New Youth drama reformists is not a debate on the content of drama,but on the form of drama.Under the fierce attack of the New Youth drama reformers on the National Drama Movement faction ’s seemingly conservative proposition of retaining the form of traditional Chinese opera performance,the modern aspect of the National Drama Movement faction ’s drama proposition-further than the New Youth faction and the later generations who inherited its spirit-was hidden.After the failure of the National Drama Movement,the modern drama ideal that he had tried to pursue in his drama proposition was once lost in the Chinese cultural society.It was not until the emergence of Chinese avant-garde drama after the 1980 s that this lost modern drama ideal was picked up again.The first chapter points out that in the Renaissance,the Aristotelian drama model with interpersonal interaction as the main performance object was reborn as a modern drama form in the western drama world,namely the DRAMA.At the end of the 19 th century and the beginning of the 20 th century,it was this form of drama that was borrowed from the West to reform Chinese drama and was later translated into drama by Tian Han and Hong Shen.Since the New Culture Movement,in order to meet the needs of social change,the New Youth drama reform called for a more for life form of drama,the DRAMA with its rational,realistic features for its selection.This form of drama has taken root in the Chinese Drama Festival,so that it will cover the sky someday in the future.However,after the 19 th century Western drama has already begun to the DRAMA reflection and breakthrough.The second chapter points out that Yu Shangyuan,Zhao Taimou and others of the National Drama Movement,by virtue of their favorable conditions in the United States,keenly captured the reflection of western drama on the DRAMA,trying to break through the drama crisis and establish the trend of modern drama,which inspired their determination to extend this trend of drama and explore the future direction of drama.The National Drama Movement tries to explore a kind of artistic and stylized drama which is different from the drama form mainly based on character dialogue advocated since the New Culture Movement.Moreover,the National Drama Movement hopes to complete the establishment of this drama through the sublation of Chinese opera.In the National Drama Movement a series of retro countercurrent art claims,under the cover of the word tradition,shines a new light of modernism.However,because the series of dramas advocated by the national drama movement was too divorced from the social reality at that time,its drama ideal ended in failure.The third chapter points out that since 1980,the shadow of the ’theatre crisis’ has increasingly loomed over the Chinese theatre scene.The shift in the direction of the times made the previously dominant form of ’capital theatre’,which was based on the reproduction of ’collective and individual relationships’,no longer able to meet the needs of people seeking to link themselves to the world at this time.In order to solve this crisis,theatre people tried to make a breakthrough in the "conception" of theatre.The pioneering Chinese theatre that emerged around 1981 rode on this east wind.By analysing the specific texts and stage works of the important playwrights and directors of the Chinese avant-garde theatre that emerged after the 1980 s,the article seeks to demonstrate that there is a similar aesthetic pursuit of theatre between the National Theatre Movement and the Chinese avant-garde theatre,and that both aesthetic pursuits are based on a rebellion against the May Fourth realist theatre tradition.The fourth chapter points out that there is a similar theatrical aesthetic pursuit and direction of theatrical exploration between the National Theatre Movement and Chinese avant-garde theatre.This similarity is reflected in their common focus and direction of exploration of theatrical expression.The theatrical claims of both the National Theatre Movement and the Chinese avant-garde theatre express their concern for and emphasis on theatricality,the reconstruction of temporal and spatial structures and irrational theatrical expression.At the same time,there are also problems such as the uneven development of theory and practice between the two.