Storytelling - Wageki

A Chinese theater genre. It refers to a spoken-word drama, and is what is called new theater in Japan as opposed to traditional theater. The history of spoken theater began with the Shunryu Company, which was formed in Tokyo in 1907 by students studying in Japan. In Shanghai, people who advocated spoken theater staged plays that were in the vein of the Japanese Shinpa style, called Wenminxi, but they gradually became commercialized. Jiao Juyin, Li Jianwu, Huang Zhuolin, Hong Shen, Tian Han, Ouyang Yuqian and others who had studied new drama in Europe, the US and Japan made an effort to introduce spoken drama, and with the May Fourth Movement of 1919, plays by Ibsen, Chekhov, B. Shaw and Kikuchi Kan, which dealt with themes such as rejecting feudalism, freedom of marriage and humanitarianism, were introduced one after another, and Ouyang Yuqian's "A Lively Woman," Tian Han's "The Night of Catching a Tiger," and Ding Xilin's "Oppression" were also performed. In addition, the Human Arts Drama College, the Drama Department of the College of Arts of Peiping University, and the Nanguo Academy of Arts were also established, laying the foundations for spoken drama.

In the 1930s, under the influence of proletarian theater in the former Soviet Union, talk drama spread among workers and students, and in 1931 the Left Dramatists League was formed. When the war against Japan began, the Salvation and Resistance to the Enemy Theater Troupe was formed, and appealed for resistance to Japan and national salvation through street plays and one-act plays. Through performances in Chongqing and Kunming, famous actors such as Jinshan and Zhu Lin emerged. At the end of the 1930s, the Stanislavsky System began to be introduced. Meanwhile, in the early 1930s, in the Soviet area centered around Ruijin, Sha Kafu, Hu Di, Han Jin, Li Bozhao, and Shi Lianxing were active, and in addition to talk dramas, they also performed live news plays, and founded the Gorky Drama School (1933). During the Yan'an period, new theater artists were trained at the Drama Department of the Yan'an Lu Xun Art Academy, and after Mao Zedong's "Literary Lectures" (1942), the ethnic-style Yangge opera and the new opera movement were developed under the slogan "Theatre for Workers and Peasants."

After the founding of the People's Republic of China (1949), the Central and Shanghai Drama Academy were established and students were sent abroad, sending talented people to various fields. Directors such as Wu Xue, Yang Cunbin, and Xia Jun were joined by Deng Zhiyi, Chen Yong, Zhang Qihong, and Zhou Lai, who had studied at the Lunacharsky Theater Academy in the Soviet Union, and drama became more and more prosperous. In addition to professional theater companies such as the China Youth Art Theater, Shanghai People's Art Theater, and Beijing People's Art Theater, and children's theater companies, many professional theater companies from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as amateur theater companies for workers, were also established. In addition to modern plays with a diverse range of themes based on realism, such as "Growth in Combat" (1949) by Hu Ke, which depicts the self-awareness and growth of PLA soldiers, "Youth from afar" (1962) by Wu Yuxiang, which interviewed Uyghur veterinarians, and "Motherland Rhapsody" (1981) by Wang Lian, which has a patriotism theme, children's plays, historical plays, and translated plays are also performed. Breaking through the stagnation of the Cultural Revolution, there are also active competitions for creative writing, directing, acting, and stage design. The Chinese empire also welcomed several visits to China by Japanese new theater companies and the German Mannheim Volksstheater for performances (1982). Lao She's Tea House visited Europe (1980) and performed in Japan (1983). There was also a joint British-Chinese production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure (1981), and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1983). The Chinese empire also joined the International Theatre Institute (1980) and participated in the Brecht Symposium (1981). International exchange has been active.

[Junko Nakano]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国の演劇ジャンル。話しことばの劇の意味で、伝統演劇に対し日本でいう新劇をさす。1907年に留日学生が東京で結成した春柳(しゅんりゅう)社から話劇史は始まる。上海(シャンハイ)では話劇を提唱していた人々が文明戯(ウェンミンシー)とよばれる、日本の新派の流れをくむ演劇を上演していたが、しだいに商業化した。欧米や日本で新劇を学んだ焦菊隠(しょうきくいん)、李健吾(りけんご)、黄佐臨(こうさりん)、洪深(こうしん)、田漢(でんかん)、欧陽予倩(おうようよせん)らが話劇の導入に尽力し、1919年の五・四(ごし)運動とともに封建制否定、婚姻の自由、人道主義をテーマとしたイプセン、チェーホフ、B・ショー、菊池寛(きくちかん)らの戯曲が相次いで紹介され、欧陽予倩作『溌婦(じりつ)』、田漢作『獲虎之夜(とらがりのよ)』、丁西林(ていせいりん)作『圧迫(よくあつ)』なども上演された。また、人芸戯劇専門学校、北平(ベーピン)大学芸術学院戯劇系、南国芸術学院なども設立され、話劇の基礎が築かれた。

　1930年代は旧ソ連のプロレタリア演劇の影響で話劇は労働者、学生のなかへ広まり、31年には左翼戯劇家連盟が結成された。抗日戦に入ると、救亡、抗敵演劇隊が編成され街頭劇や一幕劇で抗日救国を訴え、重慶(じゅうけい)や昆明(こんめい)などでの上演を通じ金山(きんさん)、朱琳(しゅりん)など名優が輩出した。30年代末にはスタニスラフスキー・システムの紹介が始まった。一方、30年代初頭、瑞金(ずいきん)を中心とするソビエト区では沙可夫(さかふ)、胡底(こてい)、韓進(かんしん)、李伯釗(りはくしょう)、石聯星(せきれんせい)らが活躍し、話劇のほか報道劇である活報(フォパオ)劇も上演し、ゴーリキー演劇学校を設立（1933）した。延安(えんあん)時代には、延安魯迅(ろじん)芸術学院戯劇系で新劇人の養成が行われ、毛沢東(もうたくとう)の「文芸講話」（1942）後は「労働者、農民のための演劇」をスローガンに、民族形式のヤンコー（秧歌）劇や新歌劇運動が展開された。

　中華人民共和国成立（1949）後は、中央、上海両戯劇学院の設立や留学生の派遣で、優れた人材を各部門に送り出した。演出家では呉雪(ごせつ)、楊村彬(ようそんぴん)、夏淳(かじゅん)たちに、ソ連のルナチャルスキー演劇学院留学の鄧止怡(とうしい)、陳顒(ちんぎょう)、張奇虹(ちょうきこう)、周来(しゅうらい)らが加わり、話劇は充実し発展した。中国青年芸術劇院、上海人民芸術劇院、北京(ペキン)人民芸術劇院などの専門劇団や児童劇団のほか、陸海空三軍の専門劇団および労働者アマチュア劇団も多数設立された。解放軍兵士の自覚成長を描いた胡可(こか)作『戦闘裡(たたかいで)成長』（1949）、ウイグルの獣医たちに取材した武玉笑(ぶぎょくしょう)作『遠方の青年』（1962）、愛国をテーマにした王煉(おうれん)作『祖国狂想曲』（1981）など、リアリズムを基調とする多彩な題材の現代劇のほか、児童劇、歴史劇、翻訳劇も上演されている。文革時の停滞を破り、創作、演出、演技、舞台美術などのコンクールも盛んである。また、数度にわたる日本の新劇団やドイツのマンハイム民族劇団の訪中公演（1982）も迎え、老舎(ろうしゃ)作『茶館(さかん)』の訪欧（1980）、訪日公演（1983）、さらには英中合同演出のシェークスピア作『尺には尺を』（1981）、アーサー・ミラー作・演出の『セールスマンの死』の上演（1983）や、国際演劇協会加盟（1980）、ブレヒト・シンポジウム参加（1981）など国際交流も活発である。

［中野淳子］

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