Spanish Golden Age Theater: China And Spain

Theater is one of the most prominent parts of many cultures all around the globe. It is an important form of expression and presentation of the culture and beliefs. Two of the countries in which theater is very influential are China and Spain. These countries have very rich histories and theater is one main way to portray this.
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw a great increase in the production of live theatre as well as the in importance of the arts within Spanish society. Theatre was an accessible art form for all those involved in Renaissance Spain. It was both highly promoted and financed by the aristocratic class and highly attended by the lower classes. The volume and variety of Spanish plays during the Golden Age was remarkable …show more content…
The vast majority of plays have remained untouched, as far as production and research goes, since the seventeenth century. Combined with the error prone printing techniques that affected the publication of Spanish plays, this has weakened the study of Spanish Golden Age theatre. Spain had unique theatre traditions and religious plays continued to be produced. They were popular into the 1700s and during this time religious and secular theatre was able to prosper together. The actors were widely accepted as worthwhile members of society and in church as well. Also, Spain pioneered a three-act model for plays instead of the classic five acts, allowed women on stage, and had an organized and efficient system of actor contracts, travel stipends, licenses, and booking. Most importantly, Spanish Golden Age theatre produced politically and philosophically allegorical plays that spoke specifically to the audience of the time. Costumes were very similar to Elizabethan or English Renaissance theatre costumes during this time. Actors dressed as extravagantly as they could with the money they had and contracts even had special allowances for costumes. The …show more content…
This form gradually evolved until reaching its peak during the Song Dynasty during the 13th century. Over time they added many things such as music, song and dance, acrobatics, martial arts, and literary art forms as well and in turn it became traditional Chinese opera. Many dramas that included song and dance had developed during the Six Dynasties. Though they are very simple, they are the earliest forms of musical theater in China. These were very popular during the Tang Dynasty. More complex and refined forms of Chinese opera came later. By the Song Dynasty, Canjun Opera had become a performance that involved singing and dancing, and led to the development of Zaj. In the Yuan Dynasty, acts based on rhyming schemes and innovations were introduced into the opera. Although actors in theatrical performances of the Song Dynasty strictly stuck to speaking in Classical Chinese while onstage, during the Yuan Dynasty actors speaking or performing in the common tongue became popular on stage. Exaggerated paints on opera performer's face are used in the opera and each color has a different meaning. Ancient warriors used those paints to scare the enemy. They are used in the theater to symbolize a character's role, fate, and illustrate the character's emotional state and general

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Spanish Golden Age Theater: China And Spain

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