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"Why,it reminds me of Shakespeare's Globe Theater," remarked visiting professor of English Robert Foley when he attended the opera at Beijing's Huguang Guild Hall.
"You have the same projecting stage with two pillars, galleries where the audience can sit, music during the show. You can even munch on food during thee play as they did in Elizabethan times."
The professor was right on target but the similarities between the performances of Shakespeare's time and those of Peking Opera extend to far more than those physical characteristics.
In 16th century England it was unthinkable for a woman to be allowed on stage. Until very recently Peking Opera only used men for the dan(female) roles. In both cases, this precluded any physical expression of affection,in the former, because a male actor would be extremely reluctant to kiss another male; in the latter, because the social mores also did not permit overt displays. As a result, love between the sexes was depicted more subtly, with emphasis on the verbal rather than the physical.
Another attribute in common was their lack of scenery. Thus both stages permitted rapid changes of location: one scene could be in a palace, the next on a battlefield with location indicated verbally. In the case of Shakespeare, this led to his highly poetic description in the opening chorus of Henry V. Only in modern times, with the invention of the cinema,was this kind of fluidity again possible.
Since no proscenium arch separated actors from audience, intimacy and great rapport developed between them in both cultures. In Shakespeare's time, sometimes audience and actors would interact, especially in comic scenes.In the Chinese opera, an actor would step in and out of character at will to make first-person comments.
Another feature of both Peking Opera and Shakespeare's theater was their universal audience appeal from the most intellectual to the low-brow. But even apart from the "Shakespeare connection," the Beijing Huguang Guildhall is fascinating for historical, political and architectural reasons.
In the past, scholars from all over China would come to the capital for the imperial civil service exams. They would be lodged in these halls built by businessmen and officials for the men of their own province. Only four of the formerly 700 remain today. At the Huguang Guildhall, Dr. Sun Yat-sun established the Kuomintang and the beginning of the Chinese republic. Other important political meetings followed.
Today's hall, constructed entirely of wood, is an exact replica of the one built in 1849, the only one maintaining the original design. With its exquisitely painted interior, it is a model of ancient Chinese architecture.In the courtyard in front of the entrance to the Museum of Chinese Opera is a mystical well whose waters are said to be sweet only at midnight and noon but bitter at other hours.
Almost the same year the guildhall was built, Peking Opera began. Some of its most famous actors, such as Tan Xinpei, Yu Shuyan and the great Mei Lanfang, performed there.Today in the intimate 300-seat auditorium you can still see Peking Opera performed with Chinese-English captions at the same site where many important events of Chinese history took place.
Add: 3 Hufangqiao Lu, Xuanwu District, Beijing, 100051
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