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8. A SUPPLEMENT TO BRECHT'S' ALIENATION EFFECTS IN CHINESE ACTING'
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
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ASUPPLEMEN TT OBRECHT' S 'ALIENATIONEFFECT SI NCHINES EACTING ' HuangZuoli n Friendsan dfello wBrechtians : Asw eal lknow ,Brech twrot ehi sessa yo nth eChines e classicaltheatr ei n193 5afte rh eha dsee nth eperformanc e ofChina' smaste rperformin gartis t- Pekin goper aacto r MeiLanfang .I wa sstudyin gi nEnglan da tth etime ,an d hisessa ypublishe di nEnglis hinspire dm ewit hgrea t nationalpride .I nhi sarticle ,Brech tpraise sMe iLanfan g ingenuin eadmiration . Brecht'spower so fobservatio ndeserv eou rrespect . Hediscovere da tfirs tglanc etha tth eChines etheatr ewa s aric htreasury ,tha ti tha dth etheatrica lqualit ytha th e wassearchin gfo r- wha th ecalle d'Verfremdungseffekte' , alienationeffects .Brech tha donl ya fleetin g'glimpse 'o f thePekin gopera ,an dtherefor einevitabl ymad esom e inaccurateobservations .Fo rexampl eh esays ,'I ti swel l knowntha tth eChines etheatr emake sconsiderabl eus eo f symbolism.Fo rinstance ,a genera lwil lwea ra sman y ribbonso nhi sepaulette sa sth eregiment sh ecommands ' (16.619).*Thi si sno tcorrect .Actuall ywha th ewear si s fourlittl eflag sregardles so fth esiz eo fhi sarmy .(I nth e ClassicalChines etheatre ,th ecostum ewhic ha genera l wearsi scalle dth e'Kao 1 ,an dth efou rlittl eflag sa tth e backar ecalle d'Kaoqi'. )Bu tmistake slik ethi sar eo fn o importance.A grea tartis tBrech tsurel yis ,an dhi s ^Editor'snote :Huan gZuoli nquote sfro mp .11 6o fEri c WalterWhite' stranslatio no fBrecht' sessay ,publishe di n Lifean dLetter sToda y(London) ,15 ,No .6 (1936) ,116-12 3 andentitle d'Th eFourt hWal lo fChina ,a nessa yo nth e effecto fdisillusio ni nth eChines eTheatre' . AlienationEffect si nChines eActin g9 7 commentso nMei' sexquisit eperformanc ear ea nindicatio n ofhi sdee pinsigh tint oth eChines etheatre . Heobserve stha tPekin goper ashow sa nunderstandin g ofwha th ecall sth ealienatio neffect ,an ddeftlymake sus e ofit .H ediscover stha tth eChines etheatrica lstag e'doe s nothav ea fourt hwall' ,thu sdistinguishin gitsel ffro mth e Europeantheatrica ltraditio no fpursuin gth eillusio no flife . Heperceive stha tChines eactors ,whil eacting ,ar e constantlyinvolve di n'self-observation' ,an dremark stha t this'self-observation 'i s'a nac to fartisti cself-alienation ' (16.622)tha tprevent sth eaudienc efro midentifyin gitsel f emotionallywit hth ehappening so nstage ,thu screatin ga distancebetwee nth etw owit hexcellen tresults . Heals opoint sou ttha tPekin goper adoe sno trejec t theexpressio no femotions .H ecite s'yaofa '(takin gone' s hairi none' smouth )an d'bianlian '( asudde nchang eo f facialmake-up )a sexamples ,commentin gtha tthes e stylized...