Huang Zuolin and Italian Commedia dell’Arte: an experimental study in the conception of Xieyi theatre

Abstract

Italian Commedia dell’arte was part of Huang Zuolin’s studies aimed at the articulation of his xieyi (写意) concept of theatre. In the Sixties, when Chinese dramas were performed according to the standards of revolutionary realism and Stanislavsky’s method, Huang Zuolin endeavoured to create a new method which supported the ideology of socialist China as well as maintaining the essence of national culture. Huang merged Western theatre with traditional Chinese theatre, focusing not only on Brecht, Stanislavsky and Beijing Opera, but also on Commedia dell’Arte in order to improve Chinese huaju artistic forms. The aim of this paper is to illustrate Huang Zuolin’s study of Italian improvised theatre and his comparative work with Chinese traditional theatre in order to create an alternative to Stanislavsky’s method and to promote the renovation of Chinese theatre. This paper will focus on how Huang traces the history of Commedia dell’Arte and its importance for the development of modern realistic theatre worldwide. Huang read Commedia dell’Arte as the origin of modern European theatre and connected it to Stanislavsky, who had an important ideological value for Chinese revolutionary theatre. In this way Huang directly linked Commedia dell’arte to Chinese theatre and included it among the artistic forms supported by the Chinese Government. This paper will ultimately illustrate how Huang compared Commedia dell’arte to Beijing Opera, how he connected it to Chinese tradition and how he suggested employing Italian theatre to improve Chinese comic theatre techniques. Refs 15.