What’s In

In the previous lesson. You learned about the South, Central and West Asian
Arts specifically from India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kasakhstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, and Kyrgystan. They have different architectural designs, carving,
printed cloth design, jewelry making designs, woodworks, ceramics and silverworks
designs. While West Asia is rich in Cultural Heritage that are clearly evident in the
variety and quality of their regional arts and crafts.

What’s New
Word Search.

Find words related to the principles of composition and organization in theater art in
the following box of jumbled letters.
There are 12 words to look for.

D Y N A M I S M A B M S P

A V U P W P A A A V M E R

B A P N E L S B S M O L O

C R O O I O D A E T V E P

I I T K R T F L R S E C O

H A R M O N Y A F A M T R

G T W M T Z G N C R E I T

K I E B Y X J C V T N V I

F O C U S C K E B N T I O

L N F V U V K D V O K T N

O M T K O L O G I C J Y J
 What’s In It
Theater arts are collaborative performing art forms that use live performances
(actors and actresses) or through the use of puppet/s to present historical events,
stories of love, current events and many more to audiences in a specific place.
Live performers clad with their different clothing designs and styles, headdresses,
makeups, and hairstyles may communicate to the audience through combinations of
facial expression, hand and body gestures, music, and dance. Puppet Theater or
shadow theater uses a puppet which are held between a source of light and a
translucent screen accompanied by the skill and techniques of a puppeteer who
manipulates and at the same time uses his/her vocal arts to convey the message to
the audience and to some with the accompaniment of their traditional musical
instruments.
Lesson 1. Theater Art (Live Performance)

A. Peking Opera of China

- Peking Opera is a traditional theater art form of China. Also called as
Beijing Opera, combines music, vocal performance, pantomime, dance and
acrobatics. It started in the 18th century until it is fully developed and
recognized by the mid-19th century. During the Qing dynasty court, it
became extremely popular and regarded as one of the cultural treasures of
China.
- Performers of Peking Opera started training at a very young age,
handpicked by teachers and trained for seven years on contract from the
child’s parent. It became organized school in 1911.

Roles and Characters

1. Sheng – is the main male role in Peking opera.
a. Xiaosheng – actors are often involved with beautiful women by virtue of
the handsome and young image they project.
 b. Wusheng – is a martial character for roles involving combat. They are
highly trained in acrobatics and have a natural voice when singing.

c. Laosheng – is a dignified older role. These characters have a gentle

and cultivated disposition, and wear sensible costumes.

2. Dan – refers to any female role in Peking Opera

a. Laodan – an old woman
b. Wudan – a martial woman
c. Daomadan – are young female warriors

d. Qingyi – are virtuous and elite women

e. Huadan – are vivacious and unmarried women

 3. Jing – is a painted face male role who plays either primary or
secondary roles.
A Jing actor must have a strong voice and be able to exaggerate gestures.
The red color denotes loyalty and goodness, white denotes evil, and black
denotes integrity.

4. Chou – is a male role. The chou usually plays secondary roles whose
name also means “ugly”. It reflects the traditional belief that the clown’s
combination of ugliness and laughter could drive away evil spirits.

Visual Performance Elements

1. Four main skills.
 a. Song
b. Speech
c. Dance- acting (include pure dance, pantomime, and all other types of
dances
d. Combat– includes both acrobatics and fighting
with all manner of weaponry.
2. Peking Opera colors used in masks/ makeup
 Red – devotion, courage, bravery, uprightness, and loyalty
 Black – roughness and fierceness
 Yellow – fierceness, ambition, and cool-headedness
 Purple – uprightness, sophisticated, and cool-headedness
 Reddish purple – just and noble character
 Blue – loyalty, fierceness and sharpness
 White – dangerousness, suspiciousness, and craftiness. Commonly
seen on the stage is the white face for the powerful villain.
 Green – impulsive, violent and stubbornness
 Xiaohualian (the petty painted face)- is a small patch of chalk on and
around the nose. Clowns of traditional drama who wear this special makeup
show a mean and secretive character.

Aesthetic Aims and Principles of Movement

The highest aim of performance in Peking Opera is to put beauty into every
motion. The art forms, gestures, settings, music, and character types are determined
by long held conventions. Conventions of movement includes:
a. Walking a large circle symbolizes a long distance
b. A character straightening his/her headdress and costume
symbolizes that an important character is about to talk.
c. Pantomimic is the opening and closing of doors, mounting and
descending of stairs.

Staging and Costumes

Stage: - square platforms, the action on stage should be visible from at least three
sides.
- Stages were built above the line of sight of the viewer,
- modern stages have been constructed with higher audience seating
divided into two parts by an embroidered curtain called shoujiu.
Costume: - Xingtou, popularly known as Xifu.
- Costumes can be traced back to the mid-14th century.
- They enable the audience to distinguish each role of the performers.
- Oblong wings(chizi) attached to a gauze hat indicate a loyal official.
- A corrupt official is made to wear gauze hat with rhomboidal (shaped
like a rhombus) wing.
Props: - a table and at least one chair, which can be turned into such diverse
objects as a city wall, a mountain, or a bed.
- A whip is used to indicate a horse - An oar symbolizes a boat.
Musicians: are visible to the audience on the front part of the stage.
Viewers: always seated south of the stage, therefore, north is the most important
direction.
Performers: immediately move to the center north upon entering. All characters
enter from the east and exit from the west.

B. Kabuki Theater of Japan

Kabuki is a form of traditional Japanese drama with highly stylized song,

mime and dance, now perform mainly by male actors. Japanese originally
used this as a verb meaning “act dissolutely”, later interprets the word: Ka-
for song, bu for dance, and ki for art/skill.
- Kabuki is known of its drama and for the elaborate makeup worn by
some performers.
 - Kabuki is translated as “the art of singing and dancing”
- Kabuki believed to derive from the word kabuki which means to lean or
to be out of the ordinary, kabuki can be bizarre theater.
- Kabukimono referred originally to those who were bizarrely dressed
and paraded on a street.

Stage Features

Hanamichi – a flower path, walkway which extends into the audience Okuni
– performs on a hanamichi stage with her entourage.
Kogakudo – kabuki theater that has stages both in front of the audience and along
the sides help creates bond between the actors and viewers. Mawaro butal – the
interior of the theater contains a revolving stage Suppon – a platform that rises
from below the stage.
Hanamicho – a walkway that cuts through the audience seating area to connect the
stage with the back of the theater.

Three Main Categories of the Kabuki Play

 Jidaimono- historical or per-Sengoku period stories
 Sewamono – domestic or post-Sengoku stories. Focused primarily
upon commoners(townspeople and peasants) generally related to family
themes drama and romance.
 Shosagoto – dance pieces

Elements of Kabuki
 Mie – in which the actor holds a picturesque pose to establish his
character and his house name yago. An even greater compliment can be
paid by shouting the name of the actor’s father Kesho
Two Main Categories of an Actors 1.
Onna-gata - Refer to the female roles.
2. Aragoto – refer to the male roles. Most main characters in Kabuki plays
are aragato, because of its super stylized masculine, heroic style.
 Makeup- one of the most iconic parts of Kabuki. Actors apply their own
makeup by painting their faces and necks white, the stylized lines in red,
black or blue.
Red and blue – aragoto roles
Very little paint – onna-gata playing young women Rice
powder – used to create the white oshiroi base for the
characteristics stage makeup

Kumadori – enhances or exaggerates facial lines to produce dramatic

animal or supernatural character. The color of the kumadori is an
expression of the character’s nature.
1. Red lines – passion, heroism, righteousness and other positive
traits
2. Pink- youthful joy
3. Light blue- even temper
4. Pale green- peacefulness
5. Blue or black- villainy, jealousy, and other negative traits
6. Green – supernatural
7. Purple- nobility

 Kabuki props:
 Flowing water – usually represented by fluttering rolls of linen or creatures
like insects and foxes.
Fans – used to symbolize wind, a sword, a tobacco pipe, waves, or food.
 Costumes – are swung from sticks or manipulated by helpers who
come on stage dressed in black hooded robesso. They are invisible to
audience. Female characters – generally wear an elaborate kimono and
obi ( a sash for traditional Japanese dress)
Hakuma trousers – are worn by characters of sexes. Actors playing both
sexes often have a supported midriff for a straight and curveless figure are
regarded the essence of beauty.
 Costume changing – is considered as an art. These are done as part
of the performances by special teams that take care of the complete and
partial costume changes.
 Wigs – important accessories. Each costumes has its own type. Wigs
are made of human hair, horse hair, bear fur, or yak-tail hair imported from
Tibet.

Lesson 2: Theater Arts: Puppet Theater

A. Wayang Kulit of Indonesia

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 Wayang refers to kinds of puppet theaters. The puppet itself is referred

to as wayang. Performance of shadow puppet theaters are accompanied by
a gamelan orchestra in Java, and by gender wayang in Bali.
 Wayang kulit, or shadow puppets, are best known of Indonesian
wayang.
 Wayang Kulit performance consist of shadow cast on a cotton screen
and an oil lamp. In Java, a halogen electric light is most often used as light
source.
  Kulit means skin and refers to the leather construction of the puppets
that are carefully shaped with very fine tools and supported with caped
buffalo horn handles and control rods.
 UNESCO recognized Wayang Kulit as a Masterpiece of Oral and
Intangible Heritage of Humanity on November 7, 2003 and required
Indonesians to preserve their heritage.
Stories are usually drawn from Hindu epics:
 Ramayana
 Mahabharata
 Serat Menak – story about the heroism of Amir Hamza

Ramayana - Bima Mahabharata- Arjuna

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The Handwork in Making a Wayang Kulit Figure
 The puppet start from master models(typically on paper) which are
traced out onto skin or parchment, providing the figures with an outline and
with holes that need to be cut such as a mouth and eyes.
 Figures are smoothened with glass bottle and primed. Structure is
inspected and further smoothening follows before individual painting, which
is done by another craftsman.
 Finally, the movable parts(upper arms, lower arms with hands, and the
associated sticks for manipulation) are mounted on the body, which has a
central staff by which it is held.

Elements of Performance
The Fundamental Components of a performance include:

 The puppeeter, dhalang(Java) or dalang(Bali), sits behind a screen

made of white cotton stretched on a wooden frame.
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 A hammer used by the dhalang to knock on the puppet box, cempala
 A metal plates that the dhalang hits with his foot, kepyak
 A traditional Indonesian orchestra, gamelan
 Shadow puppets, Wayang kulit
 A light source, blencong
 Female singers and a male chorus, pesindhen and pengerong
 A screen frame and screen gawang and kelir, the main focus of the
performance
 Banana logs, gedebog, the pointed sticks of the wayang base handle
pierce the peeled trunk of a banana tree and the spongy part holds the
puppets in place.
 A puppet box, kothak

B. Nang Shadow Puppets Show in Thailand

www.slideshare.net/mobile/magienboo/kto12-4th-arts-nang-shadow-puppet-of-thailand
 • Shadow puppet(Thai:Nang) was one form of public entertainment in
south of Thailand. Still very popular at village festivals, temple fairs, and
celebrations such as marriages.
• Characters are made from intricately cut out and articulated shapes of
leather.
• They are delicately colored but this does not show during performance
as the puppets appear only in shadow against a white sheet, with light shining
through from behind.
• They are manipulated with rods that control movements of the arms and
legs.
• The Nang is usually performed during the country’s dry season,
February to August.

Performances
 The puppet shows have religious themes or have an episode from the
RAMAYANA epic.
 Also a reflections, poems, and songs about local events and matters of
current interest in the district or country.
 Mr Suchart Sapsin, is a man of many talents, expert craftsman in
making the puppets and an award-winning writer and poet. He is a narrator,
speaking or singing all the parts using different voices and is a superb mimic.
Message and Themes
• Nang recites tales of the gods and contemporary people through stories
of love, current events, and tradition.
• The shadow puppet used in the Nang represents the norms and mores
of Thai society.
• Themes commonly seen in Nang performances includes family conflict,
fantastic adventures of a wandering hero, star-crossed lovers and romantic
tales, hermits teaching magic to their apprentices, and abandoned children
seeking their loved ones.
• Nang attempts to relay to the audience the importance of Thai values
and ideologies in a changing world. However, mystical and historical events
remain fundamental in all performances.

Two Types of Nang

www.slideshare.net/mobile.magienboo/kto12-4th-arts-nang-shadow-puppets-of-thailand
1. Nang Talung - is played with leather puppets, each representing a
separate character, about 50 centimeters high. They usually possess a
movable, jointed
arm controlled by a string. Smaller puppets than the Nang Yai.
- Nai Nang are the teachers and presenters of the Nang Talung. Nai
Nang must vary their techniques and story lines to maintain audience
interest.
- Characters are the gods and goddesses, kings and queens, magical
figures, and comedians. It is the Nai Nang’s responsibility to act as an
intermediary between the community and the gods, thus the Nang and its
producers are highly respected and greatly entwined into Thailand’s cultural
fibers.

2. Nang Yai – Large shadow puppet normally made of cowhide and rattan,
a large, decorated scene and characters measuring around two meters high
and a meter wide. They do not have jointed arms, but themes and styles
remain the same.
The Nang’s theater troupe usually consist of five to ten puppeteers and
musicians.

Assessment 1. Know the History.

Classify the given word/s and phrases inside the box to its proper theater art form.
 Traditional theater art form of China  Entertainment in South
Thailand
 Became strongly popular during the Qing dynasty  Started in the 18th century
Song, speech, dance, combat

Consist of five to ten puppeteers
 Traditional art of Japan

Aragoto Jidaimono
  Nai Nang
Pesindhen 
 Hakuma trousers
Accompanied by gamelan  UNESCO recognized
 
Perform during country’s dry season


THEATER ARTS
Peking Opera Kabuki

Wayang Kulit Nang shadow

Assessment 2. The Beauty in Me by the Elements and Principles of Arts.

Identify the elements and principles of arts used in each Peking opera and
Kabuki character representations and makeup, Thailand and Indonesia’s
puppet shadow design.

Elements: line, shape, color, texture, value, form, space

Principles: balance, unity, rhythm, movement, emphasis, contrast, pattern and
repetition.

Designs Elements Principles

Example: Color : dark brown, Repetition: circles
black, light brown, Emphasis: Black
Line: curve lines , color
straight line
Form : free form