Peking
Opera: Costumes, Makeup and Stage Properties
Costumes:
One way of denoting the
rank through the costumes is through colors:
-
Yellow: emperors and
families
-
Purple: officials of
high rank
-
Blue: officials slightly
lower in grade
-
White: old age or youth
-
Olive green and brown:
exclusively for the old
-
Black: men of lower status
Five
categories: mang, pei, xue, kao and yi.
Mang: Official robes. It is the general costume for the emperor and nobles.
Pei: Informal garments for members of the imperial family and aristocrats.
Xue: Informal garments for everybody. Kao: Stage armors.
Yi: Clothing other than those of the other four categories.
Xue: Informal garments for everybody. Kao: Stage armors.
Yi: Clothing other than those of the other four categories.
Head pieces are also used in Peking opera and
is divided into four categories: guan, kui, jin and mao. Overall including the
hats, accessories, shoes, etc. is called “Xing Tou”.
Makeup: 3 main reasons
●
Costume: Since the
costumes are very colorful and eye-catching, without makeup, the faces of the
actors would be blurred out and overpowered by it.
●
Lighting: The lighting
could also make their faces washed out if not for makeup.
●
Facial Expressions:
Makeup is used for the facial expressions to be more precise and noticeable.
Two interesting facts about the origin of face painting:
· During the Sung Dynasty, criminals had their faces
tattooed in order for them to hide their marks that were branded on them
· When plays were
performed in open airs, the faces of the actors were indistinct since the
audience was seated far from the stage. The Ching actors started painting their
faces in order for them to be seen and stand out.
Mask’s Color schemes:
Red: Good character, upright, not complicated and loyal
White: A crafty, cunning, but resourceful character
Blue: Vigorous, wild, courageous and enterprising
Black: A sound, honest, upright character
Yellow: An intelligent character, less of an extrovert
Brown: Strong characters who are stubborn and obstinate
Green: Suggests a ghostly quality
Gold: Spirits of a higher order, i.e, gods, often representing
images seen in temples
Stage
Properties
Aside from the costumes, stage properties also make up
for the lack of scenery in Peking Opera. Most of these properties are used in
fighting scenes, and also some of these properties are used to represent an
action, for example: The act of riding a
horse is represented by a prop called Ma Pien or ornate riding switch with
heavy silk tassels dangling from it.
Movements and Gestures
The movements in Peking
opera are styized, and the perfection of these movements is reached in the art
of symbolic representation. These movements take 7 years of training, and
perfecting these movements take a whole lifetime to do so.
·
The movements fall into FOUR
main categories:
1- hand 2- eye
3- body 4- leg
1- hand 2- eye
3- body 4- leg
·
Hand gestures are the
most important and has four main functions:
1- to give extra poise and polish to the actor 2- to express feeling to the audience
3- to indicate time and place 4- to let the orchestra know when to come in
1- to give extra poise and polish to the actor 2- to express feeling to the audience
3- to indicate time and place 4- to let the orchestra know when to come in
·
Movements and gestures
are also used to express feelings and emotions, and as well as time and place. In
the acrobatic or dance side, there are three groups:
1- Ch’i Pa- Series of movements supposed to get up a fighting spirit before battle
1- Ch’i Pa- Series of movements supposed to get up a fighting spirit before battle
2- Tsou Pien- Movement
mainly for fighting characters travelling on foot
3- T’ang Ma- Horse
riding
·
The Lhiang Hsiang or
‘pause’: actor holds a pose for a moment with his body perfectly poised before
proceeding with the next set of movements