Duke Theatre Studies hosted Lixin Yang, a Chinese actor whose career focuses on modern drama, in the Gothic Reading Room this Wednesday as he uncovered his personal and political relationship to theatre in China.
“Hold onto your traditions even as society modernizes so rapidly--and pass them onto the next generation,” Yang said in a speech.
In 1993, Yang starred in China’s first and most famous sitcom classic "I Love My Home" (????). He played a leading role in Thunderstorm (??), a watershed play that established China’s own modern drama style. His recent film Aftershock (?????), released in 2010, broke all box office records for a domestic film in China.
Theatre Studies professor Claire Conceison, acted as both the hostess and translator for the event. She had her first encounter with Yang when writing her dissertation on Chinese conception of Americans in terms of theatre. Conceison noted his kindness despite of his famous reputation.
“He treats everyone as his neighbors,” Conceison said.
Yang Lixin joined the Beijing People’s Art Theater in 1975, nearing the end of Cultural Revolution. As the political turmoil swept the entire country, theatre arts in China blossomed and prospered.
“Mao made contributions [to stage arts] by socializing drama,” Yang said. “[He] learned [the idea] from the Soviet Union.” Yang’s theatrical career has lasted 36 years.
Although modern drama was not introduced to China until 1910—when western playwrights Shakespeare, Ibsen and Chekhov, began to be known among Chinese artists, the history of theatrical performance in China was 600 to 700 years old. Unfortunately, only two indigenous artforms survived—Peking Opera and KunQu, which had its origin in Kunshan.
The Doll’s House by Ibsen and Black Slaves Cry to Heaven—a drama adaptation of Harriet Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin—were among the most famous.
After the 1980s, China witnessed its decline in theatrical arts as it lost its political role as governmental propaganda tool. Theatre had to be integrated into the capitalistic market system and to compete with those lucrative film and TV industries.
“Many plays performed in the earlier times lost their political appeal,” Yang said.
However, the construction of theatre houses was still bound by the old, pre-market standard. The quota of theatres houses was based upon the proportion of human population within each acre.
“A lot of theatre resources are not being fully utilized, [but at the same time] many theatre groups coming from outside the city are not allowed to perform [in those rarely-used theatres],” Yang said.
Yang applauded the Western theatre marketing strategy that, catering to consumers, has built a cultural symbol for cities like New York City and Chicago.
As member of political consultative committee in the city of Beijing, Yang made political efforts to change the structure of the theatre market, but China’s government failed to respond to his appeals.
“I admire [the way] Broadway [works],” Yang said. “Concentrated in one area, it brings theatre to the people.”
Yang noted the importance of combining liberal arts education and rigorous traditional Chinese artistic training. His son, Eric Yang, is currently a senior and theatre major at Duke. Yang was appreciative of what Duke offered to prepare Eric for his theatre career by teaching him to understand the essence of life through history, literature and theatre.
“A great stage actor has to acquire literary knowledge, imagination and personal expression before learning techniques,” Yang said. “Duke gives [Eric] full exposure to a liberal arts education.”
Yang said that he has loved all the roles he has played.
"An actor is always passive, [but] a great actor is trained well enough to like the characters he is cast in," Yang said. "[that love] comes from learning to understand the characters and play them convincingly and wholeheartedly so that the audience loves the character."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.