A Primer in Theatre History by Grange William;

Author:Grange, William;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: UPA
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Yüan Dynasty

Only after the Mongol invasion of China and the subsequent rule of Kublai Khan (1215–1294, grandson of Genghis Khan) do Chinese playwrights begin to write the dramatic masterpieces that are still performed, in part and in whole, throughout China to this day. In the plays of the so-called Yüan Dynasty (1279–1368), we find the development of numerous conventions in both thought and dramatic presentation which remain distinctive. First among them are the Confucian ideals of family loyalty and second are the Taoist convictions of mystical intervention by Nature. A good example of the latter is The Injustice Done to Ngo Tzou, a play by Guan Hauquig. In this play, a pious widow named Ngo Tzou suffers many trials and tribulations as a test of her loyalty. A court sentences her to death for murder. After her execution she returns as a ghost and pleads her case before her father, who has become a court judge. The father discovers discrepancies in the accuser’s testimony and sentences him to death. Ngo Tzou remains dead, but is now vindicated. The ideal of Confucian loyalty is embodied in both Ngo Tzou and her father, while the false testimony of her accuser betrays the Confucian ideal of piety and honesty. The appearance of her ghost defies Confucian ideals, but according to Taoism it is fully justified because it re-establishes the dynamic balance of nature, in which all things operate in harmony with each other.

Conjectural depiction of Yüan performance structure.

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