近代上海における坤劇と女優

Abstract

Because the government of the Qing dynasty prohibited actresses from appearing on the stage, female performances and actresses did not appear in public for more than two hundred years. However, in the modern era actresses appeared in the world of the traditional theatre and continued to develop their profession. The traditional theatre evolved from male only, to separate male and female, and finally joint male and female performances. This shift was striking in the Shanghai theatrical world, and this was deeply related to the social situation in the open port of Shanghai. The Maoer xi 髦兒戲 female ensemble, the Kunju 坤劇, that appeared in the Daoguang era spread from the area centered on Shanghai to the southern regions in the Tongzhi era. This was the start of the period of separate performances by men and women. The Maoer xi troupe, which first performed mainly in private homes, gradually began to emerge from private spaces into public ones such as parks. Then, when the Kunju theatre 坤劇劇場 was established at the close of the 19th century, actresses finally appeared on the public stage. In Shanghai where the theatre business thrived, each theatre was involved in a fierce and aggressive competition in a struggle for survival. For the Kunju theatre that attempted to trade on the novelty of the Kunju and its actresses, the effect of the implementation business policy of holding down the price of admission was great. The Kunju that depended on unstable theatre business was able to survive by lowering its own prices. The thriving and the survival of the Kunju theatre played a role as a part of popular culture of Shanghai. At the same time, it was the popular culture that developed in Shanghai that provided the social environment that assured the survival of the Kunju theatre. The composition of the actresses that performed in the Kunju theatre gradually changed. Actresses from families of professional actors began to appear in addition to the actresses and jinu 妓女 of the Maoer xi ensemble. Furthermore, famous actresses who had been invited from northern regions where Jingju had developed also became active in the Kunju theatre of Shanghai. Actresses in this way widened their sphere of activity to extend throughout the nation and exceed the character of any single metropolitan area. And the concessions in the open port cities provided a particularly good environment for the development of the Kunju theatre and actresses. The close of the last Kunju theatre in 1917 signified the advent of the age of theatre performed by both men and women. The Kunju theatre declined, but actresses began to perform together with actors and further developed their profession.