KŪNQǓ IN PRACTICE: A CASE STUDY

Date
2019
Authors
Wei, Ju-Hua
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Wichmann-Walczak, Elizabeth A.
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Theatre
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Kūnqǔ 崑曲, a scholar-oriented elite musical theatre, is enjoying a renaissance which began after its recognition on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2001. This dissertation is a case study of a 2015 kūnqǔ production based on a newly-created dramatic text, The Sage of Kūnqǔ: Wèi Liángfǔ (Qǔ shèng Wèi Liángfǔ 曲聖魏良輔). The process of mounting the new kūnqǔ play from initial script to fully-staged production is detailed, and the ways in which essential traditional dramatic principles of kūnqǔ were referenced, understood, and applied by the artists involved are analyzed. My argument is then pursued through a comparison of the essential principles with the creative process for The Sage of Kūnqǔ: Wèi Liángfǔ, in which elements of the classic dramatic principles were changed due to creative decisions made by directors, composer, and lead actors. The criticism of hidden causes and results behind the production such as interpersonal and intergenerational conflicts and an overview of the initial purpose for which this production was envisioned—to serve a ceremonial role for kūnqǔ festivals—are examined, five years after its premiere. This case study, as an in-depth chronicle, has resulted in a critical review of the current challenges facing kūnqǔ innovation.
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Theater, kunqu, music, performance, practice, theater, Wei Liangfu
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417 pages
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