THE CHINESE THEATRE.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 7 August 1912, Page 3

THE CHINESE THEATRE.

The theatre in China is the grreat national amusement, and the Chinese will attend a play that lasts for several days without getting: the least tired of it.

Figure to yourseif a huge, dingy barn, crammed full of Chinese, mostly of the coolie class, the men all on one side and the women on the other. Attendants go round selling, saucers of fruit, melon seeds, sweetmeats and cups of green, unstewed tea! Up above is a huge gallery, also crammed with tier upon tier of men, women and children, smoking, eating, spitting, and gesticulating, but, as a rule, perfectly well behaved. In the last respect they could give many English music hall audiences points, and they never applaud.

Some have taken their shoes off and sit with their bare feet up on the ledge in front of them, where also is placed the programme (in Chinese and written from the bottom of the page up to the top), and the saucers of fruit and other "chow" purchased from the half-naked attendants. The odor from this unwashed mass of humanity is appaJling.

As you push your way through the crowd to our reserved pew, because that is exactly what it is like, you hear the beating of-torn toms and the strident squeaks of fiddles completely out of tune, mingled with a sound as though all the fire irons in Christendom were being thrown downstairs. This is the orchestra, and it plays throughout the performance.

There is no escape from it, even for a moment, and the crash of cymbals and banging of gongs never give you one moment's respite.

Through the dim, cloudy atmosphere you catch sight of what is happening on the stage. There is no scenery, no drop curtain, no wings and no footlights. The actors make their entrance from doors at the back of the stage, one of which is to the left and the other on the right.

No actresses appear. Although not actually forbidden, it is considered extremely bad form for a woman to appear on the stage in China.

All the women's parts have to be taken by men, and the impersonation is absolutely perfect ;is 1o depoi-m eni. gesture, dress and figure, and, above all, voice. The shrill falsetto twittering is perfectly produced, and the litthe half shuffle( half run, the expression, etc., are all faithfully portrayed.

I was lucky, says the correspondent of an English exchange, in seeing two distinct plays with a fresh set of actors in each. Some of the dresses are really gorgeous, and the make-up is particularly good. In the first play we were shown a reproduction of a real! Chinese criminal court, in which, at any trial, in true Oriental fashion, they torture and punish the prisoner long before tbjey decide whether or <not he is guilty, and in the second play two mighty warriors, twins and rivals for the same fair maiden's hand, fought a long and most realistic duel, 'first with daggers, then wiith long swords, and eventually they indulged in a spirited wrestling match, quite acrobatic in its movements, until one poor fellow whirled madly in the air, turned a trick somersault and expired doing a cartwheel. It was really funny/, but the audience took it all quite seriously. Many of the women broke down and wept at the woes the heroine had to go through, while to the European eye the whole thing was simply ridiculous.