What is spoken drama?
Spoken drama is a play where actors mostly talk, like people in daily life. The Chinese name is huaju. Older Chinese theatre, called xiqu (opera), mixes song, dance and speech. Huaju kept only speech and everyday movement. It uses ordinary clothes, a room-like set and a story about real people.
New words: script = the written play. Playwright = the writer of a play. Troupe = a group of actors.
Awakening: 1907 to the 1920s
In 1907, Chinese students in Tokyo formed a group called the Spring Willow Society. They acted plays that were told in speech. This is counted as the first step of huaju.
Soon a lighter, fast-selling style appeared. It was often called "civilised drama", but many shows were hurried and lost their way. Around 1918, magazines argued for new ideas, and plays from Europe such as Ibsen's A Doll's House were read and staged. In that play the heroine walks out of her home. Writers like Hong Shen and Tian Han then wrote in Chinese about their own society. The name "huaju" became common by the late 1920s.
Development: 1930s and 1940s
Cao Yu wrote Thunderstorm (1934) and later Sunrise. In Thunderstorm two families meet in one house on a heavy, hot day. The story builds to a storm outside and a storm inside. It showed that spoken drama could hold deep feelings and tight plots in a theatre.
From the late 1930s many troupes took drama out of the theatre. Short plays such as Lay Down Your Whip were acted in squares and streets, with the crowd forming a ring. No stage was needed, only a clear message and strong acting. Drama was now for everyone.
Voice of the times: 1950s to today
The Beijing People's Art Theatre (founded in 1952) built a famous acting style. Lao She's Teahouse (staged in 1958) follows one teahouse and its customers through about fifty years and three eras. Because the place stays the same and the people change, the audience feels time moving.
From the 1980s writers and directors tried new forms, for example Gao Xingjian's Bus Stop (1983). Later, small theatres and festivals gave young artists space to try new styles. So the story of huaju is a story of change: each period asked its own questions and the plays answered with the voice of that time.
How to read a play as a voice of its time
- When was it written?
- What problem were people facing?
- Who are the characters and what do they want?
- Where is it set and how does the place help?
- What does it still say to us today?
Key formulas and definitions
- Huaju = spoken drama = speech first, no singing
- 1907 Spring Willow Society (Tokyo): first step
- About 1918 onwards: new ideas, A Doll's House read and staged
- 1934 Cao Yu: Thunderstorm
- Late 1930s: street plays, e.g. Lay Down Your Whip
- 1958 Lao She: Teahouse (Beijing People's Art Theatre)
- Rule: every play is the voice of its time
Worked examples
1. Why is a street play easy to take to many villages?
It needs no stage, curtain or costume budget. A ring of people and strong acting are enough, so a troupe can travel and perform anywhere.
2. In Teahouse the place does not change but the years do. Why is that clever?
The same room makes us compare. When customers, prices and worries change but the room stays, the audience feels how time and society changed.
3. Match the problem to the milestone: "Plays should ask questions about real life."
The new-ideas period after about 1918. Plays like A Doll's House, in which a woman leaves home, showed that a stage can question old habits.
Common mistakes
- Thinking huaju and xiqu (opera) are the same. Huaju is mainly speech, xiqu uses song and dance too.
- Mixing the years: 1907 is the start, 1934 is Thunderstorm, 1958 is Teahouse.
- Believing the 1907 play was a big commercial hit. It was a student production, the start of a long road.
- Calling a playwright an actor. A playwright writes the script; an actor performs it.