A Chengdu Field Research Report - The Lively Torch Troupes of Sichuan Opera
Résumé
Sichuan opera, although relatively ‘young’, is widely viewed as one of China’s most prominent theatre traditions. A lively genre with a lot of on stage improvisation, it employs a small chorus, and an impressive battery of percussion instruments. The author repeatedly visited Chengdu the capital of Sichuan Province in 2001and 2002, and was struck by the contrast between the existing official opera troupes, who were little active at the time, and a number of independently operating, far more succesful companies, who called themselves ‘torch troupes’(huoba jujuan) . The name designates underground troupes of that name which secretly performed traditional plays during the Cultural Revolution.The present report describes one of the torch troupes visited in 2001-2002, the Wangjiang troupe, in some detail. This study was carried out more than a decade ago, but it provides telling snapshots of Sichuan opera in recent history.
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