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The Rotten-Helve Mountain
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A Maddening Dream |
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Zhang, Jiqing Yao, Jikun |
Zhang, Jiqing Yao, Jikun |
Zhang, Jiqing |
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A Maddening Dream |
A Maddening Dream |
A Maddening Dream |
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Zhang, Jiqing |
Liang, Guyin |
Liang, Guyin |
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A Maddening Dream |
A Maddening Dream |
A Maddening Dream |
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Liang, Guyin |
Liang, Guyin |
Liang, Guyin |
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Water Splashed |
Water Splashed |
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Zhang, Jiqing |
Cai, Qinglin |
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The Rotten-Helve Mountain : A Maddening Dream
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"A Maddening Dream," a scene from "The Rotten-Helve Mountain,"
is a highly dramatic episode in which Cui Shi ("Mistress Cui"),
the heroine, undergoes a traumatic experience such as the Kunqu
Theater rarely sees. Kunqu performances are generally marked by
subtlety and restraint; but in "A Maddening Dream," the part of
Cui Shi must be acted with a total abandon. With its depiction
of impermanence and precariousness of life, "A Maddening Dream"
is a challenge to any actor playing this extraordinary woman.
Indeed, the part of Cui Shi is so unusual that a special
role-type is named after it in Kunqu theater: the
`sleeves-rolled-up female type'(qiao xiu dan). Cui Shi is a
woman of such unruly emotions that throughout the play she has
her long sleeves, used in Kunqu Theater to show delicate
feelings, rolled up -- demonstrating her perpetually belligerent
nature. Another untraditional feature of the part is that actors
playing Cui Shi must use their natural vocal cords, instead of
falsetto, in arias and recitatives, so as to reveal her
unrestrained lust for wealth, fame and happiness.
In the scenes preceding "A Maddening Dream," Cui Shi demands
that Zhu Maichen, her first husband -- a poor but gentle and
loving scholar, give her a divorce, on the grounds that the
poverty they are suffering is more than she can bear. After much
acrimonious and vituperative shouting on the part of Cui Shi,
Zhu reluctantly obliges. Once free of her first marriage, Cui
Shi promptly remarries a carpenter, nicknamed "Zhang, the
millionaire". As soon as she finds out that Zhang has no money
at all, she immediately deserts him and lives with an old widow.
As "A Maddening Dream" begins, Cui Shi is at the front door
waiting for the old widow to return, when messengers from the
Ministry of Examinations walk by (they are on their way to Zhu
Maichen's house) and tell her the shocking news: Zhu has passed
the provincial examination and has been appointed governor of
the province. Returning to her dilapidated room, Cui Shi is
tormented by the memory of love and tenderness with which Zhu
treated her while they were married, and how she repaid him with
constant abuse. Finally exhausted, she dozes off to a happy
dream, in which Zhu Maichen has sent servants to ask her to
return to him and dressed her up with Phoenix crown and court
lady’s costume. Her elation, however, is short-lived as she soon
wakes up from the dream. The scene ends with the overwrought Cui
Shi lamenting her former rash decision and her present wretched
condition.
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The Rotten-Helve Mountain : Water Splashed
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"Water Splashed," the following scene, takes place a few days
later as Zhu arrives in town to assume his post. He is on his
way to his official mansion when he comes across a waiting and
delirious Cui Shi, eager now to be his wife again. She pleads to
the cold and unhearty Zhu Maichen who is still bitter about
their divorce which was much forced upon him by her.
After some recrimitory exchanges, Zhu comes up with a ruse to
discourage Cui Shi's wish to reconcile. Zhu tells a surbordinate
to bring forth a pail of water. He tells Chi Shi that he will
have the water splashed on the ground, and he will take her back
as his wife if she can retrieve the splashed water. Water is
splashed, and naturally she cannot retrieve the water, as she,
in her delirium, thought she could. He leaves her and proceeds
on with his trip. In total madness now, Cui Shi jumps into a
near-by river, in her frenzy attempt to get some water, and
drowns.
The performing skills of Cui Shi is so different from the
generally gentle and refined female role-types that a special
role-type is named after it in Kunqu theater: the
`sleeves-rolled-up female type'(chiao xiu dan). Cui Shi is a
woman of such unruly emotions that throughout the play she has
her long sleeves, used in Kunqu Theater to show delicate
feelings, rolled up -- demonstrating her perpetually belligerent
nature. Another untraditional feature of the part is that in
arias and recitatives, Cui Shi’s voice is often loud and
unrestrained, similar to that of the painted-face role-types, so
as to reveal her uncontrollable lust for wealth, fame and
happiness. |
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