Chinese opera in Thailand
Chinese opera, a sornetimes bewildering combina tion of highpitched singing,
clashing music, and stunning costumes, is an artistic expression with no real
counterpart in the West. That alone makes it worth watching at least once. To
compensate for the stark simplicity of the staging, costumes are bril liant and
unbelievably elaborate—heavily embroi dered gowns, supeit) makeup, and amazing
sleeves that float expressively without support.
Although the dissonant music
irritates some listen ers, it can at times be ravishingly melodic and com
pletely haunting. Stories taken from ancient Chinese folklore are told with
symbolic gestures but few props. Rote identification is linked to makeup, which
ranges from the heavy paint worn in Pekingstyle opera (de rived from older
masked drama) to the lighter shades favored by the Cantonese. The more
complicated a character the more complex the makeup: a red face in dicates a
courageous character, black a warrior’s face, blue cruelty, white an evil
personality, purple a barbarian warlord, yellow an emperor.
Costumes and ovements are also highly stylized. The more important characters wear larger
head dresses and express themselves with over 50 different hand and lace
movements. Cantonese opera is the most common genre, followed by highly refined
Peking opera, considered theclassic version. Soochow opera, with its lovely and
soft melodies, is rarely performed. Chinese opera is a dying art in Thailand,
performed only in the lone theater in Bangkok’s Chinatown.