The Study On The Development Of Chinese Physical Theater (1978-2022)

With the continuous change and update of the concept of theater,the physical skills of performers have been paid more attention.Since the 1960 s,physical theater has become a new style of theater with great global influence.It mainly uses the body of actors to directly express the content of works,transcends the limitations of language through action,and is a highly visual form of theater.The Chinese theater circle has roughly defined the time of the appearance of Chinese physical theater by inviting foreign physical theater works in the early21 st century to perform in China.Based on relevant materials of Chinese theater history,performance history and creators after 1978,through trivial performance clues,the study tries to separate the early experimental theater works with distinct physical theater artistic characteristics.After the 21 st century,this paper examines the theater works with a clear concept of "physical theater",and longitudinally makes clear the development course of Chinese physical theater,and divides three different exploration stages.In view of the different artistic environment,creation concept and the content of the play in each stage,it will be found that there are implicit or explicit mutual promotion and mutual influence between each stage,and the creators’ exploration process shows obvious characteristics of local practice.It is hoped that this paper can provide a comprehensive reference for practitioners and theoretical researchers of Chinese physical theater through combing and analysis.From 1978 to 1991,while learning from western theater theory,Chinese theater creators rediscovered the artistic value and creation principle of theater,and re-established the "performance essence" of theater art.Under the double influence of theater crisis and theater view discussion,they began to explore the innovation of "performance concept" from the physical expression dimension of actors.At this stage,many types of works with obvious features of physical theater appeared,some of which showed the "all-round form" expression of actors,some of which rendered the lyrical implication of physical language,and produced the concepts and training with aesthetic tendencies of physical theater such as "action theater" and "eukinetics".In 1988,there appeared the work Emperor Jones,clearly labeled as "physical theater",which formed the preliminary stage of the type of Chinese physical theater in the debate of various theater ideas.From 1992 to 2002,in the interweaving of diverse cultures,different types of theater emerged in Chinese theater creation.The spread of postmodern theater theory,the continuous emergence of folk theater societies,the revival of theater forms in small theaters,and the increasing number of theater festivals at home and abroad all promoted the development of Chinese physical theater.In this stage,some experimental theater works,through the collective participation of the creators in training,emphasizing the construction of energy impact with body movements,and emphasizing the open expression of the significance of theater,have more obvious type characteristics of physical theater,and appear to emphasize the direction of "theatertic" and "theatrical" differentiation.Physical theater works from Taiwan,Hong Kong and foreign countries have broadened the artistic vision and creative ideas of theater creators,and formed the formative period of Chinese physical theater in the integration and interaction of Chinese and Western theater culture.From 2003 to 2022,there are more creators with a clear sense of the type of "physical theater".In the mutual promotion of multicultural culture and audience market,there is a clear differentiation of performance styles.A variety of small theater performance spaces,the increasingly frequent exchange activities of theater art and contemporary art in China,and the rapid development of new media technology have all played a positive role in the development of Chinese physical theater.At this stage,some Chinese physical theater creators used the Jacques Lecock performance training method,some added Chinese traditional culture and artistic elements,and some integrated various physical types and artistic forms for experimental exploration.With the increasing number of physical theater works and the spread of relevant training methods,this form of theater has accumulated a wider audience.Driven by culture and market,it has formed a period of diversified development expression styles of Chinese physical theater.The emphasis of artistic exploration in each stage of Chinese physical theater is different.The first stage focuses on the subversion of the actors’ physical expression,the second stage focuses on the reconstruction of the actors’ various physical presence mode,and the third stage focuses on the exploration of the actors’ diversified physical presentation.During the 40 years of development of Chinese physical theater,from the creators’ breakthrough in form expression only to the innovation and exploration of theater art,to the creators’ clear concept of physical theater types and diversified performance styles,gradually forming a stable audience group.The existence and participation of actors,the source and transformation of the text core,the reference and integration of immersion training methods,the concept and presentation of body exploration,all reflect the distinct characteristics of Chinese physical theater creators’ practice in the local.