A Comparative Study On Traditional Chinese Opera And Sanskrit Drama

Both Sanskrit drama and traditional Chinese opera are two ancient theatre form of the oriental theater. Their unique style and aesthetic pursuit are quite different from the Western theater.This paper is based on a comprehensive study of the "Poetic Drama" theory to analyze the features of oriental drama. Specifically speaking, the first chapter concludes the current research achievements in this field, points out the weakness of the research, and then stress the necessity of this research. The second chapter analyzes the Poetic Drama theory and practice in China and India; then tracing the origin and development of oriental drama, focuses on their similar formulation and different characteristics. Chapter three mainly focus on the comparison between Sanskrit drama and traditional Chinese opera in terms of the script language, structure, classification and aesthetic idea. Chapter four analyzes the stage performance of oriental drama basically from three aspects. That is the unity of form and spirit, the presentation and representation, and the Xu and Shi of the stage performance.In conclusion, this paper makes a comparison between Sanskrit drama and traditional Chinese opera. Points out the similarities and differences in the poetic drama theory and practice. It aims for a better understanding of the two ancient oriental theater forms.