Characteristics of Southeast
Asian vs. Western Drama
The plays of Southeast Asia tend
to be episodic in nature. “A play may have fifty scenes…or it may
have seven or eight” (Brandon 1967: 116). The plays favor an “extension”
pattern involving many characters and scenes, whereas Western drama favors
“compression”, where the scenes change little. “Compression” favors
social, political, and ethical issues, such as in the plays of Pinter,
Ibsen, and Miller.
Secondly, the West favors
breaking down plays into types, or genres such as tragedy, comedy, farce,
and melodrama. Asian drama doesn’t fit these specified types.
“By and large, a single play will be made up of a mixture of comic, farcical,
melodramatic, and genuinely serious elements” (Brandon 1967: 117).
Also, tragedy, with its hero
failing and dying despite all attempts and challenges from both humans
and gods, is too foreign for Asian culture to accept.
However, like many Western
melodramas, Asian drama has a sense of poetic justice. The hero is
good and the villain is bad, and good must always triumph. “The common
man tries to live by traditional values-filial piety, honesty, marital
fidelity, kindness-but in real life all around him he sees vice, cruelty,
murder, corruption go unpunished every day. The theatre helps him
retain his beliefs” (Brandon 1967: 118).
("A
local expert applying make-up for Phillipine villagers in a sermon play"
James R. Brandon, Theater in Southeast Asia)
Unlike Western drama, which
focuses largely on the psychology of its characters, Southeast Asian dramas
focus on physicality. “The hero gains his victory, not through debate
nor appeal to reason…but by physically defeating, and usually killing,
his opponent” (Brandon 1967: 118). There are Western plays such as
Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where the antagonist is killed by the protagonist,
but, being a tragedy, Hamlet also dies. Southeast Asian audiences
like to see the hero killing the villain with blows from swords, kicking,
beating with blunt objects, something saved in the West for its cinema,
“…no gangster or cowboy movie is more explicit or brutal”(Brandon 1967:
118).
("A
professional Sandiwara troupe in Djarkarta performs the play scene from
Hamlet, with an actor balancing a beer bottle as part of his act".
Quite a different interpretation of the bard's classic. James R.
Brandon, Brandon's Guide to Theater in Asia)
Sexual morality is another
difference between Southeast Asian and Western theatre. Harems were
a usual part of life, if one could afford them. Kings and rulers
today are not looked down upon for several mistresses, unlike Western ideas
concerning marriage and fidelity. Heroes in Southeast Asian dramas
had several wives.
However, when it comes to
depiction of physical contact onstage, plays are often sexless. “On-stage,
romantic scenes seldom involve any direct physical contact” (Brandon 1967:
119). Southeast Asian adaptations of Western plays are awkward due
to this. Sexual intercourse and public affection are shown through
dance, as is sometimes suggested by modern musical theatre in the West,
such as A Chorus Line. However, Western theatre has little problem
showing kissing and affection. Westerners want to see the hero kiss
the girl when he has saved her from the clutches of the evil villain.
Another difference is the
way Southeast Asian drama refers to bodily organs and functions on the
stage. Scenes depicting the throwing of fecal matter, the eating
of testicles, and bludgeoning foes with an erect penis are commonplace
in Southeast Asian Drama. These scenes are met with echoes of laughter.
“In the West, we would cringe with embarrassment if we saw physical activities
of this kind portrayed on stage” (Brandon 1967: 120).
Meditation is also used in
Southeast Asian drama. Usually, the hero is defeated by the villain,
and has to retreat and meditate to gain inner strength, though some are
not specifically shown on stage, but told to the audience through exposition.
Western theatre doesn’t involve meditation, in fact, heroes usually appear
atheistic, unless the theme of the play is religious.
Performers are also regarded
differently in the productions of theatre. Playwrights write Western
plays, and actors are to perform them as close to the printed material
as possible. “The performer is expected to make no contribution to
the content of a play; his function is to perform it in a suitable manner”
(Brandon 1967: 315). An actor in a Southeast Asian play ad-libs and
improvises. The plot will follow the story, but actors are given
opportunity to place their own ideology into the play. “Politically
oriented performers can communicate their political beliefs to an audience
in a way no Western legitimate theatre performer can do” (Brandon 315).
Western theatre does have a strong sense of improvisation, as seen at theatres
such as The Groundlings in Los Angeles and Second City in Chicago, but
as far as published plays go, an actor in Southeast Asia has much more
leeway and leverage for improvisation than a Western actor.
(An
actor portraying the witch Rangda in a Balinese barong performance from
James R. Brandon's book, Theatre in Southeast Asia)
Index
History
Conclusion