Southeast Asian theatre has endured
many obstacles, and despite them, has managed to flourish. It has
taken many influences and absorbed them like a sponge into their own.
It has survived takeovers and shutdowns and still managed to keep many
of its traditions. Western theatre has looked to its forms for inspiration.
“Directors like Reinhardt, Copeau, Dullin, and Barrault turned not only
to Greece, the commedia dell’arte, and Shakespeare for inspiration, but
sought new air and new techniques in the theaters of Asia” (Pronko 1967:
4).
Western theatre lacks the
many great traditions that the Southeast Asian theatre has known.
“…a better understanding of the Balinese Theater may help to lead us back
to a drama of our own, more central to our experience of life. Bali
embodies, as no modern country in the West can, the ‘idea of theater’”(Pronko
32).
Works Cited
“Asian Drama.” Microsoft Encarta
97 Encyclopedia Deluxe Edition. Microsoft.
1997.
Brandon, James R. Theatre
in Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.
Pronko, Leonard C. Theater
East and West: Perspectives Toward A Total Theater. University of
California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1967.
Index
History
Characteristics
(These
web sites created by Alex LaVerde for Asian Studies 1)
Email me at: al95928@yahoo.com