The stage of the city and the city of the stage: A study on the avant-garde drama of mainland China (1989--2005).

摘要

The thesis will discourse on the context of contemporary mainland China, and analyze the inner tensions lying in a complex matrix of contending relationships between the modern city and the Avant-garde drama. I will try to explore the characteristics, situation, evolution and future possibilities of the dramas in the context of modern urban society, while probing into the situation and symptoms of modern Chinese cities in relation to the Avant-garde drama. I will find out the construction of the power relationships concomitant with the cultural transformation in mainland China from 1990s, and will explore the possibility of the Avant-garde theatre as a public space as well as the modern city's stimulation and facilitation of this possibility.;The thesis will be divided into the following parts: the introduction will focus on the objectives of the research, review of literature, and the blueprint of methodology. Chapter One will define some basic concepts and introduce the historical background. Chapter Two will explore the relationship between modern city and the Avant-garde drama in terms of "modern city", thus leading to four relevant parts: new ways to understand space and time, cultural transformation, global spectacle and new media. Chapter Three will turn to the definition of the Avant-garde drama, discussing the relationship between the specific areas of drama (drama practitioners, motives of the drama, stage scenery, spectatorship, and body) and the modern city. Chapter Four will analyze in details the cases in two metropolis: Beijing and Shanghai, particularly comparing their cultural background, production situation, the type and quality of the production and the spectator groups. The variation of the urban culture influences the production choices of the Avant-garde drama; while the Avant-garde drama reflects the cultural transformation of different cities. In addition, this chapter will briefly analyze the drama as a carrier of cultural interaction of cities, and I will conduct a comparative study in this interchange and interaction. The results of the above research will be concluded in the final chapter.