Tushengtuyuhua Opera
01 · Historical Records
It retains the Western-style drama character brought from Portugal to Macao, combined with the actors' amusing dialogue and movement and the light-opera performing form, reflecting the myriad aspects of life. In the late nineteenth century people began to write drama scripts in Patuá, and by the early twentieth century there are records of performances and scripts, including The Modern Daughter-in-Law (1920), The Widowers (1928) and Lolita (1937). After the performance of An Old Man in 1977 Patuá theatre once vanished from the stage, but fortunately more than twenty years later the playwright Miguel de Senna Fernandes and a group of Macanese restored this traditional drama to the stage. After the 1993 performance of Meeting the President the Macao Patuá Theatre Group was formally founded, and since then Patuá theatre has been performed every year.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Born in the Macao special administrative region, Patuá theatre is the traditional dramatic art of the Macanese community. The Macanese rooted in Macao are a cultural group with its own language, diet and way of life, comprising the descendants of unions between Portuguese and Chinese or other ethnic groups, whose ancestors settled in Macao three hundred years ago. Macao lies in the Pearl River delta of southern Guangdong, on the western side of the Pearl River estuary, adjoining Zhuhai to the north and some sixty kilometres across the water from Hong Kong to the east. Patuá theatre is unique to Macao, its performing language Patuá, also called “Macanese”, being a language derived from Chinese-Western cultural exchange, a spoken language belonging to the Portuguese-Asian mixed family and listed by UNESCO as an endangered language. Patuá theatre arose in the Macao community, traditional troupes serving a relatively small geographical area. It often includes Patuá pieces adapted from popular songs, sung solo or in chorus, light and lively in style and plain and easy in lyric. Its principal actors all possess the skill of expressing a character's state of mind in Patuá, showing the Macanese's cheerful and open character through exaggerated tonal changes, witty lines and flamboyant gesture. It is a community drama with multi-ethnic participation, based on Portuguese and absorbing the languages of Age of Discovery trading posts, embodying the cultural fusion brought by trade routes. Besides the Macanese, Chinese participants have increased greatly in recent years, and the diverse audience still more embodies the coexistence of Macao's plural and harmonious cultures.
The Modern Daughter-in-Law
One of the Patuá theatre scripts of 1920.
The Widowers
One of the Patuá theatre scripts of 1928.
Lolita
One of the Patuá theatre scripts of 1937.
Meeting the President
After this play was staged in 1993 the Macao Patuá Theatre Group was formally founded.
Patuá (Macanese)
The performing language of Patuá theatre, also called “Macanese”, a spoken language derived from Chinese-Western cultural exchange, belonging to the Portuguese-Asian mixed family and listed by UNESCO as an endangered language.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Patuá theatre's subjects are mostly taken from Macao itself, taking folk custom, Chinese-Western cultural exchange and the myriad aspects of humane life as its themes and skilfully using ingenious story structures and hilarious plot design to give audiences an unexpected viewing experience.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Since its founding the theatre group has, through a series of measures such as external exchange, drama training activities and promoting research and publication, preserved and promoted the art of Patuá theatre, including its art form, the techniques of using its performing language and the essence of traditional Patuá theatre, rousing society's attention. In recent years the group has used new media to further raise the artistic comprehensiveness of Patuá theatre and extend it from the stage to video platforms, working to rouse the enthusiasm of the younger generation and promoting the project's transmission and development. The project has consistently played a positive part in promoting cultural exchange and the stable development of society, with fairly high social and cultural value.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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