Yuan Zaju

Introduction

Yuan-era northern drama of four acts and a single lead singer

Yuan zaju was the northern-music drama that flourished in the Yuan dynasty. Growing out of Song and Jin variety plays, yuanben skits and zhugongdiao ballads, it became a mature theatre form under the Yuan. A play usually has four acts, sometimes with one or two wedge interludes; each act sets one suite of northern songs in a single mode, sung by one lead role, male or female, while the others mainly speak. Guan Hanqing, Ma Zhiyuan, Zheng Guangzu and Bai Pu are known as the four masters of Yuan drama, with works such as The Injustice to Dou E, Autumn in the Han Palace and Rain on the Paulownia Tree, while Wang Shifu's Romance of the Western Chamber runs far beyond the usual length. After the Yuan, zaju declined in the Ming under southern influence, and by the Qing it was mostly read rather than staged.

Timeline

1. 1260OriginIn the early Yuan, building on Song-Jin variety plays, yuanben and zhugongdiao, zaju settled into its northern-music form of four acts, wedges and a single lead singer.
2. 1290ImpactIn Dadu Guan Hanqing wrote The Injustice to Dou E and other plays; with Wang Shifu, Ma Zhiyuan and Bai Pu he marked the high point of Yuan zaju writing.
3. 1400EvolutionIn the Ming, northern zaju came under southern-music influence, turned into southern zaju, and gave up its leading place to nanxi and chuanqi.