| Show A SALT LAKER ON THE TUE L WONDERS OF CHINESE THEATER J Almost everybody whether or not he ever visited tho time Golden State has heard something about Chinatown In San Francisco hut not every everyone one even of those to whom the of this small heathen world have havo been dis disclosed disclosed closed has had the curiosity curlo lt to step I Inside a Chinese theater thealor To be sure a visit to the thc great Western metropolis would be bo Incomplete If it did not In Include Include clude elude Chinatown yet el If it I J were asked which of these th se two the town or the time theater were best omitted I should bo be tempted to say suy not surely the theater i To most of at us UR the Iho name Chinatown suggests only a 11 street or two where a n alot ahot lot hot of huddle together In little dingy diu rooms to do laundry and make opium pills Not so here nothing can be bo farther from the tho reality It Is Ison Ison Ison on the contrary a veritable piece of ot r China nail and not a small piece le c either lifted up from the strange and fan fantastic fantastic tl tlc Orient and planted In the heart of ot a n great bustling Western city to get along ns fil best It populous Eastern empire Itself In little quaint as ns of ot another world anti and musty with Its heathen antiquity Not ot to bo bf sure lure Chinese landscapes land Chinese buildings Chinese e pagodas but everything else Chinese the whole population unchanged living mimI and working much muchas as 18 they the Mould live lIe and work In their own oln country countr chattering their own Jerky Jerk and quarrelsome language and driving lug ing In small bargains In their own quiet way w Streets and sidewalks narrower and dirtier than elsewhere In the city elt and crowded with an nn Inconceivable number and varIety of ot shops where everything Pagan or Christian ran can n be bought houses small and dingy elbowing one another and mind cut cui Into countless little rooms room II where hive like llIe bees beel joss JOBS hou houses ei scattered here and there throughout the town ton gorgeous and fantastic without splendidly magnificent cent nt within thc abode bode of ot the gods godi to whom their worshipers worshiper wor pay fIll divine hon honors honors ors Dna In the queerest t rites riles and cere ceremonies monies myriad of ot Chinese men wo women 0 men and anti children popping out omit upon you OU suddenly from fr unexpected quarter quarters ter lo to go 10 about their dally daily work such 1 I is Chinatown a n very nry different place certainly from what you OU would rould sup suppose suppose pose JIO e eIt It I Is not however Chinatown but bul the time theater among these th Ie people that I Intend to about The Thc drama everywhere t Is obviously l n a 1 reflex re ex of or life lite and very Cr oft often n furnishes better facilities ties tics for tor studying life lite than life Itself To most of or un UI life among strange na nit nation IbM tion In It itS varying phai phases II Is I us as a II sealed book and lUll we WI can view It only In representations representation On the he stage tage you fOU have hate th the beggar the tho aristocrat the commoner and the thc king Icing brought be before before fore foN you OU to play pia hi his part to reveal the secrets of ot hi his soul to make casks bare hare the motives motive that prompt JIt hi his hll actions netlon One OM who 1 is II serious aerl ul enough to study tudy the Chi Chinn nr nn ace o people from this viewpoint might J l r I spent a profitable night In a 11 Washing Washington ton St theater To most onlookers however the tho Chinese drama would be e entertaining for other and very dIner differ different ent reasons reason The most striking tea fea feature ture tune about It and the thc one that would at once reveal the Chinese nature and contrast It with our own stage presentations Is Its Ita absolutely sImple and primitive e char character character acter It resembles our own Elizabeth Elizabethan an stage nearer than anything that can be witnessed sed today In Itt any Rn whatsoever So tar far oa as appearance goes Chinese drama Is In about time the tame same stage of ot de development as all that oc occupied occupied by time thc English J drama Mama of ot tho the days day du of at arii arol and a II Chinese audience has him much the same sallie r that marked nn an ordinary Eliza Elizabethan ElIzabethan bethan than audience If It you OU are n a stranger tran er In Chinatown and are without a 11 guide you are ate to have hae Infinite trouble In finding the theater for tor the Chinese always quick to Imitate the pranks played on them by bv the whites will misdirect you as all often oit n as they the can When at length you OU do tind nOlI the right place pInel you OU are mire conducted upon entering to the time state st e where In true style you take lake your OUr seat eat Notwithstanding It is I only C G and anti there Is iv no one In Inthe inthe the tho audience except yourself yot ye ot the Iho play pia has hils already begun bt gun anti and every ever thing timing goes Koe on a as II If amid the applause of ot 1000 loo spectators spectator From Irom 1 lum your OUI conspicuous seat seal on the tho stage you OU take note of your our surround tugs 11 Tho Tb lh room you OU ob observe erve Is 18 long I and anti somewhat high capable of ot seating twelve or fifteen n hundred persons Rude Hude benches not overly clean stretch their lengths length from one ono side aide of or thu the house to lo the lie other with narrow aisles aisle at nt both ends There In the rear Is n ii 1 counter where nuts candles candies cigars mind and summer Bummer drinks drink mill alt after a 1 fashion are kept fur for the comfort of r the th audience A gallery galler with slanting sItuating floor boor reaches from about the middle of the house to time the rear with wins aing cv C tending lending to the front where here halt half a 1 dozen rude boxes look down upon unon the stage Mage You ou next glance at the tage stage It II like irise e Is crude and primitive In keep lag Ing you think with the liou house e It 1 t Is g small very er cr high mind and utterly devoid of ot those by which the Iho modern stage produces such good effects There are no curtains curtain no set let ting lags no furnishings of ot any kind ex ax except except cent only anI a table or two to mind and half a dozen chair A Mt Nt of at cheap highly hl hl colored carpet decorates te the spot pol where whore the actors play pin all el else ele e Is la perfectly bare Tho The back cf of f the stage singe which Ibe before betom the audi aud audience ence hums has more attention from the artist lIat t A Mg big faced clock eo looks look blandly down upon you OU Ju JUS above It Is a picture ro of ot President which looks look very vel much a u as If it had n tent irn i 1 Mi a 8 surrounded by an abundance of ot bunting in national color and aed by 11 a 1 number ot of long col eel columns of writing A A figure dressed In the splendor of the Hast East kneels kneel 11 near the footlight ting slag Ins big her part ut In a falsetto and Ud an P torm Is always characteristic of at beginners In art aut 11 The ordinary Chinaman of today you Ol clearly clearl see ee like the time ordinary Englishman of at Shakes day has hasa h hR a R pou power r of ot imagination that Is ii truly trul astonishing There Is no Illusion here no mechanical device to produce nn an Im iou of or reality the stage being bald baldas as a brickyard And yet these the e Chine sec lIe more In a 1 play lay than thon we with nil all our devices device of ot tage What Sir Philip said of ot U 1 English stage of his hit day da Is la i equally Is II of ot thIs Chinese stage Now you OU ta tm base nave three ladles lad Ice walk to gather Ho Ilo Hoer er ers ens and nd then we must believe the stage Kur Kurto to be to a n garden Iy fly 11 and by b we e he be P new of ot a shipwreck In the same pla pia Ui th n w we are to blame If we accept It lint hot for a rock Look at Rt this boy bo moving about from plum pla e a elo eto ato to lo place arranging the chairs chain and tabi 4 In n the time very er sight eight of ot the audience the actors actor are arc on the stage Yet Yel the theople I ople see sea only the thc acting to tl Ibern thu figure of at the time young manager Is In the background Now ow he lowers a n red clot over oer the which means meana that we e are ore In the thc presence nee of ot royalty n ni nhI v vho ho hI puts mt Iut A tin fish In the enter center of at the stage to be caught by an angling pla ils ct et corrected by b the latter If It he puts put It In the time wrong place or takes too tOl large arge luge a fUh flah now no on one of the combatants In n an unskillful thrust drops hi his spear among the audience which Is II recover I Iby by the and returned to th actor now the monster o 0 ohe othe the he show how cut ut off Coer the head of ot hi his hapless rival for the hand of ot a fal tal oh Mongolian and swings It triumphant before the thc audience while tile Ufe victim ot of if this unfortunate circumstance gr lag nc weary wal of ot lying hying on the thc ground round head lou hers CM gels gelt iel up and ind deliberately walk out the musicians are al III playIng pl theIr Instruments with astonishing rigor sigor and moWing mopping their heir fact faces smoking and und drinking tea tta all In plain sight light And Arid yet U the tho spec pec spectators ee tatora tee see not th the of ot the nor the unskillful sword thrust nor the victim a as I he walk out Ing lag what appear to be religious rite nuch like I III I tIme burning of incense lion hor U is tho tIme orchestra playing terrifying piece picco of Mongolian Ion ollan mum Titer Then ire are half a On un an nut Instrument In ie a n ban balm banJo Jo another something like hike a clarion There thel are aro besides l e a It pair of ot cymbals bl 1 big 11 as cur 8 tho the front wheel of ot a two other instruments Instrument which yo ye l clarify classify by reason of oC th tin Hs Each Kadi l ha has hus his hla o on 01 instrument except one omme who PlO pia on time the banjo and t When Ulten you can mn our attention upon tho the violin crude box ox with only one string an aim anthe the time keys at the wrong end you ou mire are f t frein from rein being hock d at nt time the sound yo yn 1 sometimes think It to be he even liven pleasing Nor Is la ii time the th combination Inh except of ot course when those tho e thunder ous threaten you OU with lot loss hearing After a u time becoming ai a 11 to this deafening ic yet really feel teel that tha t contrary to what yo 0 have on heard henrt seine omo very harmonics proceed from a n Chinese or orchestra chestra You tUrn lurn to your to remark this but ruins It were a 11 awell awell well to In iii the tho ear of tho time roar roaring roaring ing In in high tide at lit length to your strange all but bUl Inviting ap up appearance of or tIme the house hous the nakedness of the tho stage your own conspicuous place on It the tho frightful volume ol 01 round pound from time till bund you begin to en enJoy enJOY enjoy Joy the tho play pia laY You prepare to sit there thero patiently tar for six hours the audience to tu come corne A China Chinaman Chinaman Chinaman man now aunt and then comes struggling straggling In Inand and amid takes lakes his liln place on the thc back baik ba k of ot u It bench resting lila his feet feut on the seat from which position he hue moves movel only when crowded out of It By fly B eleven the time house Is U packed everywhere there th re Is 19 not eVen standing room loft left You notice that there are ore few reI women and anti that they the are arc oft arc o by lIy In one side Hide nf ot the tho gallery There I In In ii iia n a good sprinkling of boys fluid and Iho thur men incH sit throughout with their hats bats on un The flue play pin as nl far as you can cnn tell lell in mitt t being able to understand Chinese ha haa a double plot i one omme Involving the thc com cola common mon folk another time the royalty r alt In Inquiring quiring of nn an Intelligent Chinese neigh neighbor neighbor bor about tho the play pia you learn that you oU are arc looking at Chinese life noble and nd Ignoble three years ago alO and that the thc emperor hImself with long divided heard beard Is 11 before you ou The oth other other othor er or part you learn turns upon uon a it 1 lovers hovers There Th re Is IR a n great deal of ut lighting a number of at tilting contests contents In ln which there I Is considerable skill ex ax exhibited besides L several leveral deaths with much Lutich pomp pam and ceremony In royal courts Everyone sings his hi part In a 11 falsetto Time The characters about twenty In number act well according to standards No women you yomi learn learnt from your our Mongolian friend play pill pitt on a Chi hi hiese nese ese stage men taking their parts parl You au are further Informed that there are re three classes of ot No 1 t who receive between four tour and five no fl thousand dollars d a II year No 2 Z who get Iel from fromI I went hundred hun red to 10 three dollars and No 3 who are arc paid p ld only seventeen n hundred hun red dollars Every Chi Chinaman Chinaman naman flaman knows know which are tho the star Itar actors and nd he M watches these the e with the attention throughout How artificial ev e etry everything try thing II li the time dressing walking tho time talking all Is l so different rein from the time dally life lite of ot the Chinese as an you ou have leen sn them And yet et cl there Is lit I a Li 1 naturalness naturalness alness amass In It all and the time actors appear to feel teel their parts part The Flie T e difference between what a n China Chinaman Chinaman Chinaman man Is 18 oft off the stage mind and what lint he I Is on onIt onIt onIt It grow out of at the Idea which these strange people have that thal their drama druna demands a speech ye ch amid dress and acting different from the tilt speech and dress and acting actinIC oT 0 ml ral 11 life lite somewhat a as we tor tot verse terse a tone and diction different from the tone and diction of prose There Is i that about bout It all nil which headless hr nor time the clan claims They The see aee only onh the tIme continuous thread of ot action To them thiern the time stage Is la laa Isa isa a fishpond or n ti battlo Meld held Or a io loyal 1011 al court according us III t Inch eAch U is anti and they require no signboard to lO noti notify fy t f them cither their be Le lag Look 1101 upon that sea ea en of at upturned face and tell me If It ibis Ihla I is not notto to fO See this young Chinese lad who to bo ho In tn the audience but who r tt fl tm un ti II tee he can Calm see lIeo better with the actors some lome tunes even e n vi s ii f C their punts parts and arid when alien tho headless a man moan walks out runt runs behind the scenes to learn If It the time heath head I lx hI really off art Half Holt of ot those grown up would do likewise If It they the could so BO Intently do dothy thy Ih drink In the realism of ot tho the play pia During the tho whole as nl A the time play pin goes M on from hour to hour there Is 18 tIme the most moat bewildering confusion What with time the thunderous clashing of the cymbals the blowing of at the lime trumpets and the thc twanging of ot time the stringed In Instruments what with the clouds of ot to tobacco tobacco tobacco bacco smoke that till fill time tho house from floor noor to ceIling frequently h obscurIng oh the he building what with the time energetic talking of at the tho as ua he I Passes passed time after litter the whole t long before ench ellch row displaying ing und anti selling his wares marvel that tummy any anyone one can con see nee ec anti and ht h hear nr ar what goes IO 8 on among the actors You wonder r how It ItIs ItIs Iti Is i that the these I e Chinn men and ns as they are ran can an feel al III th the end |
