INTRODUCTION.
PLAYS generally accompany the entertainments
of ceremony given by the Chinese
Mandarines, and are acted while the guests are
regaling at table. When the guests are first
seated, four or five of the principal Comedians
enter the hall in rich dresses, and making low
bows all together, hit their foreheads against
the ground. Then one of them presents the
principal guest with a book, containing in letters
of gold, the names of fifty or fixty plays;
which they have learnt by heart, and are ready
to act upon the spot. After some complimentary
refusals and offers to others, the principal
guest pitches upon one: which the chief Comedian
carries round to all the company for their
approbation.—If any one of the guests should
chance to have a name similar to one of the Dramatis
Personæ or the like, that play is set aside
and another chosen.
The representation begins with Chinese music,
viz. basons of brass or steel, whose sound is harsh
and shrill; drums of buffalo skins; flutes; fifes and
trumpets. There are no decorations for the plays;
they only spread a carpet on the floor and the Comedians
make use of some adjoining rooms, from
which they enter to act their parts. One actor generally
performs two or three parts.—The ladies
are placed out of the hall over against the Comedians,
where through a lattice of Bam-boo and
a silken net they can see all, unseen themselves.
P. Du Halde, v. 1. p. 299. v. 2. p. 175. &c.
N. B. Plays are sometimes acted on stages in
the open streets, but we don't find that they have
any regular theatres or play-houses.
