Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1997 - 20

A U E R B A C H + Associates

Theatre and Media Facilities Design

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Lighting Designers and Consultants

1045 Sansome St.
San Francisco CA 94111
Tel 415392 7528
Fax 415 392 7530

TD&1

the costume through the choice of inner larers. an underrobe. and trousers or skin. On a
larger scale. if the dresser is preparing a scene
depicting a ballie bellreen a general in blue
and one in red. the lIro armies Irill need to be
dressed in colors to match their leader. ,-\
dresser might hare sereral sets of red and blue
uniforms from Irhich to choose. Pan of the an
of the dresser is to select II'hich red garmeI1ls
Irill look the best Irilh Irhich blue one. The
strong color contrast can be softened. creating
harmonr within the COI1lrast. One technique
for creating a lisual harmony is for the red
an11\" to hare blue trim and the blue armr to
hare red trim. (Zhao, April 25)
Texture appears in many forms in traditional jingjll costumes, aLi cOl1lrived to contribute to the orerall beauty of the visual
image. Except for the Imrest of peasallls and
sen'aI1lS, erery costume is elaborately embroidered II'ith a rariell' of floral. animal and emblematic imagerr. (Figs. 3 and -I) The
embroidery is all sewn by hand using satin
stitch and Chinese knots. ~Iost embroidered
figures are also couched with gold or silrer
threads to creale a rery rich surface embellishmeI1l. The embroidered images are aLi dralYll
from the Chinese belief in the language of symbols. il1lerest in detail of the Irorld and culrural heritage. Just as Chinese IITiting is based
on pictograms. the decoration of clothing and
other artifacts Irith pictorial emblems is designed to communicate abstract ideas. as IreLi
as to improre the lI'earer's life. By incorporating imagery of flowers. animals. birds and insects into dress, the Chinese hoped for a
harmonious existence Irith the surrounding
world. Figures [rom m~lhology. illustrating
fabulous beasts and allributes of deities bring
pOlrer and good fortune to the Irearer. Other
objects. such as lI'heels and tribute silk are
embodied with social allributes and desires
such as uccess. long life. filial piety and marital happiness. Chinese characters are also incorporated iI1lO designs as homonyms for
abstract Irords to expre s ~lTIbolic me sage.
(rollmer. -12)
The embroidered imagen' on jingjll cosnlme is based on tradition. but as theatre and an
all f0I111. jingjll is not beholden to the anle
bincting I1Iles of the coul1)ingjll has a flexibility
in il1le'lJretation of the sumptuarr laIrs that Iras
not ar:tilable to members of the COUI1S. In some
cases. pal1icularlr II'ith the dress of the emperor.
historicity Im~ actllallr forbidden. For ex;u11ple.
the emperor's robe from the /I,Ul (206 B.C.-no
1.1l.) to Qing (16-1-J-1911 1.1l.) drnasties Iras

decorated Irith twelre srmbols of sorereignty
represel1ling the authority of the supreme
ruler. (Dickinson and \\rigglesll"Qrth. -9)
The twelre srmboL of sorereignll·-sun.
moon. constellation of three star. mountains.
dragon. pheasant. p:tir of bronze cups. IraterII·eed. grain. fire. :L\e. ,md hi-being resen'ed
exclusirely for the emperor. Irere not allmred
to appear onstage. eren on an actor ponral'ing
an emperor. Instead. the eight Taoist allributes
of the immonals'. eight Buddhist srmbols of
good fonune;. and the eight precious objects"
are used to decorate the dress of stage emperors. (Zhao. ,-\pril 18)
Another ex:tl11ple of theatrical license occurs in the depiction of dragons onstage. [n the
COUll. only the emperor could Irear a five-clalred
dragon. The other r:tllks lrare dragons Ilith felrer
claws assigned in descending order. In jingjll.
hmrerer. all dragons hare fire ciaIrs. As felrer
clalrs are considered unallractire and no one
has erer seen a real dragon. the tradition Iras
altered for performance dress. where all dragons hare fire toes, (Fig. 3) (Den. Jan, 12)
In addition to modifling the content of
traditional embroideries for the purpose of
performance. the scale of the designs is enlarged onstage to allmr greater risibility of the
ornamentation. In the process of enlargement.
the densi\l' of the pallern is likelrise reduced.
creating a much bolder effect. These enlarged
images on all of the costumes contribute to the
orerail unification of the design sllie of jingjll
dress :tIld hll1her distinguish costume [rom imperial dress. Eren Irith the increased scale. the
audience still may not be able to discern the
distinct forms. but the oreraJ] impression of
the figures. floral or animal. indicates the nature of the role. The color of the fabric is still
the primarr communicator of character traits.
being the largest block of color on a costllme
and represel1latire of personal characteristics.
The pallern. on the other hand. is less specific
to the named character. being designed more
for the role live and aesthetics. (Den. Jan) 2)
The fabrics u ed in jingjll are less raried
than the other textures, \Iost of the upper cla s
-1. Emhlems of the eight immonals of Taoism:
Slronl. fan. flollu baskel. 101US, flute, gourd. caslanets. and drum

5. Eight ,Imbols of Buddhism: wheel of 1:1\1. conch
shell. umbrella. canop\. lotus. jar. fish. mrSlic knot
6. Eight precious objecls (from elel'en common
ones): Coral. coins. 100enges, tribule silk. jll-i or
sceplre. rhilloceros horns. pearl. slOne chime. mirror. books. leaf

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1997