The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-03-19
A CHINESE PLAY
OF CLASSIC SCHOOL

It was Chinese drama OF the old cIas-
sic school. At least. it must have been
that. for it was Of no other school under
the broad canopy of heaven. The act
ors were costumed in perfectly gorgeous
siIken robes. and they talked in that
high falsetto men never feel at liberty
to use anywhere else than in a ChinesA
theater-and only the Chinese actors
feel at liberty to use it there For
that is the Chinese singing voice, and
presumably carries the Chinese idea Of
melody. If a white man were to talk
that way. anywhere-well, he would be
an object OF grave suspicion. and that
is drawing it pretty mild. too.
Also, it is only in the Chinese classic
drama that the Emperor, who is known
as the Son of Heaven. hops to battle
en- one Leg, whirling as he goes, and
then gets taken prisoner by a rebel who
can hop higher and farther. who can
even do the seemingly impossible feat
of hopping on two legs and whirling
around in the air as he does it. That,
possibly, was the cusom in the classic
days in China. The Chinese do many
queer things. from the Caucasian view
point, even now, and probably did some
queerer things in classic days. Any
way, the actors did last night.
The play opened with the rebel leader
preparing to rebel. He prepared by
putting on silken robes, and lot of
things, including a garden of paper |
flowers. on his head. and dancing |
around on one foot in front of his army |
of two small boys in blue blouses. A |
native policeman, evidently an expert |
on rebelIious preparation. came saun- |
tering out from behind the scenes to
see him do it-and then sauntered back
act. probably. Anyway. he came out
again with the next lot of ksleido-
scopic actors.
The name Of the play, by the way,
was The Double Marriage. or Re-
uniting in Harmony" and the action
is supposed to have occurred over four
teen hundred years ago. And if those
people did do that. it is a good thing
it was fourteen hundred years ago
They did not have any such thing as a
in lunacy, then.
Wen. after the leader prepared he
probably. At least, the in
terpreter said he did. The Emperor
l., 49,. ,,<-t ~-o--~ox.,,. - - 49, ..f-~t,+
next to the moonlight on the lake con-
lection in silk worn by the prime min
ster with whiskers like a billy goat | ,
md voice like a pig under a gate
danced a hornpipe on one foot when
lie heard about it. and so did the third
,rince, who was the flag officer. ap
,arentIy. because he had four flags
tuck to his shoulders. like wings. and i
he second prince. and the prime min
ster-but he could not kick high. be- III
ause he would have got his silkenA
hoes tangled up In his whiskers IL hk \
Iad.
Then they were all taken prisoner
" the rebel and his army of small
oys, and rescued by the three heroes,
ne Of whom carried a roll OF blankets
one up in a mat. and the ladies came
n. not half so gorgeously dressed as
he men. and the rescuers were emo
led and everybody married everybody a
lse and all were happy.
A lot of the best people in town saw
/. and heard the Interpretation and
njoyed it all thoroughly. Also. it net t
ed a handsome sum for the Anglo 2
hinese Academy. for whose benefit the o
was given.