点亮舞台:晚清上海戏园的照明与灯光技术

Illuminating the Stage:Lighting Techniques of Shanghai Theatres in the Late Qing Dynasty

晚清上海租界的公共照明系统建设,为中国传统戏剧在近代都市的发展提供了契机。随着煤气照明和电力照明被引进戏园,传统戏剧的内容、形式和观念都发生了变化,不仅出现了竞演灯彩戏的风潮,而且开启了将灯光作为艺术手段的初步探索。更重要的是,舞台照明和观众席照明的区分强化了舞台支配观众席的新观演关系。尽管晚清上海戏园的灯光运用仍处于粗糙幼稚的起步阶段,往往呈现奇观化和非整体性的特征,但它使中国传统戏剧和近代都市生活发生了联系,也使戏剧在当时的社会文化生活中获得了真正的可见性。

The construction of public lighting system in Shanghai concession in the late Qing Dynasty provided an opportunity for the development of traditional Chinese theatre in the modern cities.With the introduction of gas lighting and electric lighting,changes have taken place in the content,form and concept of traditional Chinese theatre.There appeared not only the trend of lantern-plays,but also the preliminary exploration of lighting as an artistic means.More importantly,the distinction between stage lighting and auditorium lighting reinforced the new actor-spectator relationship in which the stage dominated the auditorium.Although the use of lighting in this period was still in its crude and naive initial stage,featuring spectacle and a lack of integrity,it associated the traditional Chinese theatre with modern urban life,and thus made theatre gain real visibility in the social and cultural life of the time.