The Garden Courtyard as a Stage for Life: Practice, Performance, and Reception

This paper will reflect upon how past and present theatrical architecture, particularly the residential garden, was part of courtyard culture from the Ming dynasty to the present. The idea of residential gardens as theatres emerged along with Kunqu, an imperial form of Chinese opera and became highly popular in the sixteenth century, especially among the literati. Elite gentlemen of the Ming kept household troupes for private performances, and the garden became a space where they could freely express their desires, opinions, and emotions. The garden was also a site for social performance. The interaction between performers and the audience and among the audience members illustrates how artists and designers used the courtyard garden to envelop the community, or 文人團體 (wenren tuanti), under the dome of Heaven. This space also represented a physical domain where the coded language of fashion and values played out. In contemporary times, Tan Dun, the celebrated composer, brought his new production of The Peony Pavilion to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He transformed the museum’s Astor Chinese Garden Court into a stage and attempted to restore the kind of theatrical experience in Ming China. However, it is unclear whether Tan Dun’s design was a restoration of elite culture in the sixteenth century or an innovation to appeal to modern, international audiences.