Like other Asian theatrical traditions, almost every element of jingxi, including makeup, is rigidly controlled by convention. Actors playing the roles of men and old women wear simple makeup. All actors playing male roles, except those of young heroes, wear beards. For female roles other than old women, an actor’s face is painted white with the area immediately around the eyes coloured a deep red that shades into pink. Actors playing unbearded male roles wear a white base, but the contrasting colour around the eyes is less pronounced. The makeup for the so-called painted-face roles is the most spectacular. It uses brilliantly coloured, elaborately patterned designs that are symbolic of the specific role the actor is playing. While white patches around the eyes are a common feature of all comic roles in jingxi, primarily black patterns are used to identify the specific type of each clown.
Japanese Noh and Kabuki theatres offer different visual treatments of the actor’s face. In Noh the characters, typically played by mature men, wear masks rather than makeup. These masks, which generally portray either a neutral or a very strong emotion, depict stock character types found in traditional Noh scripts: women, deities, old men, mythological beasts, and so forth. The appearance of the masks is dictated by tradition, which enables audiences to recognize specific character types. In those few roles for which masks are not required, the actors traditionally hold their faces in a fixed masklike attitude.
In Kabuki, makeup is used rather than masks. The makeup style known as kumadori (literally, “to follow lines”) exaggerates all facial lines and features. It is generally used for emotionally charged roles—strong masculine characters, mythological gods, and beasts. While the kumadori style of makeup follows the actor’s natural facial lines, the specific design mirrors the emotional nature and social station of the character being portrayed. Makeup for less emotionally charged characters tends to be less spectacular than the kumadori style.
The colours used in Kabuki makeup, like everything else about Kabuki, are dictated by tradition. The base colour for almost all makeup designs is white, thought to be have been chosen so as to help project the actor’s face in early, dimly lit Japanese theatres. There are also specific meanings associated with specific makeup colours: indigo represents ghosts and evil characters, for instance, while brown is used for gods and evil nobles. Likewise, deep red represents deep anger or hostility. This colour-coding also helps to clarify a character’s role for an experienced Kabuki audience.
J. Michael Gillette