Origin:

In the past, scripts were written in a long scroll, with a scroll at the bottom, just like a scroll for mounting Chinese paintings. Because the last scene of the long scroll was close to the wooden scroll, it was called the big script. axis. The play before the main axis, that is, the penultimate program is called the finale, the play in the middle is called the central axis, and the previous play is called the early axis. In fact, the name of each position on the scroll is used to replace the order of the performance, as if a performance is showing a colorful picture to the audience.

Extended information

In the old days, daytime plays in theaters usually started at around 12 noon and stopped at around 6 in the evening. There were six, seven or even eight or nine plays. It is generally divided into three parts. The first three are usually performed by new actors or students, the middle two or three are better, and the last three are the most popular ones with the audience. The last appearance of each of these three segments is called the "axion" - the front axion, the middle axion, and the major axion. This is the performance procedure of several theaters in Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. The "axis" is the last play performed in each section, and the penultimate play becomes the "finale".

The tradition of Beijing's old opera troupes is that the opera performers always put the plays with the best singing skills, that is, the plays of the main actors in the troupe, as the second to last performance. The last play is a martial arts play, performed by all the martial arts actors in the troupe. This type of play takes up a quarter of an hour, so-called "one fight and one break" (the characters come up and briefly explain their reasons, and both parties After a few rounds of play, the winner was determined and the play ended.) At that time, most of the opera connoisseurs belonged to high-ranking officials, and as soon as the big ax came up, they would often get up and leave the garden.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Finale

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