ABSTRACT
The training of actors, as repeatedly testified by extant data, was often the biggest challenge, and regularly the most time-consuming process in Ming elite theatre. There was initial movement and voice training for child trainees, advanced training for acting students around ten and speciality training for teenage performers. The conventional stage of Ming elite theatre did not provide much leeway for acting problems. An actor either did it right or did it wrong, and the audience could tell, and they did as a matter of principle and pride. Freedom to improvise was a result of, but not an alternative to, the mastery of skills; it was often reserved for stars only.
