Previously, scripts were written in long scrolls, and there was a scroll under the scroll, just like the scroll of a framed Chinese painting. Because the last scene of the long scroll is close to the wooden shaft, it is called the big shaft. The play in front of the big axis, that is, the penultimate program, is called the finale, the middle axis and the front axis. In fact, it is the name of each position of the painting axis rather than the arrangement order of the performance codes, as if a performance is to show the audience a colorful picture scroll.
Extended data
In the past, there were daytime performances in the theater, which usually started at noon and stopped at 6 pm. There are six or seven plays, or even eight or nine plays, which are generally divided into three. The first three plays are generally performed by new actors or students, the middle two or three are better, and the last three are the most popular plays. The end of each of these three sections is called "axle"-front axle, middle axle and big axle. This is the acting rule of several theaters in Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. It is said that the "axis" is the last performance of each paragraph, and the penultimate scene becomes the "finale".
According to the tradition of the old troupe in Beijing, the actors always put the best play, that is, the play of the pillar actors in this troupe, in the penultimate place. At the end of the play, there was a martial arts drama, and all the martial arts actors in the troupe participated in the performance. This kind of play took up a quarter of an hour, so-called "World War I and a Rest" (the roles were simply explained, and the two sides started several rounds, and the play ended after the outcome was decided). At that time, most experts who went to the opera were dignitaries. When they saw the big axis, they often got up and left the park.
Baidu encyclopedia-finale
China Net-the essence of Beijing Opera.