The encounters between ‘Shakespeare’ and genres and values represented by the icon of ‘China’ have enriched Chinese-language theatrical traditions as well as global Shakespearean performance history. The transmission of Renaissance... more
The encounters between ‘Shakespeare’ and genres and values represented by the icon of ‘China’ have enriched Chinese-language theatrical traditions as well as global Shakespearean performance history.
The transmission of Renaissance culture in China began with the arrival of the first Jesuit missionaries in 1582, followed by the Dominicans and Franciscans in the 1630s. Illustrated British travel narratives record British emissaries’ experience attending theatrical productions in Tianjin and Beijing during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795), including the mission of Lord George Macartney.
There are several recurrent themes in Chinese-language adaptations of Shakespeare. Universalization, as opposed to localization, has been a popular strategy among Chinese directors and translators. This strategy has produced plays performed ‘straight,’ with visual and textual citations of what was perceived to be authoritative classical performances (such as Laurence Olivier’s versions).
A second strategy is to localize the plot and setting of a play, and assimilate Shakespeare into the local worldviews. It folds Shakespeare into local performance genres. An example is Huang Zuolin's Xieshou ji (The Story of Bloody Hands, 1986), a kunqu opera adaptation of Macbeth.
The third strategy involves pastiche, dramaturgical collage, and extensive, deconstructive rewritings. It sometimes changes the genre of a play by accessing dormant themes that have been marginalized by centuries of Anglocentric criticism and performance traditions. The emergence of parody is a sign that Shakespeare’s global afterlife has reached a new stage.
Chinese and Sinophone Shakespeares have become strangers at home. The uses of Shakespeare’s plays in spoken drama and Chinese opera are informed by a paradigm shift from seeking authenticity to foregrounding artistic subjectivity.
The transmission of Renaissance culture in China began with the arrival of the first Jesuit missionaries in 1582, followed by the Dominicans and Franciscans in the 1630s. Illustrated British travel narratives record British emissaries’ experience attending theatrical productions in Tianjin and Beijing during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795), including the mission of Lord George Macartney.
There are several recurrent themes in Chinese-language adaptations of Shakespeare. Universalization, as opposed to localization, has been a popular strategy among Chinese directors and translators. This strategy has produced plays performed ‘straight,’ with visual and textual citations of what was perceived to be authoritative classical performances (such as Laurence Olivier’s versions).
A second strategy is to localize the plot and setting of a play, and assimilate Shakespeare into the local worldviews. It folds Shakespeare into local performance genres. An example is Huang Zuolin's Xieshou ji (The Story of Bloody Hands, 1986), a kunqu opera adaptation of Macbeth.
The third strategy involves pastiche, dramaturgical collage, and extensive, deconstructive rewritings. It sometimes changes the genre of a play by accessing dormant themes that have been marginalized by centuries of Anglocentric criticism and performance traditions. The emergence of parody is a sign that Shakespeare’s global afterlife has reached a new stage.
Chinese and Sinophone Shakespeares have become strangers at home. The uses of Shakespeare’s plays in spoken drama and Chinese opera are informed by a paradigm shift from seeking authenticity to foregrounding artistic subjectivity.
