Description
Book SynopsisShakespeare’s tragedies have been performed in the Sinophone world for over two centuries.
Hamlet, Macbeth, and
King Lear are three of the most frequently adapted plays. They have been re-imagined as political theatre, comedic parody, Chinese opera, avant-garde theatre, and experimental theatre in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. This ground-breaking anthology features the first English translations of seven influential adaptations from 1987 to 2007 across a number of traditional and modern performance genres in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei. Each of the book's three sections offers a pair of two contrasting versions of each tragedy - in two distinct genres - for comparative analysis. This anthology is an indispensable tool for the teaching and research of Sinophone theatre's engagement with Western classics in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Table of ContentsChapter 1. Sinophone Shakespeares: A Critical Introduction, Alexa Alice Joubin
Part 1. Existentialist Questions in Post-socialist China and Post-Martial-Law Taiwan
Chapter 2. Hamlet as Political Theatre in Beijing: 哈姆雷特by Lin Zhaohua 林兆華 (1990), translated by Steven L. Riep and Ronald Kimmons and introduced by Steven Riep
Chapter 3. Hamlet as Parody in Taipei: Shamlet 莎姆雷特 (Hamlet) by Lee Kuo-hsiu 李國修 (1992 / 2008), translated by Christopher Rea and introduced by Alexa Alice Joubin
Part 2. Bewitched by Kunqu Opera and Avant-Garde Theatre
Chapter 4. An Operatic Macbeth in Shanghai: Story of Bloody Hands 血手記 by Huang Zuolin 黃佐臨 (1987 / 2008), translated by Siyuan Liu and introduced by Alexa Alice Joubin
Chapter 5. A Feminist Macbeth in Tainan: The Witches’ Sonata 女巫奏鳴曲．馬克白詩篇by Lü Po-shen呂柏伸 (2007), translated and introduced by Yilin Chen
Part 3. Self-Identities in Traditional and Experimental Jingju Opera
Chapter 6. A Confucian King Lear in Shanghai: King Qi’s Dream 岐王夢 (King Lear) by Shanghai Jingju Theatre Company (1995), translated by Dongshin Chang and introduced by Alexa Alice Joubin
Chapter 7. A Buddhist King Lear in Taipei: Lear Is Here李爾在此by Wu Hsing-kuo 吳興國, Contemporary Legend Theatre (2001), translated and introduced by Alexa Alice Joubin
Chapter 8.
Coda: Theatrical Bricolage of Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth,and Othello in Beijing, 1986
