Stan Lai, who usually writes his own plays but has directed Western classics such as Shakespeare, believes that Chinese idolatry of the Bard has essentially turned him into a brand. "Don't obsess over the plots," he suggested. "We should explore the spirit of his work. And don't forget, Shakespeare was an entertainer of mass appeal in his day."
Still cutting edge
As Tian Qinxin put it, because Shakespeare belongs to the world, there is no need to subvert him. "All you need is to understand and express him with Chinese situations." Tian, who has just produced her own version of Romeo and Juliet, doesn't equate respect and homage of a classic with the reproduction of the exact language or imitating the movements of Western actors.
To be what she calls "a translating machine" for the emotions Shakespeare conveys, Tian has to overcome her own religious restraints: "I'm a Buddhist, and I believe love is about possessing and controlling and fear of loss. So, I have to approach the story from the point of view of a nonbeliever."
And that, according to many in the audience, has helped her to capture the essence of Romeo and Juliet, which is young love in all-consuming blossom.
The same play was definitely subverted when Meng Jinghua, China's pre-eminent avant-garde impresario, took a stab at it in 2011. "We want to show the cutting edge of today's youth. Shakespeare was cutting edge in his time. He was forward-looking and very much the embodiment of the zeitgeist 400 years ago. I want to have a dialogue with him," said Meng, who watched 24 different productions of the play and incorporated a plethora of styles in his own, including pop, gothic, heavy metal, vampirism and collage. "That is my brand new interpretation," he said.
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