King Lear in the Chinese Diaspora: Five Adaptations
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Zhang, Deyi
Abstract
Global Shakespeare has gradually become a methodology to consider the cultural location of intercultural theatre. Adapting Shakespearean plays outside Anglo-centric communities has attracted international attention because of appropriating the “Other” in the theatre. This thesis discusses five King Lear adaptations by three directors in the Chinese diaspora situated in the changing context of globalization; they are Wu Hsing-kuo’s Lear Is Here (2001), Ong Keng Sen’s Lear (1997) and Lear Dreaming (2012), and David Ka-Shing Tse’s Lear’s Daughters (2003) and King Lear (2006). These adaptations invoke me to speculate on the concurrence of why Wu, Ong, and Tse simultaneously chose King Lear around the turn of the 21st century; second, how Shakespeare serves their need for representing the imaginations about “China”; and lastly, how globalization accelerates the mobility of people and cultural productions. Though Wu is from Taiwan, Ong from Singapore, and Tse from Britain, they share similarities in evoking issues such as national inclination, household struggle, and personal belonging connoted in Shakespeare’s King Lear. Since the concepts of “China” and “Shakespeare” have been destabilized in the contemporary social context, they both face reinterpretations just as “home” and “homelessness” now receive new connotations. I will define “home” as a concentric notion that revolves around the nation, household and individual. Moreover, I will apply contextual and textual analyses to interpret each adaptation based on the Bard’s text, along with articulating issues such as identity crisis, patriarchal struggles, and linguistic confusions. I will investigate the translated scripts, theatrical effects, and a range of artistic dilemmas involving the five productions as well.
Subjects
diaspora
home
homelessness
King Lear
Shakespeare
Chinese culture
Shakespearean adaptations
Type
thesis
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