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  • Shashibiya: Staging Shakespeare in China
  • Faye Chunfang Fei (bio)
Shashibiya: Staging Shakespeare in China. By Li Ruru. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2003; 305 pp.; illustrations. $45.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.

Adopting Clifford Geertz's methodology of the interpretation of cultures, Li Ruru's book Shashibiya: Staging Shakespeare in China, does not set out to offer readers a linear narrative of the history of Shakespeare performances in China, but to examine the levels of "filtering" that any Shakespeare production in China undergoes and to discuss how these filters, as Patrice Pavis calls them in his Theatre at the Crossroads of Culture (1992), reflect the constantly changing political, social, and cultural practices. The author succeeds in providing what Geertz in The Interpretation of Cultures calls "thick description" ([1973] 2000:6) by supplying readers with a rich scene in which intricate intercultural exchanges take place. The book makes it amply clear that Shakespeare in China is as much a story about Chinese society and culture as it is about Shakespeare's plays. [End Page 168]

Chapter 1, "Shakespeare in China: Between His First 'Arrival' and the Cultural Revolution," gives an overview of the decades from Shakespeare's first introduction into China in the early 20th century to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Although the first professional Chinese production of Shakespeare took place in 1913 in Shanghai, Shakespeare only really caught on during the 1980s (nearly 90 percent of all Chinese Shakespeare productions were staged after 1979, as shown in "Appendix 1: A Chronology of Shakespeare Performances in China"). Li, therefore, devotes the subsequent five chapters to a discussion of Shakespearean plays produced in the 1980s and 1990s, focusing in detail on 11 Shakespeare productions in varied forms of mainstream modern huaju (spoken drama), traditional xiqu (music theatre), and experimental theatre.

Chapter 2, "Orthodox Presentations in Chinese Eyes," looks at Soviet or Method-influenced productions of Much Ado About Nothing (1957, revival: 1961, and 1979 by the Shanghai Theatre Academy) and Macbeth (1980 by the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing). Chapter 3, "Rebels Against the Classics," examines experimental productions of Hamlet (1989 and 1990 by Lin Zhaohua Workshop, and 1994 by the Beijing People's Art Theatre) as well as Othello (1994 by the Shanghai People's Art The-atre). Chapter 4, "The Chinese Faces of Shakespeare," investigates traditional music theatre adaptations of Macbeth/Xie Shouji (Blood-Stained Hands, 1986 by the Shanghai Kunju Company), Much Ado About Nothing/Wushishengfei (Looking for Trouble, 1986 by the Anhui Huangmeixi Company), and Hamlet/ Wangzi Fuchouji (Prince's Revenge, 1994 by the Shanghai Yueju Theatre), while chapter 5, "Keeping Shakespeare in the 'Original Sauce'," discusses Westernized Shakespeare performances—in Chinese traditional theatre form—of Twelfth Night (1986 by the Shanghai Yueju Theatre) and Othello (1983, 1986, and 1987 by the Beijing Experimental Jingju Company). Chapter 6, "Another Dimension in Intercultural Shakespeare," reviews two productions that were not strictly mainland Chinese: an English-language production of Macbeth informed by jingju (Beijing Opera) aesthetic conventions, by the Leeds University Workshop Theatre (1994); and a Taiwan/mainland China jointly produced Shamlet, a parody of Hamlet, by the Taiwan Ping Feng Workshop and the Shanghai Modern People's Theatre (1994). Throughout her discussions, Li clearly indicates that "in China Shakespeare has often been called into service in the attempts to create new theatrical forms, or to extend existing genres and explore new artistic methods" (223).

The concluding chapter, "Old Man Sha: Dead or Sleeping," considers the current state and future of Shakespeare productions in China. Li assumes a "generally pessimistic outlook" because in China today, "Shakespeare productions do not enjoy consistent financial support, nor is the cultural atmosphere receptive to him" (230). She places her hope in the universities and theatre academies where a tradition of studying and staging Shakespeare has been kept alive. In fact, one of the most lively and well-attended conferences in China in recent years was "Shakespeare and China" held at Fudan University in Shanghai in December 2004.

Li comes from a famous theatrical family in China: her mother, Li Yuru, was a leading jingju performer; her stepfather, Cao Yu, was the foremost playwright of modern spoken...

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