Engaging Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare in the Quest for Self

Performing Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu is a vehicle for innovation for Shen Yili, Zhang Jun, Luo Chenxue, and their fellow actors at the Shanghai Kunqu Theatre (SKT). As my case studies of The Story of Bloody Hands (a 1986 adaptation of Macbeth), Zhang's reinterpretation of Tang's Four Dreams, and the SKT's role in the quatercentenary celebrations for Shakespeare and Tang, reveal, these encounters led the artists to re-examine what was previously construed to be the quintessential quality of kunqu.