Hamlet, opening in Beijing in December 2018, directed by Li Liuyi, and produced by Beijing Li Liuyi Theatre Studio, featuring Hu Jun in the title role, with the first translation in the series by a female translator, Li Jianming.
Li Liuyi, who staged King Lear at the NCPA in Beijing said: “The two visits to your theatre in Stratford were the foundation of the success of my production… I am particularly impressed by the way you work with actors with the text, the way you interpret and reveal the rhythm in the language, the image, and most importantly, how to connect that to a wider audience…I give you my sincere thanks, for your Folio Translation Project has introduced a new Shakespeare, a contemporary Shakespeare to the Chinese audience.”
Chinese Classics Translation Project – exploring Chinese classics for translation and performance to an English-speaking audience
The RSC continues to explore the enormous range of classical Chinese plays written or performed during the 16th and 17th centuries, with more than 45 titles nominated by academics, theatre makers, playwrights and translators across the world.
This exploration follows the success of the first play to come from the Chinese Classics Translation Project. This was Snow in Midsummer, by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, a contemporary re-imagining of Guan Hanqing’s famous Classical Chinese drama, staged the RSC’s Swan Theatre in 2017.
In March 2018, the RSC will host a Chinese Classics Translation Workshop. Playwrights and classical Chinese translators who are creating new translations of Chinese classical dramas will travel from China, America and Europe to talk about and test the creative choices, possibilities and challenges of their work. The RSC is also inviting directors to help explore these dramas for today’s stages. They will work together in the RSC’s rehearsal space in Stratford-upon-Avon, sharing their expertise in the same room for the first time.
Playwright, Amber Hsu, who has been commissioned as part of the Chinese Classics Translation Project, says: “It has been almost inexpressibly meaningful to work with the RSC and to feel acknowledged, accepted, and perhaps, even belonging, alongside writers and words which you have grown up revering from another side of history, one traditionally thought of as outside and peripheral to the English language.”
Working with translators and academics, the project will create up to ten new translations in English, as well as a collection of detailed plot summaries, in readiness for the creation of a digital archive in 2023. This will contribute to the increasing awareness within English-speaking theatre-makers and audiences of the wealth of stories told in China over the centuries, and the RSC hopes to encourage other companies to explore these remarkable texts.
‘Live from Stratford-upon-Avon’: Cinema broadcasts of the RSC’s Shakespeare productions in China
Since May 2016, the RSC’s ‘Live from Stratford-upon-Avon’ cinema broadcasts have been screened more than 200 times in cities across China, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Jinan, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Kunming, Chengdu and Dalian. Forthcoming titles to be shown include Julius Caesar and Titus Andronicus from the RSC’s recent Rome Season.
The RSC’s production of Hamlet runs at the Hackney Empire until 31 March 2018, it then transfers to the Kennedy Centre, Washington from 2 – 6 May 2018.
Notes to Editors
For further information amy.belson@rsc.org.uk / 01789 412622 / 07843483146
The RSC is supported using public funding by Arts Council England
The Telegraph is the RSC’s Media Partner for 2018
Live from Stratford-upon-Avon is generously supported by SIDNEY E. FRANK FOUNDATION
Trafalgar Releasing is the RSC’s worldwide distribution partner
Beijing ATW Culture Media Co., Ltd is the RSC’s distribution partner in China
For further information on ‘Live From Stratford-upon-Avon’ in China, please see: www.rsc.org.uk/about-us/our-work-in-china/
新闻稿：发布时间2018年3月8日
皇家莎士比亚剧团
中国文化艺术交流计划
为庆祝两年以来与中国召开的文化交流合作，皇家莎士比亚剧团于2018年3月7日在伦敦哈克尼帝国剧场举行发布会，宣布将要与中国合作的三部莎剧，这三个作品都将使用皇莎委约的新译本。
中华人民共和国驻英国使馆刘晓明大使出席活动，皇莎艺术总监格利高利.道兰先生，执行总裁凯瑟琳.玛莲恩女士，介绍了在场的著名中国戏剧导演艺术家李六乙先生，表演艺术家、中国文联副主席、剧协主席濮存昕先生，著名表演艺术家胡军先生，卢芳女士，荆浩先生。他们将在今年年底，主演李六乙导演的《哈姆雷特》。
格利高利.道兰总监说：“很荣幸邀请李六乙及中国一流的演员访问英国，两个文化能有共同分享创作莎士比亚最伟大作品之一的机会，是可贵的体验。我们藉由讲述和分享彼此的故事增进理解，在推进皇莎的两个翻译计划的同时，我们也不断发掘中国经典剧作之深厚与灿烂。看到中国艺术家和剧团将文化交流做得如此深入，也让我更期待今年在中国将要制作的三部莎剧，三部作品都会使用皇莎委约的便于演员诵读、易于观众理解的新译本。”
皇莎之中国文化交流项目包括：