Brain Text Conversion and Cross-Cultural Integration: The Theatrical Adaptation and Performance of Shakespeare’s Comedies in China

Hui Su

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.13185/KK2022.003907

Abstract

Many of Shakespeare’s comedies have been adapted and staged as Chinese operas, including the Henan Yu Opera, Much Ado About Nothing, the Cantonese Opera, The Daughter of a Rich Family (based on The Merchant of Venice), and the Huangmei Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This article1 intends to use the theory of “brain text” in the discourse system of Ethical Literary Criticism, established by Chinese scholars, to analyze the brain text conversion and cross-cultural integration of Shakespeare’s comedies in Chinese operas through adaptation and performance. Judging from the set design, plot development, ethical identity of characters, and stage presentation of the above-mentioned operas adapted from Shakespeare’s comedies, one may see that the adaptors’ brain text conversion shows distinct Chinese characteristics while retaining the basic elements of the original plays. As to the forms of narration and stage performance, the dialogues and narratives among characters in Shakespeare’s comedies have been transformed, via the adaptors’ brain text conversion, into a threefold combination of singing, reciting, and dancing, which not only maintains the strong lyrical sentiments of Shakespeare’s comedies, but also reflects the artistic tradition of Chinese operas that attaches importance to virtuality, freehand, and stylized performance. In terms of the intended implications and cultural connotations, these theatrical adaptations and performances showcase the humanistic ideal of love, which is the core theme of Shakespeare’s comedies, but at the same time highlight the characters’ complex psychological entanglement and ethical choices while facing the conflict between good and evil. It reflects the cultural tradition and collective unconsciousness of Chinese people that attaches great importance to ethics and morality, and reveals the aesthetic characteristics of Chinese operas that always takes characters’ inner conflict between emotion and reason quite seriously.

Keywords

brain text, Chinese operas, cross-cultural integration, Shakespeare comedies

Please login first to access subscription form of article

Read Full text in PDF

Browse By

Kritika Kultura
Department of English
School of Humanities
Ateneo de Manila University

The Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) declares Kritika Kultura as a CHED-recognized journal under the Journal Challenge Category of its Journal Incentive Program.

International Board of Editors

Jan Baetens
Professor
Faculty of Arts
Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (Belgium)

Joel David
Professor of Cultural Studies
Inha University (South Korea)

Michael Denning
Professor of American Studies and English
Department of English
Yale University (US)

Faruk
Faculty of Cultural Sciences
Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia)

Regenia Gagnier
Professor of English
University of Exeter (UK)

Leela Gandhi
John Hawkes Professor of the Humanities and English
Brown University (US)

Inderpal Grewal
Professor of Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies
Professor of South Asian Studies, Ethnicity, Race and Migration Studies
Yale University (US)

Peter Horn
Professor Emeritus and Honorary Lifetime Fellow
University of Cape Town (South Africa)
Honorary Professor and Research Associate in German Studies
University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)

Anette Horn
Professor of German Studies
University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)

David Lloyd
Distinguished Professor of English
University of California, Riverside (US)

Bienvenido Lumbera
National Artist for Literature
Professor Emeritus
University of the Philippines

Rajeev S. Patke
Director of the Division of Humanities
Professor of Humanities
Yale NUS College (Singapore)

Vicente L. Rafael
Giovanni and Amne Costigan Endowed Professor of History
University of Washington (US)

Vaidehi Ramanathan
Department of Linguistics
University of California, Davis (US)

Temario Rivera
Professorial Lecturer
Department of Political Science
University of the Philippines

E. San Juan, Jr.
Philippines Studies Center (US)

Neferti X.M. Tadiar
Professor of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
Barnard College (US)
Director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race
Columbia University (US)

Antony Tatlow
Honorary Professor of Drama
Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)