China Meiguo: Shakespeare in Xiamen

Apr 30, 2013

Shakespeare in Xiamen

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

About a week ago I attended a drama competition at Xiamen Institute of Technology (厦门理工学院). There were 13 short scenes performed, all of one of which were in Chinese. The one English scene was from Shakespeare's famous tragedy, Hamlet.

In the scene, Hamlet is losing it a bit

I had been recruited by the students performing the Hamlet scene and met with them once to help them rehearse their lines. Although speaking in Shakespearean English of the late 16th century was a serious challenge for the Chinese students, they made a good effort not only in trying to pronounce the dialog, but also acting out the scene with dramatic flair the Bard himself would be proud of. Apparently the judges also appreciated the effort since the Hamlet group made it into the finals of the competition to be held sometime in May (getting exact dates for anything more than a few days in advance is virtually impossible in China).

I actually also enjoyed the Chinese performances. While I couldn't understand most of the dialog, I was able to get a general idea of what was going on just from watching the action (helped a bit by a Chinese student who whispered brief explanations to me).