Adaptations of traditional Chinese plays ——The Orphan of Zhao The Orphan of Zhao produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company was staged on 30 October 2012 as a part of the World Shakespeare Festival that tries to show works of playwrights all over the world at Shakespeare’stime. The Orphan of Zhao is well-known in the West due to Voltaire’s translation referring to Chinese Hamlet. However, this translated version that was hotly disputed at that time is not adopted in this new production. The Royal Shakespeare Company recreates the original play according to the current English translation as well as film and television versions. The new adaption is written by British poet James Fenton. In his early works, the post-World War II US-Japan relations and the Vietnam War which are concerned with the Oriental are mentioned, but this is perhaps the first time for him to date back to such a distant era of the Oriental. The Director of this new adaption is Gregory Doran, whose black actor version of Julius Caesar is currently on tour in London; and his involvement with different cultures seems to pave the way for this adaption of The Orphan of Zhao. In the process of creation, the creators try to strengthen the links between this production and China where it is originally created through organizing performers to get involved in traditional Chinese theater workshops and inviting Chinese directors to participate. This show will unfold a new understanding of the scripts of Chinese plays to Western audiences and artists.
於2012年10月30日上演,由皇家莎士比亞劇 院(Royal Shakespeare Company)制作的《 趙氏孤兒(The Orphan of Zhao)》也是世界 莎士比亞戲劇節的一個部分。該戲劇節試圖展 現與莎士比亞同期的世界各國的劇作家的作 品。《趙氏孤兒》在西方由於伏爾泰的翻譯而 較為知名,被稱為東方的《哈姆雷特》。然而, 此次的《趙氏孤兒》並沒有遵循當時那個倍受 爭議的翻譯版本,皇家莎士比亞劇場根據現行 的英文譯本,以及影視戲劇作品,重新改編了 這部作品,並由英國詩人詹姆斯•芬頓(James Fenton)擔任編劇。在他早年的作品裡,二戰 後的美日關系,以及越戰都曾有他對於東方 的涉及,然而追溯這樣一個遙遠時代的東方 恐怕還是首次。另外此劇導演格里高利•多蘭 (Gregory Doran)的全部黑人演員版的《凱 撒大帝(Julius Caesar)》目前正在倫敦巡演, 對於不同文化的涉獵似乎給這一次《趙氏孤 兒》的選擇做了相應的鋪墊。在該劇的制作過 程中,創作者試圖通過組織演員參與中國傳統 戲劇的工作坊以及邀請中國導演參與創作來增 強該劇與原創國的聯系。這部演出的呈現將為 西方觀眾和藝術家對於中國戲劇文本的認識揭 開一個新的篇幅。
