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From Stratford to Shanghai: the Royal Shakespeare Company tours China From Stratford to Shanghai: the Royal Shakespeare Company tours China
(6 months later)
BeijingBeijing
The RSC are in Beijing with Gregory Doran’s productions of Henry IV Parts I and II and Henry V, plays more or less unknown in China. We are a massive operation: 72 people in total, including actors, musicians and staff, and 48 tonnes of scenery and equipment. All this is made possible by sponsorship from the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and JP Morgan. Our ambassador, Barbara Woodward, tells us we follow the 2015 year of British-Chinese Cultural Exchange, while the British Council is currently running the global programme Shakespeare Lives. We and Shakespeare are cogs in some intricate diplomatic mission.The RSC are in Beijing with Gregory Doran’s productions of Henry IV Parts I and II and Henry V, plays more or less unknown in China. We are a massive operation: 72 people in total, including actors, musicians and staff, and 48 tonnes of scenery and equipment. All this is made possible by sponsorship from the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and JP Morgan. Our ambassador, Barbara Woodward, tells us we follow the 2015 year of British-Chinese Cultural Exchange, while the British Council is currently running the global programme Shakespeare Lives. We and Shakespeare are cogs in some intricate diplomatic mission.
Related: Henry V review – Alex Hassell catches the conscience of the king
We become tourists at the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the beautiful Lama Temple with its 55-foot sandalwood Buddha. We are playing at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, a vast new complex housing an opera house, a concert hall and our theatre, rightly nicknamed the Egg (think the Sage Gateshead, only three times bigger). We share lifts with Peking Opera dancers. Everything has to be relayed to the Chinese crew through interpreters, so technical progress is slow at first.We become tourists at the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the beautiful Lama Temple with its 55-foot sandalwood Buddha. We are playing at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, a vast new complex housing an opera house, a concert hall and our theatre, rightly nicknamed the Egg (think the Sage Gateshead, only three times bigger). We share lifts with Peking Opera dancers. Everything has to be relayed to the Chinese crew through interpreters, so technical progress is slow at first.
As I am not in Henry IV Part I, I sit in the audience and find myself appraising this very familiar play afresh. It suddenly seems strange and daring. It starts with rebel warlords opposing the King (very Chinese), and then Falstaff (Antony Sher), this figure of anarchy and vice, takes over what had set out to be a history chronicle – though the audience sometimes laugh at the surtitles before he can deliver his punchlines. We have been told that the audience might talk, phone, film and eat, but in fact they are silent and intent. There is much applause and cheering. We seem to be a success.As I am not in Henry IV Part I, I sit in the audience and find myself appraising this very familiar play afresh. It suddenly seems strange and daring. It starts with rebel warlords opposing the King (very Chinese), and then Falstaff (Antony Sher), this figure of anarchy and vice, takes over what had set out to be a history chronicle – though the audience sometimes laugh at the surtitles before he can deliver his punchlines. We have been told that the audience might talk, phone, film and eat, but in fact they are silent and intent. There is much applause and cheering. We seem to be a success.
ShanghaiShanghai
Next it’s Shanghai, that intriguing mix of Chicago, Leicester Square, 1930s art deco, finance architecture 60 stories high and working-class alleys (street food £1.50). Another huge theatre complex in the beautiful People’s Park, formerly the Old Racecourse, a symbol of western decadence. We are part of a Shakespeare Season: the Shanghai Ballet in Hamlet, relays of the Met’s Macbeth and NT Live’s Cumberbatch Hamlet, Mark Elder and the Hallé.Next it’s Shanghai, that intriguing mix of Chicago, Leicester Square, 1930s art deco, finance architecture 60 stories high and working-class alleys (street food £1.50). Another huge theatre complex in the beautiful People’s Park, formerly the Old Racecourse, a symbol of western decadence. We are part of a Shakespeare Season: the Shanghai Ballet in Hamlet, relays of the Met’s Macbeth and NT Live’s Cumberbatch Hamlet, Mark Elder and the Hallé.
The Lyric theatre seats 1600, though the acoustic is very sharp. Our four performances are sold out and the audiences respond more readily than in Beijing, sometimes surprisingly – they find Henry IV (Simon Thorp) having his crown stolen and then dying in the wrong Jerusalem very funny. They love the French Princess (Jennifer Kirby) mispronouncing English parts of the body, and when she takes the initiative and kisses the wooing Henry (Alex Hassell) – it’s usually the reverse – the women in the audience go wild.The Lyric theatre seats 1600, though the acoustic is very sharp. Our four performances are sold out and the audiences respond more readily than in Beijing, sometimes surprisingly – they find Henry IV (Simon Thorp) having his crown stolen and then dying in the wrong Jerusalem very funny. They love the French Princess (Jennifer Kirby) mispronouncing English parts of the body, and when she takes the initiative and kisses the wooing Henry (Alex Hassell) – it’s usually the reverse – the women in the audience go wild.
We have a question-and-answer session after one performance, and after the usual questions about rehearsals and stage fright, a young man asks why we make fun of the French – difficult to answer briefly. I think of neighbouring countries the Chinese might delight in laughing at, but decide that’s a diplomatic minefield.We have a question-and-answer session after one performance, and after the usual questions about rehearsals and stage fright, a young man asks why we make fun of the French – difficult to answer briefly. I think of neighbouring countries the Chinese might delight in laughing at, but decide that’s a diplomatic minefield.
We visit the Shanghai Kunqu Opera, where its director, Gu Haohao, explains that she was so moved by our Shakespeare that she wants to share China’s own quarter-centenarian, Tang-Xianzu (died 1616). They put on a special short performance for us, and then show us how they rehearse 600-year-old movements. Fascinating.We visit the Shanghai Kunqu Opera, where its director, Gu Haohao, explains that she was so moved by our Shakespeare that she wants to share China’s own quarter-centenarian, Tang-Xianzu (died 1616). They put on a special short performance for us, and then show us how they rehearse 600-year-old movements. Fascinating.
Hong KongHong Kong
After cold Beijing and springtime Shanghai, it’s sub-tropical Hong Kong. Our hotel is surrounded by building sites, but then Hong Kong is a continuous building explosion. The 1985 Norman Foster masterpiece, the HSBC building, is now dwarfed, though not upstaged. I was last here in 1989 and the city seems to have quadrupled in size.After cold Beijing and springtime Shanghai, it’s sub-tropical Hong Kong. Our hotel is surrounded by building sites, but then Hong Kong is a continuous building explosion. The 1985 Norman Foster masterpiece, the HSBC building, is now dwarfed, though not upstaged. I was last here in 1989 and the city seems to have quadrupled in size.
We are playing the more intimate Lyric theatre in the Academy for Performing Arts. The audience is of course more British and English speaking, who know the plays, particularly Henry V, and are therefore more judicious, though generous in their appreciation. Justice Shallow (myself) and Jim Hooper’s Silence at last begin to get laughs at their ruminations on mortality.We are playing the more intimate Lyric theatre in the Academy for Performing Arts. The audience is of course more British and English speaking, who know the plays, particularly Henry V, and are therefore more judicious, though generous in their appreciation. Justice Shallow (myself) and Jim Hooper’s Silence at last begin to get laughs at their ruminations on mortality.
We had worried before leaving Britain that we might be playing exclusively to upper-middle class Chinese, who might be viewing Shakespeare more as a literary status symbol than as entertainment. Audiences – or rather Shakespeare – have proved us wrong. The Chinese know a few plays well – Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and a surprising favourite, The Merchant of Venice – but their response to these little-known history plays has been instinctive and empathetic.We had worried before leaving Britain that we might be playing exclusively to upper-middle class Chinese, who might be viewing Shakespeare more as a literary status symbol than as entertainment. Audiences – or rather Shakespeare – have proved us wrong. The Chinese know a few plays well – Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and a surprising favourite, The Merchant of Venice – but their response to these little-known history plays has been instinctive and empathetic.
So many characters prove universal – the sleepless king, the playboy prince turned responsible leader, the reckless warlords, the madcap Hotspur and his loving, grieving widow, the braggart soldier and coward Pistol, the amoral vice figure of Falstaff and his gullible tavern mistress – and the Chinese respond to them as if they were their own. Shakespeare’s universality is not just a school-room truism, but a global reality.So many characters prove universal – the sleepless king, the playboy prince turned responsible leader, the reckless warlords, the madcap Hotspur and his loving, grieving widow, the braggart soldier and coward Pistol, the amoral vice figure of Falstaff and his gullible tavern mistress – and the Chinese respond to them as if they were their own. Shakespeare’s universality is not just a school-room truism, but a global reality.