“Adapting” Shakespeare in Taiwan : On the Works of Lee Kuo-Shiu and Chi Wei-Jan

• Main Authors: Hsiu-Fen Chien, 簡秀芬
• Other Authors: 楊澤
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/e3p24g

碩士 === 國立臺北藝術大學 === 戲劇學系碩士班 === 97 === “Adaptation” is a way for two texts to get into conversation, that is, the new text is a reaction to the original one. Through the process of “adaptation”, the relationship between the new and the original one is unstable. By combining with “the other”(the original text), “the one/self”(the new text) redefines itself, but also shows the heterogeneity of this “the other”. In Shakespeare, Our Contemporary (1974), Jan Kott writes: “Shakespeare is like the world, or life itself. Every historical period finds in him what it is looking for and what it wants to see.”(5) It seems Shakespeare has been a guru that everyone wants to get something from him, till now. But why is Shakespeare in particular? We have to go back to the start of the British theatre first. The British theatre breeds from the ritual process, getting the nutrition in its own territory. Then, it absorbs the ancient Greek and Roman culture. These two trends meet in the Elizabethan age, and offer an environment to give birth to the well-known superstar, Shakespeare. This article will introduce the background from the Middle age to the Elizabethan age, and indicate Shakespeare as the centre of the modern paradigm. Up to the present, Shakespeare has been known in Chinese for just more than a hundred years. This article will also focus on the development of Shakespeare in the world of Chinese, China and Taiwan. Then mainly discussing the two important Taiwan playwrights, Lee Kuo-Shiu and Chi Wei-Jan, their works not only follow the changing of the society, but also criticize and reflect. Not just accepting the western culture without any introspection like before, their interaction with Shakespeare, especially the tragedy Hamlet, represents the maturity of the subjectivity of Taiwan.