A new production of
Hamlet, which features 22 students from a Tibetan class at the Shanghai Theater Academy, takes to the stage of Shangxi Theater in Shanghai. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/chinadaily.com.cn]
The most famous line in Hamlet, "To be or not to be, that's the question," was uttered in the Tibetan language for the first time in Shanghai on May 7.
Staged at Shangxi Theater, the new production of Hamlet, which features 22 students from a Tibetan class at the Shanghai Theater Academy, was directed by Pu Cunxin, chairman of the Chinese Dramatists Association and a famous actor.
The production is being performed in two languages. The mandarin edition will be staged on the evenings of May 7 to 11 and 13, while the Tibetan version will take place on May 8 and 9, and the evenings on May 12 and 14.
A new production of
Hamlet, which features 22 students from a Tibetan class at the Shanghai Theater Academy, takes to the stage of Shangxi Theater in Shanghai. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/chinadaily.com.cn]
The Tibetan class is a contractual program that started in 2017 when the Tibetan Drama Company sent 22 students from across the Tibetan Autonomous Region on a four-year college program at the Shanghai Theatre Academy.
Half of the students are from the pastoral areas in Tibet while the other half hails from Lhasa, said Yang Jia, the head teacher for the class at STA.
"They were so shy at the beginning, always trying to hide their faces," she recalled. Through the past four years, they learned through reading, experiencing and rehearsing classical plays such as Romeo and Juliet, The Tempestand now Hamlet.
A new production of
Hamlet, which features 22 students from a Tibetan class at the Shanghai Theater Academy, takes to the stage of Shangxi Theater in Shanghai. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/chinadaily.com.cn]
This is the first time Pu is directing a play. The veteran actor used to serve as the director of the Beijing People's Art Theatre. He began to teach the class in the second semester since the students were enrolled in STA in 2017.
"I've never seen anyone smile the way they do," said Pu, recalling how his initial encounter with the Tibetan students was akin to "love at first sight".
"They were completely frank, and when they learned about the basic principles of acting, they created such natural and direct performing episodes, like everything came right from the root of their life," he added.
A new production of
Hamlet, which features 22 students from a Tibetan class at the Shanghai Theater Academy, takes to the stage of Shangxi Theater in Shanghai. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/chinadaily.com.cn]
Thirty years ago, Pu was hired by director Lin Zhaohua to play the title character in his adapted edition of Hamlet. "The experience helped me to become a good actor, and today I am directing this group of Tibetan kids who are about to graduate", he said.
"After four years studying at STA, they are now capable of performing the dramatic classic in mandarin and the Tibetan language…please remember them. In the future they will become even more brilliant, and come back to Shanghai as members of the Tibetan Dramatic Theatre."
A new production of
Hamlet, which features 22 students from a Tibetan class at the Shanghai Theater Academy, takes to the stage of Shangxi Theater in Shanghai. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/chinadaily.com.cn]
A new production of
Hamlet, which features 22 students from a Tibetan class at the Shanghai Theater Academy, takes to the stage of Shangxi Theater in Shanghai. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/chinadaily.com.cn]
