Shakespeare and Jingju (Beijing Opera): An Intercultural Conversation

What do Shakespeare and Jingju (Beijing opera) have in common? Archaic? Difficult? Irrelevant? Did you know that “updating” Shakespeare and jingju is not a new phenomenon but a continuous effort with a long history? Performances that combine Shakespearean text and jingju stylization have become a modern paradigm of intercultural theatre that attracts new audiences and inspires new experimentation and scholarship.

New Swan Shakespeare Center and Illuminations, the Chancellor’s Arts and Culture Initiative, are happy to co-organize this event on Shakespeare and jingju for the UCI community. Dr. Bi-qi Beatrice Lei will give a talk on the history and theory of intercultural Shakespeare theatre with jingju. Mr. PoCheng Chu will demonstrate/perform stylized movements and vocalization of jingju in intercultural Shakespeare performance. Together, they will illustrate how deconstruction, negotiation, and reinterpretation help sustain and revitalize classics from both the East and the West. Lei and Chu will also share their own intercultural journeys.

Dr. Bi-qi Beatrice Lei is a renowned scholar on intercultural Shakespeare. She is the founding chair of the Asian Shakespeare Association (ASA) and the founding director of the Taiwan Shakespeare Database. She currently serves as the vice-chair of the International Shakespeare Association (ISA) and assistant director of the Shakespeare Association of America (SAA). She received her PhD in English from New York University.

PoCheng Chu is a jingju performer, specializing in martial and old male roles from Taiwan. He is an actor in Wu Hsing-kuo’s Contemporary Legend Theatre and Artistic Director of Hsing Legend Youth Theatre. Chu won the Best Young Actor Award at the 34th Taiwan Traditional Arts Golden Melody Awards in 2023 and received the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship in 2024.

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