“Our Shakespeare”: The Foreignness of Intercultural Theater in China and Japan

Abstract

The adaptation and performance of Shakespeare in foreign contexts is fraught with cultural dissimilarity, historical complexity, and impossibilities of translation. This paper examines various aspects of the cross-cultural tension inherent to adaptations of Shakespeare into the indigenous theatrical forms of Beijing opera and Japanese Noh. It calls for a greater awareness of the complexities of adaptation across barriers of artistic form, language, and culture.