Hamulaite

Alternative title: Hamlet
Synopsis: Video recording of a stage performance of Hamlet given at the Beijing People’s Arts Theatre. ‘Lin Zhaohua adopted a radical approach in staging his Hamlet in Beijing by abandoning the orthodox "Western look" make-up, wigs, prosthetic noses and "doublet and hose" costumes in order to portray Hamlet as "one of us," an urban Beijing man in the late-twentieth century...Lin explained that Hamlet was "neither a prince who seeks revenge for the sake of justice nor a hero of humanism. What we are facing is ourselves. To face oneself is the most active and courageous attitude modern people can possibly assume"... Lin used the device of switching key character parts among a number of actors. For instance, at certain points in the performance the two actors who predominantly played Hamlet and Claudius abruptly interchanged roles, at another moment the actor playing Polonius temporarily assumed the character of Hamlet, and the soliloquy "To be, or not to be,..." (1710-42) was shared by all three of these actors’. [Li Ruru. Hamlet in China: Translation, Interpretation and Performance at http://www.leoyan.com/global-language.com/ENFOLDED/BIBL/____HamChi.htm].
Language: Chinese - Mandarin (PRC)
Country: China
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Recording date: 1989

Director

Cast

Notes: World Shakespeare Bibliography notes that the production was released on DVD in 2008 by the Beijing Culture and Art Video Press. No contact for the organisation has been found (5/2009).
General: When government subsidies to drama companies were cut due to radical economic reforms in the late 1980s, Lin founded his ‘Workshop’ company, which first mounted Hamlet in a small studio at the Beijing Film Institute.
Reviews: For a detailed discussion of this performance see Li Ruru, Shashibiya: Staging Shakespeare in China. Hong Kong University Press, 2003. pp 83-99.

British Universities Film & Video Council