Full Description
This book examines the two-way impacts between Brecht and Chinese culture and drama/theatre, focusing on Chinese theatrical productions since the end of the Cultural Revolution all the way to the first decades of the twenty-first century. Wei Zhang considers how Brecht's plays have been adapted/appropriated by Chinese theatre artists to speak to the sociopolitical, economic, and cultural developments in China and how such endeavors reflect and result from dynamic interactions between Chinese philosophy, ethics, and aesthetics, especially as embodied in traditional xiqu and the Brechtian concepts of estrangement (Verfremdungseffekt) and political theatre. In examining these Brecht adaptations, Zhang offers an interdisciplinary study that contributes to the fields of comparative drama/theatre studies, intercultural studies, and performance studies.
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: One Director, Three Takes: Chen Yong's Reinterpretations of Life of Galileo, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and The Threepenny Opera.- Chapter 3 Good Persons of Sichuan, Jiangnan, and Beijing: Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan and Chinese Xiqu Adaptations.- Chapter 4: Concentric Circles: Two Chuanju Reinterpretations of The Caucasian Chalk Circle as The Chalk Circle.- Chapter 5: Modernity, Chinese Culture, and Intertextuality: Bertolt Brecht's Turandot and Wei Minglun's Chuanju Play Chinese Princess Dulanduo.- Chapter 6: Brecht and Mao Zedong: Two Sides of "The Other Side" and "Twice Removed" Vision of "Snow".- Chapter 7: Conclusion.
