Venue: Theater

Dates: November 28-December 05, 2018

About

The Beijing LI Liuyi Theatre Studio's new drama Hamlet stars Chinese theater artists including HU Jun, PU Cunxin, LU Fang and JING Hao. Director LI Liuyi with a profound grasp of the traditional Chinese opera art, uses Shakespeare's masterpiece to mirror the contemporary and future and presents the Chinese aesthetics and philosophy with the support from the Royal Shakespeare Company and international creative team. To be performed is the latest Chinese translation of Hamlet, from Shakespeare's First Folio.

Credits

Playwright: William Shakespeare

Translator: LI Jianming

Director/Lighting Designer: LI Liuyi

Set Designer: Michael Simon

Costume Designer: William Cheung

Lighting Designer: DENG Wen

Composer: ZHOU Juan, LIU Bo

Producer: Beijing LiLiuyi Theater Studio

Leading Cast: HU Jun, PU Cunxin, LU Fang, JING Hao

Cast: MIAO Chi, LI Shilong, Jampa Tseten, JING Xi, FU Pengxu, Jiujiu

Synopsis

Killing his elder brother King Hamlet, the king of Denmark Claudius marries his newly widowed sister-in-law in haste and takes the throne. At midnight, the late king’s ghost appears and tells his son Hamlet that he was killed with poison by Claudius and asks Hamlet to take revenge on him. Faced with a series of misfortunes, Hamlet cannot but pretend crazy to dissimulate his fears. In his mother’s bedroom, Hamlet accidentally kills his lover Ophelia’s father Polonius, believing it is Claudius behind a tapestry.

Claudius takes the opportunity to ask Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to frog-march Hamlet to England and writes to the English king to kill Hamlet. Hamlet meets trick with trick and perpetrates a scheme midway, doing away with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern through the hands of English king. Then, he escapes back to Denmark. Laertes, the son of Polonius, returns to Denmark from France, enraged by his father's death and sister's madness. Claudius instigates Laertes to make a duel against Hamlet. Laertes takes out a poisoned sword and Claudius puts poison in Hamlet’s goblet. In the end, Gertrude drinks the poisonous wine and dies, while both Hamlet and Laertes were killed by the poisoned sword.

Creative

LI Liuyi Stage Director

LI Liuyi is one of the internationally influential contemporary Chinese theater directors. He is a director and dramatist at the Beijing People’s Art Theater. He dived into traditional Chinese opera for over eight years at the Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Opera in Chinese National Academy of Arts and directed many types of dramas with Chinese regional characteristics. He has created more than 60 works, including dramas, traditional Chinese operas, operas and ballets, and been invited to many world-class arts festivals. His “Pure Theater” concept has been improving because it is used in many cases. His main drama works include Peking Man, Mahjong, Spring in a Small Town, Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Dyadya Vanya and The Cherry Orchard; ballet The Peony Pavilion and Peking Opera The “Heroine” Trilogy , etc. Moreover, LI is a dramatist with sustainable literary creativity and has created more than 20 works. His work LI Liyi’s Pure Drama Collection of Dramas has been published by People’s Literature Publishing House and translated into many foreign languages.

Artist

HU Jun

Halmet

PU Cunxin as Claudius/Ghost

LU Fang as Ophelia/Gertrude

JING Hao as Laertes

Presenter

LI Liuyi Theatre Studio

Established in 2003, LI Liuyi Theater Studio is a professional drama studio with the hope of achieving “Pure Theater”. Director LI Liuyi is the artistic director of this studio. LI Liuyi Theater Studio pursues the freedom and boundless mind of the classical aesthetics and reflects the contemporary life.

LI Liuyi Theater Studio not only rehearsed the small theater works like ZHUANG Zhou Tests His Wife, Uncommon Mahjong, One Table and Two Chairs, but also the theater work Goodbye and Spring time in a Small Town. It has launched “LI Liuyi : Made in China" Drama Programme, and rehearsed three ancient Greek works - Oedipus the King, Antigone and Prometheus Bound. In addition, it rehearsed Kunqu opera Tale of Puppet, New Peking Opera “Heroine Trilogy”- Lady General HUA Mulan, LIANG Hongyu and MU Guiying and other traditional Chinese opera works. It has performed at the Dutch Art Festival, Edinburgh International Art Festival, the European Art Festival and other world-class art events.