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Xu Donghuan

THE THEME OF LOVE runs through many of Tian Qinxin's stage adaptations of Chinese literary classics, not least Eileen Chang Ai-ling's Red Rose, White Rose  and Lee Bi-wah's Green Snake.  So it's only natural that the Beijing theatre director should choose to stage Romeo and Juliet to mark William Shakespeare's 450th birthday this year. But, of course, there is a twist.
As part of the 42nd Hong Kong Arts Festival, which kicks off on February 18, this National Theatre of China production sets one of the Bard's best-known tragedies in contemporary China at a time of dramatic social change.
"Shakespeare's plays were introduced to China in the 1940s, but I think we are still at the stage of doing straight interpretations. I hope this time we can break the mould and embed the theme of young love within the Chinese context," says the award-winning director.
Tian decided to adapt the Shakespearean work while visiting Stratford-upon-Avon last year.
"If Shakespeare was alive today ... I hope he would be delighted to see a Chinese love story this year."
Popular television actors Li Guangjie and Yin Tao are appearing as the star-crossed lovers in her upcoming Romeo and Juliet. In a fictitious mainland city called Verona, two Chinese families are locked in a feud that divides its populace into two opposing camps. The local teenagers are in a constant state of heated confrontation.
As in the original play, Romeo - the only son in his family - arrives at a ball inside the courtyard house of Juliet, whom he meets and falls in with. But in Tian's version, Romeo is a Red Guard and Juliet is a young propaganda dancer.
Despite absolute opposition from both families, the two teenagers vow their love for each other. Eventually, their total devotion to one another unsettles everybody in Verona and reconciles the two feuding families.
"Love is life's basic instinct. It is aspiration and longing. It gives us courage and inspiration," says the 46-year-old director. "With Romeo and Juliet, we are not trying to glorify the deaths of the two lovers, but to extol their true love despite adversity."
But, as Shakespeare wrote in another famous work, A Midsummer Night's Dream, "the course of true love never did run smooth". Tian believes that love in contemporary China has always been laden with too many conditions, from the tradition of matching family backgrounds to dowry requests.
"Marriages in China are often like a big party for two families. They are the work of matchmakers and the result of parents' agreements," she says.
Tian says the lack of stories advocating unconditional love in Chinese culture is one of the reasons we have so many family problems today.
"I'm not blowing this out of proportion. We have provided few positive portrayals of true love and lots of examples of schemes to test the loyalty of lovers. So young people in China do not know where to find teachings about true love and how they can keep their love going after marriage," she says.
This is not the first time Tian has adapted the works of Shakespeare. In 2008, she directed a Chinese version of King Lear,  transporting the mythological Celtic king and his three daughters back to the grand imperial court of the Ming dynasty.
Romeo and Juliet will premiere at the Lyric Theatre at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts on March 1 and 2. While in Hong Kong, Tian will also publicly discuss her experiences in staging Shakespeare and talk about the trends in directing and playwriting on the mainland.
The tragedy was first translated into Chinese by Zhu Shenghao in 1943. While widely praised for his fluid translation, Zhu's version, which is still in use today, is at places too formal to understand.
Tian says she will make the play sound more contemporary by using colloquial Chinese.
"That's probably why during the past eight decades since Shakespeare was introduced to China, he is still very much like a distinguished guest here in China.
"This time, while keeping the literary quality of Zhu's translation, we will make Shakespeare talk like one of us," she says.
48hours@scmp.com
 
Romeo and Juliet , National Theatre of China, in Putonghua with Chinese and English surtitles. March 1 and 2, 8pm; March 1, 3pm, Lyric Theatre, HK Academy for Performing Arts, HK$160-HK$480 Urbtix. Inquiries: 2824 2430
 


Hong Kong Arts Festival play features a modern Chinese setting for Juliet and her Romeo

Relaxed: Tian's adaptation uses colloquial Chinese to modernise the love birds' tragic tale.

Yin Tao is Juliet.

Li Guangjie plays Romeo. Photo: Chen Xu Renren

Tian Qinxin

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Director Tian Qinxin is taking Romeo and Juliet into 20th century China. The reason for her Cultural Revolution? There aren't enough good love stories in Chinese, writes Donghuan Xu


Director Tian Qinxin is taking Romeo and Juliet into 20th century China. The reason for her Cultural Revolution? There aren't enough good love stories in Chinese, writes Donghuan Xu.
