'Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them' (William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene V) Though MOST students have heard of William Shakespeare, few have read his famous scripts, mainly because the Old English in which it is written is so difficult to understand. In an effort to promote Shakespeare among young people, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is hosting The First Chinese Universities Shakespeare Festival Performance Finals next weekend. Ten teams from local and overseas universities, including Peking University, Fudan University, National Taiwan University and University of Macau, will take part. The players have to pick scenes from a Shakespearean play and perform them on stage for 15 to 20 minutes. They will be judged on their English proficiency, acting and directing techniques. The associate artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Timothy Bond, former director of broadcasting Cheung Man-yee and University of Wisconsin-Madison English professor Susanne Wofford will be the adjudicators. They will give the participants a master class to help them understand more about Shakespeare. The best team will win a one-week trip to England to watch a performance of Shakespeare's play in London and visit his birthplace in Stratford upon Avon. Professor David Parker, the chairman of the festival's organising committee, said he hoped the event encouraged more young people to read Shakespeare, which was certain to improve their English. 'Shakespeare is one of the greatest masters of the English language,' he said. 'His language has great strength, economy and beauty. Even though it is not 21st-century English, you can still learn a lot from his plays. Also, he is one of the greatest dramatists. 'Although the stories took place hundreds of years ago, they did contain contemporary elements such as human nature, love, hatred and conflict, which are still relevant to people today, regardless of their culture.' Professor Parker suggested that young people start with contemporary drama and movie editions of Shakespeare's plays, or read brief introductions and summaries first. This would make it much easier to move on to Shakespeare's original scripts, he said. Teresa Tse, 21, Vicky Tung Yuk-ki, 22 and Stephen Chan Tsz-hang, 22, of CUHK (below left), will perform a scene from Twelfth Night, a story about a love triangle. They admitted they did not know much about Shakespeare, but after joining the festival and reading his script they were captivated by his talent. 'His characters are full of life and emotion,' Teresa said. The festival will be held on January 8 and 9 at 7pm in Sir Run Run Shaw Hall at CUHK. Free admission. For details, call 2609 7528 or 2609 7851
