Representation of Chinese and Western Classics: 108 Heroes and Measure for Measure in Taiwan

Abstract

Cultural interweaving is demonstrated in the classics adaptation, and the words are represented by the retheatricalization of intercultural performance. My discovery is that modernization of Asian theatre can also be done by modern adaptation of the classics—both Asian and Western classics. The two performances that premiered in Taiwan—108 Heroes (June 2011, Taipei) and Measure for Measure (May 2011, Taipei)—use Chinese and English classics to do innovation through intercultural theatre. The former is adapted from Nai-An Shih’s (1296–1372) long novel Tales from Water Margin in the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) in China; the latter is adapted from Shakespeare’s play of the same title in 1604 in the seventeenth century in England. I argue that World Theatre is cultural weaving by not only the contemporary interactive cultures but also the classical adaptation incorporated with the theatricality of the retheatricalization in intercultural theatre interpreted by Performance Studies.