Chinese Adaptations of Brecht: Appropriation and Intertextuality

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. Acknowledgments Contents List of Figures Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Brecht and Chinese Philosophy 1.2 Brecht and Chinese Xiqu 1.3 Introduction and Reception of Brecht in China Chapter 2: One Director, Three Takes: Chen Yong’s Reinterpretations of Life of Galileo, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and The Threepenny Opera 2.1 Contextualizing Chen Yong and the Three Brecht Plays She Directed 2.2 Life of Galileo (1979) 2.3 The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1985) 2.4 The Threepenny Opera (1998) Chapter 3: Good Persons of Sichuan, Jiangnan, and Beijing: Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan and Chinese Xiqu Adaptations 3.1 Signifying Sichuan—Brecht’s “Chinese Complex” 3.2 Promoting Chuanju: Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan Adapted to Xiqu in the 1980s 3.3 From Adaptation to Indigenization: Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan as Xiqu in the Twenty-First Century 3.4 Chuanju and Yueju: Leaders in Regional Xiqu’s Innovation 3.5 Commemorating Brecht in Sichuan: The Chuanju Production of Good Woman/Bad Woman 3.6 Transforming The Good Person of Szechwan: The Yueju Production of The Good Person of Jiangnan 3.7 Confronting the Ambivalence Between Modernization and Local Tradition: Regional Xiqu’s Challenges and Opportunities Chapter 4: Concentric Circles: Two Chuanju Reinterpretations of The Caucasian Chalk Circle as The Chalk Circle 4.1 Azdak: A Linchpin Between Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Chinese Philosophy 4.2 Hu Chengde’s Chuanju Version of The Chalk Circle in Chengdu (1992) The Story and Role Types in Hu’s The Chalk Circle The Language and Form of Hu’s The Chalk Circle 4.3 Yang Xiao’s Adaptation The Chalk Circle in Chongqing (2011) Resonances between Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle and the 2011 Chuanju Adaptation of The Chalk Circle Innovation, Estrangement Effect (Verfremdungseffekt), and “Political Theatre” in the 2011 Chuanju Adaptation of The Chalk Circle 4.4 The Concentric Features of the Two Chuanju Adaptations The Chalk Circle Chapter 5: Modernity, Chinese Culture, and Intertextuality: Bertolt Brecht’s Turandot and Wei Minglun’s Chuanju Play Chinese Princess Dulanduo 5.1 The Urtexts: From Nizami Ganjavi to Gozzi to Puccini 5.2 Brecht’s Turandot: A Collage of a Chinese Story 5.3 Reinterpreting Chinese Ethical Concepts: Wei Minglun’s Chuanju Adaptation Chinese Princess Dulanduo Chapter 6: Brecht and Mao Zedong: Two Sides of “The Other Side” and Twice Removed Vision of “Snow” 6.1 Two Sides of “The Other Side” 6.2 Twice Removed Vision: “Snow” and “Thoughts While Flying Over the Great Wall” Chapter 7: Conclusion Glossary Appendix: Major Productions of Brecht’s Plays in China, 1959–2018 Works Cited Index