Postcards from RSC's King and Country in Beijing
From: National Centre Performing Arts
No.2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing, P. R. China
Post Code: 100031
Nee Hao WhatsOnStage,
The saying goes, "You either do an old play in a new way or give a new play its first day". In our case we've been lucky enough to be able to do both.
We've just finished performing in the RSC's productions of Henry IV parts I and II and Henry V at Beijing's NCPA. It has been the culmination of a colossal four year international, multi-lingual cross cultural effort to tour these plays around China before heading to NYC next month with sets built in Chinese workshops and British actors wearing Stratford-upon-Avon costumes being looked after by a stellar team of Beijing based dressers.
'Shakespeare is often touted as one of the greatest writers in the history of the English speaking world; their enduring appeal after 400 years a testament to that fact. He shares the ability all great story tellers have of investigating accurately the humanity of what it's like to go to war, to lose a loved one or to have a child who constantly disappoints. It's why whether it be in the RST or here in Beijing with audiences reading surtitles and laughing at punchlines before they're delivered, he still engages and moves and enthrals. Sure, the joke about a long winded Welshman didn't go down as well as it has, but some jokes have had larger reactions than any we've had in UK houses.
We're about to head off to Shanghai and I can't help but feel truly privileged to have shared this work with a Chinese team. Humanities great stories attract us irrespective of linguistic or cultural barriers. As the RSC continues its cultural exchange with China, translating some of the works of great Chinese playwrights contemporary to Shakespeare which are yet unknown to western audiences, I feel a sense of excitement at the discovery of these old but new stories be it the next Chinese Macbeth, the Native American Romeo and Juliet or the Persian Comedy of Errors because to share these stories is to share what it is to be human.
Love from Obioma Ugoala and the RSC King & Country Company
