The Institute for Chinese Studies presents:
Gigi Chang
Title: Translating Classical Chinese Drama for Stage Adaptation: Challenges and Opportunities
**THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED**
Flyer: Forthcoming
Abstract: In 2014, the Royal Shakespeare Company launched the Chinese Classics Translation project to increase the knowledge and availability of classical Chinese dramas in English for today's theatre-makers and audiences. The ten-year project, running until 2023, focuses on plays that were written or performed before and during Shakespeare’s lifetime in the 16th and 17th centuries. The first commission was a new version of Guan Hanqing’s The Injustice to Dou E That Moved Heaven and Earth, in which US based playwright Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig and China based translator Gigi Chang collaborated, and the resulting contemporary play Snow in Midsummer had its world premiere at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2017 and its US premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Company in 2018. In this workshop, the translator will discuss the challenges and solutions in preparing a literary translation that resonates with modern spoken word theatre practise.
Gigi Chang translates Chinese theatre and fiction into English. Her translations include Jin Yong’s martial arts novel series Legends of the Condor Heroes (MacLehose Press/St Martin’s Press), classical Chinese dramas for the Royal Shakespeare Company and contemporary Chinese plays for London’s Royal Court Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Festival and Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre.
Free and Open to the Public
This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures, and the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures. The ICS Lecture Series is supported by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant to The Ohio State University East Asian Studies Center.
