Shakespeare in Asia: Introduction – MIT Global Shakespeares

Introduction to Shakespeare in Asia

Co-authored by project co-founders and co-directors Alexander Huang and Peter Donaldson

While Shakespeare and Asia have been connected on stage and screen for centuries, Asia-related performances in Asia, the Americas, and Europe are currently experiencing an exciting new wave of creativity. Such encounters have generated extraordinary artistic and intellectual energy, leading to the transformation of traditions that has worked in both directions at once.

The center of creativity in Shakespeare performance is shifting from Europe and the U.S. to Asia, where directors such as Ninagawa Yukio, Suzuki Tadashi, Ong Keng Sen, Wu Hsing-kuo, and many others experiment with combinations of traditional and contemporary theatre, new strategies for working across languages and genres, new ways of reaching diverse audiences.

These works are widely recognized as among the most innovative and distinguished in the world; they are changing how we understand Shakespeare, serving as a forum for theatre artists to deal with such contemporary questions as national and Asian identity, and reshaping debates about the relation of East and West.

More Details

Title	Play	Director	Year	Company	Language	Country
36 Chowringhee Lane	Henry IV, part 2, King Lear, Twelfth Night	Sen, Arpana	1981	Film-Valas	Bengali, English, Hindi	India
A Midsummer Night’s Dream	Midsummer Night's Dream	Perng, Ching-hsi		Green Music, Inc.	Mandarin	Taiwan
A Midsummer Night’s Dream	Midsummer Night's Dream	Yang, Shipeng (Daniel)	2000	Hong Kong Huaju Company	Mandarin	Taiwan
A Midsummer Night’s Dream	Midsummer Night's Dream	Ninagawa, Yukio	1996	Point Tokyo Company	Japanese	Japan
A Midsummer Night’s Dream	Midsummer Night's Dream	Yang, Jung-Ung	2006	Yohangza Theatre Company	Korean	South Korea
Akatsuki no rooma (Rome at Dawn)	Julius Caesar	Kimura, Shinji	2006	Takarazuka Revue	Japanese	Japan
All’s Well That Ends Well	All's Well That Ends Well	Perng, Ching-hsi	2004	Green Music, Inc.	Mandarin	Taiwan
Ang Pagpapaamo sa Maldita	Taming of the Shrew	Abad, Ricardo	2001		Filipino	Philippines
Angoor	Comedy of Errors	Gulzar	1982	A.R. Movies	Hindi	India
Antony and Cleopatra (2011)	Antony and Cleopatra	Ninagawa, Yukio	2011	Ninagawa Studio	Japanese	Japan
Aosailuo (Othello)	Othello	Ma, Yong'an	1983	Experimental Peking Opera Co., Beijing	Mandarin	China
As You Like It	As You Like It	Branagh, Kenneth	2006	BBC Films	English	United Kingdom; United States
As You Like It (Oki ni mesu mama)	As You Like It	Ninagawa, Yukio	2004	Saitama Art Theatre	Japanese	Japan
Bobby	Romeo and Juliet	Kapoor, Raj	1973	Yash Raj Films	Hindi	India
Bond (Merchant of Venice)	Merchant of Venice	Lü, Po Shen	2011	Taiwan Bangzi Company [Taiwan Yujutuan]	Henan Dialect	Taiwan
Bond (Merchant of Venice)	Merchant of Venice	Lü, Po Shen	2009	Taiwan Bangzi Company [Taiwan Yujutuan]	Henan Dialect	Taiwan
Charudatham	Julius Caesar	Harikumar, Sadanam	2001	Satwikam	Malayalam, Sanskrit	India
Chicken Rice War	Romeo and Juliet	Cheah, C.K.	2000	Mediacorp Raintree Pictures	Cantonese, English	Singapore
Coriolanus	Coriolanus	Lee, Hyon-u	2005	Hwadong Theater Company	Korean	Korea
Coriolanus	Coriolanus	Lin, Zhaohua	2007	Beijing People's Art Theatre	Mandarin	China
Coriolanus (Korioreinasu)	Coriolanus	Ninagawa, Yukio	2007		Japanese	United Kingdom
Curse of the Golden Flower	Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth	Zhang, Yimou	2006	Beijing New Picture Film Co.	Mandarin	China
Desdemona	Othello	Ong, Keng Sen	2000	TheatreWorks, Singapore		Australia
Desdemona	Othello	Ong, Keng Sen	2001	TheatreWorks, Singapore	English	Japan
Flower from the Other Shore	Romeo and Juliet	Zhang, Jian	2001	Heluo Taiwanese Opera	Mandarin	Taiwan
Hamik – Hamlet	Hamlet	Kim, Eunsung	2016	Seoul Metropolitan Theatre	Korean	South Korea
Hamlet	Hamlet	Lee, Yoon-taek	2001	Street Theatre Troupe	Korean	South Korea
Hamlet	Hamlet	Perng, Ching-hsi	2004	Green Music, Inc.	Mandarin	Taiwan
Hamlet	Hamlet	Kent, Jonathan	2003	HoriPro Inc.; Setagaya Public Theatre	Japanese	Japan
Hamlet	Hamlet	Kurita, Yoshihiro	2007	Ryutopia Noh-theatre Shakespeare	Japanese	Japan
Hamlet	Hamlet	Asari, Keita	2008	Beijing People's Art Theatre	Mandarin	China
Hamlet	Hamlet	Yang, Jung-Ung	2009	Yohangza Theatre Company	Korean	Korea
Hamlet	Hamlet	Kishworjit	2001	Paradise Theatre	Manipuri	India
Hamlet	Hamlet	Yang, Jung-Ung	2010	Yohangza Theatre Company	Korean	Australia
Hamlet Cantabile	Hamlet	Bae, Yo-sup	2007	Tuida Theater Company	Korean	South Korea
Hamlet Project (references to Marowitz’s Hamlet)	Hamlet	Kim, Ara	1999	Festive Theatre Company Muchon	Korean	Korea
Hamlet Q1	Hamlet	Lee, Hyon-u	2009	Dionysos Drama Group; The Flow Theatre	Korean	South Korea
Hamlet the Actor	Hamlet	Sung, Chon-mo	2012	MJ Company	Korean	South Korea
Hamlet the Actor	Hamlet	Sung, Chon-mo	2013	MJ Company	Korean	South Korea
Hamlet Unplugged	Hamlet	Lü, Po Shen	2005	Tainaner Ensemble	Mandarin	Taiwan
Hamulaite	Hamlet	Lin, Zhaohua	1995	Beijing People's Art Theatre; Lin Zhaohua Drama Studio	Mandarin	Japan
Heng li si shi	Henry IV, part 1, Henry IV, part 2	Huang, Wushan	2002	Yi Wanran Puppet Theatre Co.	Taiwanese	Taiwan
In Othello	Othello	Abel, Roysten	2003	ANB Motion Pictures	English	India
Iruthiattam	King Lear	Raju, R.	2001	Arangam	Tamil	India
Josh	Romeo and Juliet	Khan, Mansoor	2000	United Seven Combines	Hindi	India
Kaamdeo ka Apna Basant Ritu ka Sapna (The Love God’s Own, A Spring Time Dream)	Midsummer Night's Dream	Tanvir, Habib	1993	Naya Theatre	Chattisgarhi, Hindi	India
Kaliyattam (The Play of God)	Othello	Nair, Rajasekharan Jayaram	1997	New Generation Cinema	Malayalam	India
Kannaki	Antony and Cleopatra	Nair, Rajasekharan Jayaram	2002		Malayalam	India
Kathakali King Lear	King Lear	Leday, Annette	1999	Annette Leday/Keli Company	Malayalam	United Kingdom
Killbeth	Macbeth	Koh, Sun-Woong	2011	Playfactory Mabangzen	Korean	Korea
King Lear	King Lear	Tse, David	2006	Royal Shakespeare Company; Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center; Yellow Earth Theatre	English, Mandarin	United Kingdom
King Lear	King Lear	Lee, Hyon-u	2021		Korean	South Korea
King Qi’s Dream	King Lear	Ou, Yangming	1995	Shanghai Jingju Company	Mandarin	China
King Uru	King Lear	Kim, Myung-kon	2001	National Theatre of Korea	Korean	South Korea
Kingdom of Desire	Macbeth	Wu, Hsing-kuo	1986	Contemporary Legend Theatre Company	Mandarin	Taiwan
Kodumkattu (Tempest)	Tempest	Panikkar, Kavalam Narayana	2001	Sopanam	Malayalam	India
Lady Macbeth	Macbeth	Han, Tae-sook	1999	Theatre Company Mooli	Korean	South Korea
Lear	King Lear	Ong, Keng Sen	1997	TheatreWorks, Singapore	Indonesian, Japanese, Mandarin, Thai	Australia
Lear and the Thirty-seven-fold Path of a Bodhisattva	King Lear	Lai, Stan	2000	Performance Workshop of Taiwan	Mandarin	China
Lear Dreaming	King Lear	Ong, Keng Sen	2012	TheatreWorks, Singapore	Bahasa Indonesia, English, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin	Singapore
Lear’s Daughters	King Lear	Tse, David	2003	The Women's Theatre Group & Elaine Feinstein; Yellow Earth Theatre	English	United Kingdom
Li cha san shi (Richard III)	Richard III	Lin, Zhaohua	2001	Beijing People's Art Theatre	Mandarin	China
Li’er zaici (Lear is Here)	King Lear	Wu, Hsing-kuo	2001	Contemporary Legend Theatre Company	Mandarin	Taiwan
Life Goes On (King Lear)	King Lear	Datta, Sangeeta	2009	Stormglass Productions	English, Hindi	UK
Ma ke bo si	Macbeth	Li, Zibo; Xu, Xiaozhong	1980	Central Academy of Drama	Mandarin	China
Macbeth	Macbeth	Ninagawa, Yukio	1985	Toho Production	Japanese	United Kingdom
Macbeth	Macbeth	Chandradasan	2002	Lokadharmi	Hindi	India
Macbeth	Macbeth	Perng, Ching-hsi		Green Music, Inc.	Mandarin	Taiwan
Macbeth	Macbeth	Kurita, Yoshihiro	2004	Ryutopia Noh-theatre Shakespeare	Japanese	Japan
Macbeth	Macbeth	Kurita, Yoshihiro	2007	Ryutopia Noh-theatre Shakespeare	Japanese	Japan
Macbeth	Macbeth	Kurita, Yoshihiro	2006	Ryutopia Noh-theatre Shakespeare	Japanese	Japan
Macbeth	Macbeth	Chen, Dalian	2016	Chong Qing Theatre Company	Mandarin	China
Macbeth Unplugged	Macbeth	Lü, Po Shen	2007	Tainaner Ensemble	Taiwanese	Taiwan
Makbet	Macbeth	Estrella, Josefina	1999			Philippines
Makebai furen (Lady Macbeth)	Macbeth	Cao, Ping	2001	Sichuan Youth Chuanju Opera Co.	Mandarin	Taiwan
Maqbool (Macbeth)	Macbeth	Bharadwaj, Vishal	2003	Kaleidoscope Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.	Hindi, Urdu	Canada
Maze, Spectacle, and Music: King Lear	King Lear	Fu, Hongzheng	2003	OFF Performance Workshop in collaboration with Body/Sound Theatre Co.	Mandarin, Taiwanese	Taiwan
Meili de Shashibiya (Beautiful Shakespeare)		Quintero, Craig	2003	Riverbed Theatre	Mandarin	Taiwan
Merchant of Venice	Merchant of Venice	Ninagawa, Yukio	2007	Ninagawa Studio
Merchant of Venice	Merchant of Venice	Zhang, Qihong	1980	Chinese Youth Art Theatre		China
Metal Macbeth	Macbeth	Inoue, Hidenori	2006	Gekidan Shinkansen	Japanese	Japan
Midsummer Night’s Dream	Midsummer Night's Dream	Miwa, Elica	2006	Theatre Company Subaru	Japanese	Japan
Mr. Romeo	Romeo and Juliet	Mukherjee, Subhash	1974	Subodh Mukherji Productions	Hindi	India
Noh Macbeth	Macbeth	Izumi, Noriko	2006		Japanese	Japan
Omkara	Othello	Bharadwaj, Vishal	2006	Big Screen Entertainment	Hindi	India
One Husband Too Many (Yi qi liang fu)	Romeo and Juliet	Chan, Anthony	1988		Cantonese	China
Othello	Othello	Miyagi, Satoshi	2005	Ku Na Uka Theatre Company	Japanese	Japan
Othello	Othello	Perng, Ching-hsi		Green Music, Inc.	Mandarin	Taiwan, Taipei
Othello: A Play in Black and White	Othello	Abel, Roysten	1999			India
Pericles	Pericles	Ninagawa, Yukio	2003		Japanese	Japan
Pericles	Pericles	Kim, Kwang Lim	2010	Hwadong Theater Company	Korean	Korea
Prince of the Himalayas	Hamlet	Hu, Sherwood	2006	Hu's Entertainment; Shanghai Film Studios	English, Tibetan	Tibet
Puck (Midsummer Night’s Dream)	Midsummer Night's Dream	Koike, Shuuichirou	1992	Takarazuka Revue	Japanese	Japan
Raja Lear	King Lear	Bhuthiadia, Sharad	1993	Pratyaya Theatre	Marathi	India
Ran	King Lear	Kurosawa, Akira	1985	Greenwich Film Production S.A. Paris / Herald Ace / Nippon Herald Films	Japanese	Japan
Richard III	Richard III	Perng, Ching-hsi		Green Music, Inc.	Mandarin	Taiwan
Richard III	Richard III	Wang, Xiaoying	2012	The National Theatre of China	Mandarin	United Kingdom
Rock Hamlet	Hamlet	Jeon, Hoon	1999	Seoul Musical Company	Korean	South Korea
Romeo and Juliet	Romeo and Juliet	Perng, Ching-hsi		Green Music, Inc.	Mandarin	Taiwan
Romeo and Juliet	Romeo and Juliet	Oh, Tae-suk	2001	Mokwha Repertory Company	Korean	South Korea
Romeo and Juliet	Romeo and Juliet	Chen, Lincang	2008	Binghamton University; National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts	English	United States
Romeo and Juliet	Romeo and Juliet	Oh, Tae-suk	2006	Mokwha Repertory Company	Korean	South Korea
Romeo and Juliet ’99 (Bow Shakespeare Series #3)	Romeo and Juliet	Ueda, Keiko	1999	Takarazuka Revue	Japanese	Japan
Romeo and Juliet in Saigon	Romeo and Juliet	Moustache, Cliff; Nguyen, Khai Thu	2012	Hat Boi Theater Company	Vietnamese	Vietnam
Romeo and Juliet Unplugged	Romeo and Juliet	Lü, Po Shen	2009	Tainaner Ensemble	Mandarin	Taiwan
Samrat Lear (King Lear)	King Lear	Brown, John Russell	1997	National School of Drama	Hindi	India
Search: Hamlet (Edison Theatre)	Hamlet	Ong, Keng Sen	2002	FACE to FACE; TheatreWorks, Singapore	English, Indonesian, Japanese, Malay	Denmark
Search: Hamlet (Kronborg Castle)	Hamlet	Ong, Keng Sen	2002	FACE to FACE; TheatreWorks, Singapore	English, Indonesian, Japanese, Malay	Denmark
Shakespeare in Tempo Year 12	Hamlet	Ninagawa, Yukio	2005	Ninagawa Studio	Japanese	Japan
Shakespeare Must Die	Macbeth	Kanjanavanit, Ing (Ing K)	2012		Thai	Thailand
Shamlet (Sha mu lei te)	Hamlet	Lee, Kuo-hsiu	1992	Ping Fong Acting Troupe	Mandarin	Taiwan
Shamlet (Sha mu lei te)	Hamlet	Lee, Kuo-hsiu	1995	Ping Fong Acting Troupe	Mandarin	China
Shamuleite (Shamlet)	Hamlet	Lee, Kuo-hsiu	1996	Ping Fong Acting Troupe	Mandarin	Taiwan
Shamuleite (Shamlet)	Hamlet	Wang, Yue	2000	Ping Fong Acting Troupe	Mandarin	Taiwan
Sintang Dalisay (Romeo and Juliet)	Romeo and Juliet	Abad, Ricardo	2017	Ateneo Fine Arts; Tanghalang Ateneo	Filipino	Philippines
Taitasu Andoronikasu (Titus Andronicus)	Titus Andronicus	Ninagawa, Yukio	2006	Ninagawa Studio	Japanese	United Kingdom
The Banquet	Hamlet	Feng, Xiaogang	2006	Huayi Brothers / Media Asia Films LTD	Mandarin	China
The King and the Clown (Wang-ui namja)	Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night	Lee, Joon-ik	2005	Eagle Pictures	Korean	South Korea
The Magic Hour	Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello	Raina, Arjun	2000	Khelkali		India
The Tale of Lear	King Lear	Suzuki, Tadashi	1988	Suzuki Company of Toga	English, Japanese	U.S.A.
The Taming of the Shrew	Taming of the Shrew	Perng, Ching-hsi		Green Music, Inc.	Mandarin	Taiwan
The Taming of the Shrew	Taming of the Shrew	Chung, Hsing-lin Tracy	2003	Denison University, Ohio	English	United States
The Tempest	Tempest	Ninagawa, Yukio	1992	Ninagawa Studio; Royal Shakespeare Company	Japanese	United Kingdom
The Tempest	Tempest	Tsui, Hark; Wu, Hsing-kuo	2004	Contemporary Legend Theatre Company	Mandarin	Taiwan
The Tempest	Tempest	Panikkar, Kavalam Narayana	2000			India
The Tempest	Tempest	Leday, Annette	2000			India
The Tempest	Tempest	Perng, Ching-hsi		Green Music, Inc.	Mandarin	Taiwan
The Tempest	Tempest	Dattani, Mahesh; Walling, Michael		Playpen		India
The Tempest	Tempest	Tsui, Hark; Wu, Hsing-kuo	2008	Contemporary Legend Theatre Company	Mandarin	China
The Tempest	Tempest	Tsui, Hark; Wu, Hsing-kuo	2009	Contemporary Legend Theatre Company	Mandarin	South Korea
The Tempest	Tempest	Oh, Tae-suk	2011	Mokwha Repertory Company	Korean	Scotland
The Tempest	Tempest	Sohn, Jin-Chaek	2009		Korean	Korea
The Tempest (Bow Shakespeare Series #6)	Tempest	Yoshimasa, Saitou	1999	Takarazuka Revue	Japanese	Japan
The Tragedy of Prince Zi Dan (Revenge of the Prince)	Hamlet	Shi, Yu-kun	2006	Shanghai Jingju Company	Mandarin	China
The Winter’s Tale	Winter's Tale	Perng, Ching-hsi		Green Music, Inc.	Mandarin	Taiwan
The Winter’s Tale (Bow Shakepeare Series #1)	Winter's Tale	Kodama, Akiko	1999	Takarazuka Revue	Japanese	Japan
The Winter’s Tale (International Version)	Winter's Tale	Kurita, Yoshihiro	2008	Ryutopia Noh-theatre Shakespeare	Japanese	Japan
The Winter’s Tale -Barcarolle-	Winter's Tale	Kurita, Yoshihiro	2005	Ryutopia Noh-theatre Shakespeare	Japanese	Japan
Timon of Athens	Timon of Athens	Deguchi, Norio	1996	Shakespeare Theatre	Japanese
Titus 2.0	Titus Andronicus	Tang, Shu-wing	2009	Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio (formerly No Man's Land Group)	Cantonese	China
Titus Andronicus	Titus Andronicus	Wang, Chia-ming	2003	Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group		Taiwan
Twelfth Night	Twelfth Night	Perng, Ching-hsi		Green Music, Inc.	Mandarin	Taiwan
Twelfth Night (Bow Shakespeare Series #4)	Twelfth Night	Kimura, Shinji	1999	Takarazuka Revue	Japanese	Japan
University of Laughs (Warai no daigaku)	Romeo and Juliet	Mamoru, Hoshi	2004	Fuji Television Network	Japanese	Japan
Ur-Hamlet	Hamlet	Barba, Eugenio	2006	Odin Teatret	Balinese, Danish, English, Japanese, Portuguese	Denmark
Wangzi fuchou ji (The Revenge of the Prince)	Hamlet	Su, Leci	1994	Shanghai Yueju Company	Mandarin	China
War and Eternity	Hamlet	Wu, Hsing-kuo	1990	Contemporary Legend Theatre Company	Mandarin	Taiwan
Wayang Tempest	Tempest	Jenkins, Roger	2001	3.14 Company (Singapore)		Singapore
Wu shi sheng fei (Much Ado About Nothing)	Much Ado About Nothing	Jiang, Weiguo; Sun, Huairen	1986	Anhui Huangmeixi Troupe	Mandarin	China