Rethinking Shakespeare in Shanghai
Nytimes reports that a recent bilingual production of "Othello" in Shanghai reimagined the play's racial dynamics: the American actor Thomas Caron performed Othello in English while Cao Jifeng played Iago in Chinese, and the action was relocated to an island at the mouth of the Yangtze where Othello is an American mercenary.
In the Shanghai version Iago curses Othello not as a Moor but a 'laowai.' The low-budget staging was put on inside a shopping mall and offered free admission to avoid China's state vetting for paid shows; none of the actors were paid and rehearsal and performance spaces were donated.
The troupe briefly ran into trouble over a flyer showing a Chinese Desdemona leaning on her foreign husband, and China's internet regulator blocked the troupe's website; the troupe removed the interracial image but retained a quotation from Mr. Xi on the site.
China, Shanghai