Shakespeare¿s tragedies have been performed in the Sinophone world for over two centuries. Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear are three of the most frequently adapted plays. They have been re-imagined as political theatre, comedic parody, Chinese opera, avant-garde theatre, and experimental theatre in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. This ground-breaking anthology features the first English translations of seven influential adaptations from 1987 to 2007 across a number of traditional and modern performance genres in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei. Each of the book's three sections offers a pair of two contrasting versions of each tragedy - in two distinct genres - for comparative analysis. This anthology is an indispensable tool for the teaching and research of Sinophone theatre's engagement with Western classics in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Alexa Alice Joubin is Professor of English, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Theatre, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she co-founded and co-directs the Digital Humanities Institute. Her books include Shakespeare and East Asia (2021), Race (2019), and the co-edited volumes Cinematic Allusions to Shakespeare: International Appropriation (2022), Local and Global Myths in Shakespearean Performance (2018), and Shakespeare and the Ethics of Appropriation (2014).

Chapter 1. Sinophone Shakespeares: A Critical Introduction, Alexa Alice Joubin

Chapter 2. Hamlet as Political Theatre in Beijing: ¿¿¿¿by Lin Zhaohua ¿¿¿ (1990), translated by Steven L. Riep and Ronald Kimmons and introduced by Steven Riep

Chapter 3. Hamlet as Parody in Taipei: Shamlet ¿¿¿¿ (Hamlet) by Lee Kuo-hsiu ¿¿¿ (1992 / 2008), translated by Christopher Rea and introduced by Alexa Alice Joubin

Part 2. Bewitched by Kunqu Opera and Avant-Garde Theatre

Chapter 4. An Operatic Macbeth in Shanghai: Story of Bloody Hands ¿¿¿ by Huang Zuolin ¿¿¿  (1987 / 2008), translated by Siyuan Liu and introduced by Alexa Alice Joubin

Chapter 5. A Feminist Macbeth in Tainan: The Witches¿ Sonata ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿by Lü Po-shen¿¿¿ (2007), translated and introduced by Yilin Chen

Part 3. Self-Identities in Traditional and Experimental Jingju Opera

Chapter 6. A Confucian King Lear in Shanghai: King Qi¿s Dream ¿¿¿ (King Lear) by Shanghai Jingju Theatre Company (1995), translated by Dongshin Chang and introduced by Alexa Alice Joubin

Chapter 7. A Buddhist King Lear in Taipei: Lear Is Here¿¿¿¿by Wu Hsing-kuo ¿¿¿, Contemporary Legend Theatre (2001), translated and introduced by Alexa Alice Joubin