26 November 2015
Year 2016 is the 400 anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare. Assigned by the Chinese Ministry of Education, with the assistance of STA’s International Exchange Centre, a group of teachers and students from STA’s Chinese traditional opera and puppet major, led by STA Vice President Guo Yu, left for the UK on 8 November for exchange performances at two elite British universities, namely, University of Leeds and University of Exeter, with the program named “William Shakespeare in the Eyes of Chinese”.
On 9 November, the performance group held a workshop on Chinese traditional opera at University of Leeds. 10 November, the first show was staged at the Assembly Hall of University of Leeds. The wonderful performance given by the teachers and students of STA’s Chinese traditional opera and puppet major deeply impressed the British audience. The show was a great success and won the unanimous favourable comments of the local media and high opinion of the teachers and students of University of Leeds.
After the first show, the performance group travelled immediately to Exeter in northern England. On the morning of 12 November, STA Vice President Guo Yu met with the officials of International Affairs Office of University of Exeter for an in-depth and constructive meeting on future exchange and cooperation. In the same afternoon, Vice President Guo Yu gave a lecture entitled “Thoughts on Cross Culture Performance of Chinese Traditional Opera” at the Department of Drama of University of Exeter, which attracted several dozens of students.
The workshop on the afternoon of 12 November was hosted by Wu Wenchong, a young teacher of STA. The workshop demonstrated the basic skills of the Chinese traditional opera, long sleeve skill and sword and spear skill, which gave rise to great interest of the teachers and students of University of Exeter’s Department of Drama. Many teachers and students actively participated in the interaction with the speakers in a lively atmosphere. At last, Teacher Qin Feng explained and demonstrated some puppet manipulating techniques. The entire workshop proceeded in a warm atmosphere and provided effective education and publicity for the show in the evening of the 13th.
In the evening of 13 November, we showed the program “William Shakespeare in the Eyes of Chinese” to the teachers and students of University of Exeter. The audience responded warmly and gave full recognition to the performance effect of our adapted version of Shakespeare’s masterpieces. After the performance, we presented the “red chair” used in the performance to University of Exeter’s Department of Drama as a gift, with its red colour symbolizing the prosperity and longevity of the friendship of our two universities.
On the visit to the UK with the performance “William Shakespeare in the Eyes of Chinese”, the STA Chinese traditional opera and puppet troupe not only won applauses and international reputation for STA, but also accumulated superior international resources for professional teaching and discipline building, broadened the international vision of the students and provided them with the opportunities to experience the style and features of contemporary and modern arts and stage.
