Peony Pavilion Onstage

Download or read book Peony Pavilion Onstage written by Catherine Swatek and published by U OF M CENTER FOR CHINESE STUDIES. This book was released on 2002 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores responses to Tang Xianzu's classic play The Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting) from three distinct segments of its public-literati playwrights; professional performers of Kun opera; and quite recently, directors and audiences outside China. Catherine Swatek first examines two adaptations of the play by Tang's contemporaries, which point to the unconventionality of the original work. She goes on to explore how the play has been changed in later adaptations, up to its most recent productions by Peter Sellars and Chen Shi-Zheng in the United States and Europe. Catherine Swatek is Associate Professor, University of British Columbia. She has published several articles on premodern Chinese drama and on female representation in Chinese opera.