Overview
The year is 1616. William Shakespeare has just died and the world of the
London theatres is mourning his loss. 1616 also saw the death of the
famous Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu. Four hundred years on and
Shakespeare is now an important meeting place for Anglo-Chinese cultural
dialogue in the field of drama studies. In June 2014 (the 450th
anniversary of Shakespeare's birth), SOAS, The Shakespeare Birthplace
Trust and the National Chung Cheng University of Taiwan gathered 20
scholars together to reflect on the theatrical practice of four hundred
years ago and to ask: what does such an exploration mean culturally for
us today? This ground-breaking study offers fresh insights into the
respective theatrical worlds of Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu and asks how
the brave new theatres of 1616 may have a vital role to play in the
intercultural dialogue of our own time.