China and the West

Aufführung von Shamuleite = Shamlet = 莎 姆雷特. An apology for the life of Mrs Shamela Andrews, eine Parodie von Hamlet von William Shakespeare und eine Satire von Henry Fielding auf Samuel Richardson's Novelle Pamela in der Adpation von Li Guoxiu durch das Shanghai xian dai ren ju she und Taiwan ping feng biao yan han (Shanghai Modern People's Theatre und Taiwan Ping feng Workshop) unter der Regie von Liu Yun.

Li Ruru : There are three levels at which Shamlet tries to communicate with the audience. The first level is a satire on Shakespeare himself together with a parody of Hamlet in which a few episodes from the original texte are performed in a low comedy style. On the second level is a portrayal of a troupe of Taiwanese actors attempting to stage a performance of Hamlet, or Shamlet as it is called by the director of the troupe who has misread the title of the play. The thoughts, emotions and behavior of Hamlet and other characters in the original play are apralleled, in a trivialized and satirical style, with the personalities of the actors, their lives in contemporary Taiwanese society and the difficulties they face in playing Hamlet.
The production of 'Shamlet' did not go well. The audience simply could not understand what the play was about. Critics at the forum pointed out some of the problems : too many repetitious episodes and some events lasting too long and becoming boring.
Murray J. Levith : The play's intention is to make a commentary on the absurdity of modern life with ist lack of meaningful order and confused identities.This self-reflexive theme suggests both the complexity and emptiness of contemporary society where all the world seems a stage.