Shakespeare in Asian Film and Theater

New Start date: Sundays, September 30, October 7, 14, & 21, and November 4 & 11

This class will explore some of the various ways in which Shakespeare's works have been adapted into different Asian film and theatrical traditions. From Merchant and Ivory's Shakespeare Wallah to Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood; from the Bollywood blockbuster  Maqbool to the performance of Kyogen of Errors at the Old Globe Theatre, Shakespeare has provided a source of inspiration for directors and actors throughout Asia. The class will be not so much a study of Shakespeare as it will be how Shakespeare has been adapted through a multitude of theatrical traditions. Using Western Shakespearean classics such as Orson Welles' Macbeth, Sir Laurence Olivier’s King Lear, and Ethan Hawke’s "business” Hamlet as reference points, this class will examine how different classical Asian theatrical traditions translate Shakespeare into their own acting and theatrical styles. The class will culminate with the Singaporean Director Ong Keng Sen's pan-AsianKing Lear in which each role is played by a major classically trained actor in his or her own language and theatrical tradition; no two actors speak the same language or act in the same style.

Readings will be available in pdf format.

Professor John Listopad earned his Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a concentration on the complex interplay of art, religion, politics, and international trade at the 17th century court of the Kingdom of Siam. He has been a curator for Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art at LACMA, curator for and lecturer in Asian Art at Stanford, and currently teaches at California State University, Sacramento. John has spent many years traveling and researching cross-cultural interactions in numerous Asia countries.