Chinese musical version "Hamlet" to hit Guangzhou stage

Have you ever thought about the well-known question "To be, or not to be"? On July 8 to 9, the original Chinese musical Hamlet, adapted from William Shakespeare's masterpiece, will be staged at the Guangzhou Opera House. Integrating China's freehand style and aesthetic perspective, the musical may give audiences a new interpretation of this story.

Teaser trailer of musical "Hamlet" (Video provided to GDToday)

The tragedy tells the story of Danish prince Hamlet seeking revenge against his uncle Claudius, who murdered Hamlet's father and also devised plots to kill Hamlet. In the Chinese musical version, musical actor Jin Shengquan plays the role of Hamlet, while actor Zheng Qiyuan challenges the role of Claudius.

Jin Shengquan as Hamlet in the musical.

Zheng Qiyuan as Claudius in the musical.

"Shakespeare lived in a time when people were 'shaping themselves'. In this play, we seem to experience a process from 'finding' to 'awakening' of the character's self," Zheng said.

This musical gathers the creative team of the musical version of The Orphan of Zhao, which is called the "Hamlet of China," given its revenge theme, in a bid to present the fusion and collision between Oriental and Western culture via lyrics, stage design, and costumes.

Since the difference between musicals and plays, the musical intentionally highlights the dramatic conflict between Hamlet and Claudius, according to director Xu Jun. "There should be the full emotional expressions as well as the in-depth thoughts of characters."

Stage photos of the musical "Hamlet"

In addition, the show will be accompanied by music written by composer Peter Kam from Hong Kong, featuring multiple genres like symphonic music and rock 'n' roll. Lyric writer Liang Mang introduced that he read and studied the translation of the play by Liang Shiqiu, who was the first person to translate Shakespeare's complete works into Chinese, with many other versions of translation as a comparison, in order to make the Chinese lyrics match the characteristics of characters in the original story.