晚清上海舞台的莎士比亚剧作及其意义新探(1860-1891)

A New Exploration of Shakespeare’s Plays on the Shanghai Stage in the Late Qing Dynasty and Its Significance(1860-1891)

舞台演出是莎士比亚剧作跨文化传播的重要环节,但晚清时莎剧的演出情况一直较为缺失。笔者钩沉英文报刊资料,发现自19世纪60年代起,已有西人演员在上海兰心剧院演出《哈姆雷特》等莎剧,80、90年代发展为彭德门、米恩等专业剧团上演《威尼斯商人》《奥赛罗》《罗密欧和朱丽叶》等系列莎剧;正式的舞台演出之外,还有租界会所组织的莎士比亚主题晚会,以及教会组织的公开讲座,以表演、朗读、演唱和讲座等丰富多样的形式展现莎剧的艺术魅力。莎剧在晚清的舞台演出,提高了在华西剧的品质,为上海剧场带来新的气象,使中国观众初步感受到世界经典剧作的艺术魅力,其影响和意义是多方面的,不容忽视。

Stage performance was an important part of Shakespeare’s trans-cultural diffusion,however,in the late Qing Dynasty,the performance of Shakespeare’s plays has been relatively missing.The author dug into the English press and discovered that since the 1860s,western actors had performed Hamlet at the Lyceum theatre in Shanghai.In the 1880s and 1890s,it developed into professional theatre company such as Bandmann and Miln performing Shakespeare plays such as Merchant of Venice,Othello,Romeo and Juliet and so on.In addition to the formal stage performances,there were Shakespeare themed parties organized by the Concession Club and public lectures organized by the Church to present the artistic charm of Shakespeare’s plays in a variety of forms,including performances,readings,singing and lectures.The stage performance of Shakespeare’s plays in the late Qing Dynasty couldn’t be ignored,which improved the quality of the western Chinese plays,brought a new atmosphere to the Shanghai theatre and made the Chinese audience initially feel the artistic charm of the world’s classic plays.