Theatre Workshop Held by Theater Department of Chuang-Ang University, Korea

On the morning of October 21st, 2017, Wu Jingze, professor from Theater Department of Chuang-Ang University, Korea, conducted an academic exchange with international students and teachers at the thrust theater in Changping Campus of the Central Academy of Drama (CAD) on issues concerned by audience when they saw "L(R)EAR - based on Tolstoy on Shakespeare " performed on October 20, 2017.

Professor Wu Jingze graduated from Chuang-Ang University, Korea with a bachelor’s degree majoring in theater director. He got his master degree in theater director from California College of the Arts in the United States. He established a theatre company in South Korea, named "EAN". Works he directed include “Kill Me, Please", "Hamlet," "The Cherry Orchard," "Seagull", "Three Sisters" as well as "Servant of Two Masters".

In order to discuss and exchange issues more fluently, Professor Wu sent three papers with different colors to each audience who attended. The red one meant that the audience agreed with his opining. The blue is opposite. And the yellow one meant that the audience had no idea. This innovative way brought a good communication experience. In the process of communication, Professor Wu exchanged his views on the illogical points of Shakespeare "King Lear" put forward by Tolstoy.

Tolstoy thought that characters in Shakespeare's work did not fit into the times he lived in. For example, the story happened in the eighth century, but the characters’ life seemed to be seen in the Middle Ages. Shakespeare also liked using various rough portrayals, such as character’s clothes and grooms with helmets, which intensified the reader’s confusion on times.

Shakespeare's characters are often praised by our descendants, vivid, multifaceted and profound. But Tolstoy said, “No”. First of all, normal person wouldn’t state such bumpy sentences. It seems that we couldn’t go out and communicate with others in classical Chinese. Shakespeare lines said by his characters are very unnatural. There is no unique way of speaking for everyone. For example, the king will say boasting and meaningless words while women will say emotional and poetic words. And those people in the show never talk about things in accordance with the current occasion. Words spoken by those who will die, those who want to fight and those who fall in love were all similar and unexpected. Tolstoy felt that Shakespeare's lines were not meant to create the characters. It just should come up at this time and be spoken by specific persons. It seems some lyrics do not consider its meaning for the sake of rhyme.

In addition, Tolstoy also pointed out that King Lear and Cordelia are those characters borrowed from previous literary stories. Mr. Wu claimed that this is not a big problem. But Tolstoy thought Shakespeare didn't make full use of these characters. He ruined these characters, instead.

Through information exchange and discussion, we deepened our understanding of Tolstoy and "King Lear". At the same time, we had a better understanding of the construction of "L(R)EAR - based on Tolstoy on Shakespeare" performed by Theater Department of Chuang-Ang University, Korea. Such activity will be beneficial for producing more cooperative works.