Musical "Shakespeare's Paradise" Happy Return: When Shakespeare's Character Wants to "Be Yourself" Hamlet | Theater | Character
As the first comedy produced by Shanghai Cultural Square, the Chinese version of the musical "Shakespeare's Paradise" will return to the theater at the end of this month after its premiere at the end of last year, with five consecutive performances. This musical reconstructs Shakespeare's universe through humorous imagination, allowing Shakespeare to meet his characters and embark on a warm and enjoyable journey of search.
In musicals, Shakespeare, who was determined to create world-renowned works, carefully composed two works: Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. Just as he was fully immersed in his creative work, a strong wind struck and mixed the scripts of the two works together. And the confusing script actually created another "unknown space": here, Hamlet, Romeo, and Juliet meet. Are the three characters in Shakespeare's works acting according to Shakespeare's will or being themselves?
Screenplay of Shakespeare's Paradise.
In Shakespeare's original work, Romeo and Juliet choose to die for love, but in Shakespeare's Paradise, they pick up knives to confront each other in order to live their desired life. Juliet's actor Chen Yuting said, "In Shakespeare's original work, Juliet has many moments of disappointment and darkness, but in" Shakespeare's Paradise, "Juliet has her own choice - as a character in the play, I will believe in my own choice and spend every day bright, brave, and passionate."
In line with the humorous and bold plot, the musical language of "Shakespeare's Paradise" includes both the opera style music of Shakespeare's era and elements of modern musicals, helping to achieve character exchange and differentiation, and allowing the audience to understand the characters more smoothly. In the official performance, the play will simulate retro music effects such as the harp, horn, and seven stringed instrument through the arrangement of piano, violin, and cello bands, in order to enhance the stylistic features of Shakespeare and his works in their respective eras.
The stage structure of Shakespeare's Paradise is similar to that of Shakespeare's theater, with the sun and moon symbolizing time, as well as Denmark in Hamlet and Verona in Romeo and Juliet. The production team created up and down installations hidden in those spaces to integrate Shakespeare's focused creative studio with the space presented in his play - the theater, presenting a scene of wandering and searching for a path in an unknown space. In stage design, there are both photo frames that can be opened, doors made of rotating oil drums, and sun, moon, and stars that appear through pulleys to reflect the free transformation of day and night.
In the drama, each character is given a main color tone and each has a set of clothing that is most complete when the character appears. With the passage of time and changes in emotions, clothing gradually falls off or reveals hidden parts. And Shakespeare was endowed with colorless. This is the color that blends his endless contradictions and distressed thoughts between "the article he wants to write" and "the article the world wants to read".
"This musical uses a light and lively style to make urbanites rethink their lives in fast-paced and high-intensity lifestyles," said Fei Yuanhong, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Culture Square and Art Producer of the Chinese version of "Shakespeare's Paradise". With the original intention of upgrading from "selecting good plays" to "doing good plays", the drama was produced by Shanghai Culture Square Theater Management Co., Ltd., and has collaborated three times with Korean drama and musical director Jin Dongyuan and Korean choreographer Song Xichen to create it. The other two works produced by Shanghai Cultural Square, the musical "My Wish List" and the musical "Star Messenger", will also be staged this summer.
