Richard III in Mandarin at London's Globe Theatre on July 20, 2015. Director Wang Xiaoying and the company of actors first performed this translated adaptation at the Globe in 2012 as part of the Globe to Globe 2012 festival. July 20, 2015, was the first time in London that Xiaoying's production made full use of their special stage props and sets.

 

How does a play about one of England's most notorious rulers translate to an unfamiliar audience, and how do the words of the English language's most famous playwright translate in to Mandarin? These are the questions that come to mind when watching this translated masterpiece.

 

Costume design has helped build a bridge between the Chinese audience and this dramatisation of English history. Gone are the frilled shirts, the codpieces, and the chainmail which Europeans are familiar with, and in come the traditional-Chinese costumes that will help the foreign audience better understand characters' social roles. The clergy wear the modest robes of monks, the lords and dukes are without the opulent jewels that English aristocracy would have worn, and the three characters who take the thrown throughout the play are instantly recognisable to the Chinese audience because of the golden-yellow robes that, as the colour of the Emperor in ancient China, instantly mark these characters as royalty.

The director has also injected elements of Beijing Opera in to the performance. The crowd is treated to a comic show by Zhang Zhiyong and Cai Jingchao who jointly play the part of Richard's henchman Tyrell. With the actors' faces painted with white lines in the style of Beijing Opera clowns, the pair offer comic relief with well choreographed kung-fu and sword play.

The Mandarin version of Richard III keeps true to most of the original script but with a few adjustments to reduce the length of the play. This version also made some notable changes to characterisation which put a different spin on a regularly told story, or perhaps to bring the play closer to the expectations of Chinese theatergoers.

 

Playing the part of Richard's mother Queen Margaret, actress She Nannan transforms the cursing, forsaken Queen mother in to a blind, old soothsayer and harbinger of prophecies come true. In this adaptation, Queen Margaret is a frail looking lady who feels about the stage with her walking stick. Frail as she appears, this portrayal of Queen Margaret cries out curses in the voice of a woman who, though appearing to be a powerless old widow, still holds sway over the royal court and over the fates of those around her.

 

When Lady Anne, Richard's wife-to-be, realises the mistake of marrying the very man who killed her own husband, Queen Margaret appears above the stage to echo in a booming voice that Lady Anne's  curse on Richard that "if ever he have wife, let her be made miserable" has come true--Queen Margaret appears above the stage like an embittered goddess to show the audience how curses come true.

 

The most notable change to the play lies in Zhang Dongyu's excellent performance in the title role of Richard, the Duke of Gloucester and future King. Shakespeare characterises Richard as lame and deformed, and the recent discovery of the Richard's actual bones confirmed that he did have a hunchback and withered arm. Yet, in this adaptation Zhang Dongyu plays Richard as a straight standing and youthful charmer.

 

When Richard pours his honeyed words in to unfortunate ears, he presents himself with a straight back and a confident air. At these times, the audience and other characters see a charming, normal prince, not a crippled and twisted villain. Only in soliloquies does Zhang Dongyu bend his back and twist his arm in to the form of the character that audiences are familiar with. This altered portrayal of Richard might be the director's way of giving depth to a character that has often been seen as lacking development. By seeing Richard in these two ways, Wang Xiaoying appears to say that Richard's evil stems from the way he sees himself and not the way the world sees him.

 

Final note should be given to the startling backdrop used in this production. After every death on Richard's hands, a line of blood streams down the white backdrop. When Zhang Dongyu's Richard screams the famous line "A horse! A horse! My Kingdom for a horse!" torrents of blood cascade behind him giving an impressive end to a well orchestrated and superbly performed old classic.

 

The National Theatre of China will perform at the Globe Theatre until July 26, 2015.