"Foreign Shakespeare" performances in different cultures offer new perspectives on the understanding and interpretation of the plays, and illustrate the ongoing cultural exchanges between the playwright and the indigenous theatres as well as their audiences. In China, the majority of Shakespeare productions have been in the huaju or spoken drama form, the modern style of theatre which was developed early in the twentieth century on the model of contemporary Western theatre. Customarily, huaju performances of Shakespeare have attempted to imitate Western appearance in scenery, costume and make-up, including coloured wigs and prosthetic noses, as in this production of 1984.

Antony and Cleopatra (1984), translated by Zhu Shenghao, directed by Hu Weimin, produced by the Shanghai Youth Spoken Drama Company. Courtesy of Fang Ping.

However, some recent huaju Shakespeare productions have broken with this convention:

Richard III (2001), directed by Lin Zhaohua, produced by the Lin Zhaohua Workshop, Central Experimental Spoken Drama Company and the Arts College, Sun Wen University. Courtesy of Lin Zhaohua.

By contrast with huaju, where the spoken language is the basis of the dramatic form, in sinified Shakespeare productions the original plays have been adapted into genres of the traditional Chinese music theatre, xiqu, where the focus of the performance is on aria singing, dance, mime and acrobatics. Whereas some sinified productions adopted certain spoken drama conventions, with performers pretending to be Westerners and telling the story in a Western way,

Twelfth Night (yueju, 1986), adapted by Zhou Shuihe, directed by Hu Weimin & Sun Hongjiang, produced by the Shanghai Yueju Theatre's Company No. 3. Courtesy of Sun Hongjiang.

King Qi's Dream (jingju adaptation of King Lear, 1995), adapted by Wang Yongshi, directed by Ma Ke, produced by the Shanghai Jingju Theatre. Courtesy: Shanghai Jingju Theatre.