'Hamlet' actors stage a triumph

Tibetan students draw praise for their production of one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, Zhang Kun reports in Shanghai. 

For the first time in Shanghai's Shangxi Theater, the most famous soliloquy from Hamlet was uttered in the Tibetan language. "To be or not to be, that's the question."

Featuring 22 students from a Tibetan class at the Shanghai Theater Academy, this new production of Hamlet was directed by Pu Cunxin, chairman of the Chinese Dramatists Association. It was performed in both Mandarin and Tibetan from May 7 to 14.

This was the first time Pu directed a play. Pu, who is also a veteran actor, used to serve as the director of Beijing People's Art Theater. He began teaching the students from the second semester since their enrollment into the STA in 2017.

"I've never seen the way they smiled," says Pu, recalling his "love at first sight" experience with the Tibetan students. "They were completely frank. And when they learned the basic principles of acting, they created such natural and direct performing episodes, like everything coming right from the roots of their lives."

Thirty years ago, director Lin Zhaohua cast Pu to play the title character in a Hamlet adaptation. Pu says the experience helped him to become a good actor, and today he is directing this group of Tibetan youngsters, who are about to graduate, in another Hamlet production.

"After studying for four years at the STA, they are now capable of performing the dramatic classic in Mandarin and Tibetan. … Please remember them," Pu says.