Bard's fans are spoiled for choice

Activities across China mark 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death

One of the films featured at the sixth Beijing International Film Festival, which closed over the weekend, is the 2015 version of Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard and directed by Justin Kurzel. "Even if you have never read the original, you'll still be impressed with the visual presentation," wrote Xu Ruofeng, a Chinese critic reviewing the movie. For the 400th anniversary celebrations of the Bard's death, a flurry of activities in publishing, theater and films is taking place across China, bringing him closer to the Chinese public. Never before have Chinese lovers of Shakespeare had so many ways of approaching his immortal works.

Tickets sold out for the filmed stage production of Hamlet, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, and which had limited screenings in selected Chinese cities.

Other Shakespearean plays in the National Theatre Live series, such as Nicholas Hytner's Othello and Sam Mendes' King Lear, will surely be welcome additions to the lineup of the Bard's offerings.

Even Coriolanus, a relatively obscure Shakespearean work by Chinese standards, wowed audiences, partly because it stars Tom Hiddleston of Thor fame and partly because a Chinese stage adaptation has put a local spin on it, sinicizing the title to General Kou Liulan. It was directed by stage luminary Lin Zhaohua.

Data is not available on how many of the Bard's plays have graced the Chinese stage, but perennial favorites such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet obviously have been presented more often than others.

However, complete Chinese translations seem easier to compile and publish.