Taking drama a stage further

• Source: Global Times
• [09:35 July 22 2010]
• Comments

Director Paul Stebbings with some audience members during a rehearsal. Photo: Courtesy of SDAC

By Li Yuting

Few theatergoers get a chance to see a play before it officially opens and the critics and first-night crowds take over the theater. But for Shanghai Drama Art Center's (SDAC) production of The Taming of the Shrew, which ended just last week, some Shanghai theatergoers not only saw the play before opening night but played a big part in the ultimate staging.

The Taming of the Shrew that was staged from July 8 to 18 was, in the end, a collective work that involved the creative team and some ordinary audience members.

Paul Stebbings, the British director from The New Theater (TNT) adapted the classic Shakespeare comedy, moving it from Renaissance Italy to Shanghai in the 1930s.

Stebbings wanted to do something more challenging to reflect the collaboration between an English director, Shakespeare and Chinese actors, musicians and designers.

"I needed to make sure that the production felt authentic and also communicated with a Chinese audience - indeed a Shanghai audience. Otherwise it would be as fake as a Chinese meal served in Italy," Stebbings told the Global Times.

"To test this I wanted some audiences at rehearsals where possible. I needed a true collaboration with them, the actors and the musical director."

Two weeks before the show was set to open, the SDAC's SNS website began recruiting its test audiences. More than 300 applicants wanted to see the previews but in the end 65 were chosen.

"It was possible at the previews to test which bits of the comedy worked and which didn't," Stebbings said.

The reactions of the preview audiences were significant. On June 30 and July 6 the test audiences came to the SDAC rehearsal rooms and watched the play. And while they were watching carefully, Stebbings, sat and watched the audience watching the play, noting their reactions.

"It was not only about speaking directly to audience members after a preview but also about carefully monitoring their reactions," he said.

Wu Di, a 28-year-old civil servant, was in one of the preview audiences. He liked the play for its creative friendly style and natural humor. "However, the beginning was too slow and it seemed muddled," he said. Several other audience members had the same feelings.