A Study of Lin Zhaohua's Adaptation of Zhu Shenghao's Translation of Hamlet—An Analysis Based on Basnett's View on the Performability of Theatre

Abstract

As to the performability of theatre translation, Basnett was inconsistent. But it can never be denied that performability is of paramount importance to a playscript. Lin Zhaohua, the director of a Chinese play Hamlet, adapted Zhu Shenghao's written version of Hamlet and produced his script. Compared with Zhu's complete literary version, Lin's presents a stronger performability. This paper will focus on the ways in which Lin adapted Zhu's translation in order to promote the performability of the text and make it more suitable for stage performance from both linguistic and thematic perspectives. For the linguistic perspective, Lin changed some language details to fit his purpose. For the thematic perspective, he reconstructed its original theme, presenting his understanding of this play by two means: the role swapping and the rearrangement of the plot.