上海戯劇協社『ヴェニスの商人』上演をめぐって

抄録

The performance by the Theatre Association (Xiju Xieshe) of The Merchant of Venice in May 1930—the Theatre Association's fourteenth public performance—was the first full-scale production of a Shakespearean play in China. But until now there has been virtually no researches on this performance. In this article, I first analyze its background, then clarify the actual course of events that culminated in the performance, and show that even in the context of Chinese spoken plays as a whole it was in effect the earliest full-scale performance of a translated play. In addition, I examine the reason that The Merchant of Venice was chosen for China's first proper performance of a Shakespearean play and characteristics of the reception of The Merchant of Venice in China. Further, I show that the significance of this successful full-scale performance of a translated play in 1930 was greater than has been hitherto imagined, both in the history of the reception of Shakespeare in China and in the history of modern Chinese drama.