Xing-ju literally means 'New Theatre' in Mandarin and denotes the non-traditional performing style in Taiwan. Xing-ju is regarded as the product of colonisation in Taiwan. The thesis began with the first emergence of Xing-ju in the Japanese colonial era at the beginning of the twentieth century, and went on to examine the development of Xing-ju and its sub-forms within a colonial historical context. Having gone through different colonial regimes, Xing-ju has developed into the local theatre form characterizing the hybridity of Taiwanese culture. My study aims to fill a gap in Taiwanese contemporary theatre history, to look at Xing-ju and its sub-forms from a post-colonial perspective, and to provide a continuous and complete Xing-ju history within a theoretical context. In addition, how Xing-ju has exemplified ‘Taiwaneseness’ while presenting multiple cultural characteristics is also examined. This thesis also draws on primary source data, obtained via field research, to analyse the characteristics of Xing-ju performances. Finally, while addressing my research questions through theoretical analysis, I also examine them through the lens of practical work. Inspired by critical syncretism, I experiment with an alternative way to explore the nature of Taiwanese culture and theatre form. With its hybrid cultural characteristics including Japanese Shinpa-geki, Chinese Peking Opera, Ge-zai Xi and Western theatre styles, I discuss how a definition of ‘Taiwaneseness’ emerges through Xing-ju.

Contemporary theatre is increasingly visual, an aesthetic shift that has been analyzed in, among others, Hans-Thies Lehmann’s influential Postdramatic Theatre. This shift is apparent in Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki’s intercultural adaptations, which adapt plays of the Western repertoire for contemporary Japanese and international audiences in a style that is richly and evocatively visual. Notions drawn from postdramatic theatre, metatheatre and postcolonial theories are applied as framing devices to uncover the deep cultural and theatrical significance of Suzuki’s adaptive work. My approach to analyzing the three case studies: Suzuki’s King Lear, The Trojan Women, and Cyrano de Bergerac takes a more globalized view of theatrical adaptations that acknowledges the visual turn of contemporary theatre and contributes to the fields of intercultural performance studies and adaptation studies by expanding the notion of interculturalism beyond the limits imposed by current Western analytical perspectives.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Theatre, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-87).

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