The University of Sheffied to host the 1616: Shakespeare & Tang Xianzu Festival
The University of Sheffield in the UK is set to strengthen its global partnerships with the launch of a major national competition aimed at budding playwrights, as part of celebrations for the 400th anniversaries of Shakespeare and the great Chinese dramatist, Tang Xianzu.
The Confucius Institute at the University of Sheffield, in collaboration with the London Confucius Institute at SOAS, will be hosting the competition as part of the 1616: Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu Festival, which is scheduled to take place at the end of November 2016 in London.
The competition, which marks the University of Sheffield's ongoing commitment to global humanities, will offer the winners the chance to see their creative skills taken from script to stage by receiving funding to perform in one of the three cities in China: Beijing, Shanghai or Nanjing.
Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu are playwrights of the same era. The two literary giants encapsulate their respective society and culture in their plays.
The University of Sheffield has a long history of playwrights amongst its diverse alumnus, including Lucy Prebble, Jack Rosenthal and Stephen Daldry. Lucy, who won the PMA Most Promising Playwright Award while studying at the University, has since authored a host of plays including The Sugar Syndrome.
Contemporary dramatist Jack Rosenthal, who graduated from the University in 1953 with a degree in English Language and Literature, wrote nearly 130 early episodes of the popular British soap opera Coronation Street and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations.
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. But in 1616, 5,000 miles from Stratford-upon-Avon, the great Ming Dynasty playwright Tang Xianzu also died. The 1616: Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu Festival is just one of a host of celebrations being held to honour Shakespeare and his Chinese contemporary Tang Xianzu - the greatest playwrights of their respective theatres.
The launch of this competition will create a tremendous opportunity for new writing and reflection on the relationship between the UK and China. The Festival itself will be broken down into two parts: Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu in dialogue: a series of conversations and the theatre competition. The competition forms part of the university's ongoing links with China and Chinese culture, through research partnerships and cultural studies. Earlier this year, the University of Sheffield’s Confucius Institute was recognised for the promotion of the Chinese language and learning and its strong commitment. It was also named global Confucius Institute of the Year.
The University of Sheffield was one of the first universities in the UK to host a Confucius Institute, which offers a programme of activities and classes designed to give staff, students and the local community a fascinating insight into Chinese language and culture, as well as offer language courses for businesses that are members of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce.
The University has been a home for students from China for over 100 years, with the first graduation of a Chinese student from the University in 1906. It is now home to Chinese undergraduate and postgraduate students in all faculties from engineering and medicine to architecture and law.
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https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/confucius-shakespeare-sheffield-university-competition-1.585077
