The University of Birmingham is set to teach Chinese children about Shakespeare in a week-long summer camp at Maofeng Mountain, near Guangzhou in Guangdong province.

Organised by the education group Readstart and led by Duncan Lees; a postgraduate student at the University of Birmingham’s Shakespeare Institute, the programme aims to get the children interested in Shakespeare from an early age through a series of activities and workshops.

Of all playwrights, Shakespeare poses one of the biggest hurdles to the reader, but offers an exciting and interesting path into the world of drama and literature.

At Maofeng Mountain, the children will be exploring three of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays: The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth. These plays have been selected as they offer the children the opportunity to learn about costume, make-up, special effects, design and staging, and also offer them the chance to create their own artistic responses to his work.

Duncan Lees said: ‘Shakespeare poses some of the greatest challenges, but offers some of the greatest rewards. If children can get to know and love his work before they are led to believe it’s too difficult, then there really is no limit to where their imaginations can take them.

‘The translation of Shakespeare into Chinese began properly in the 20th century, in the last 30 years his popularity and reputation have grown immensely. There is no right way to engage with Shakespeare’s work, and this summer camp is a great opportunity to see what can be created when different traditions and approaches to Shakespeare meet.’

  • The course runs from July 13 to July 18 at Qingyuan Hotel, Moafeng Mountain.
  • Duncan Lees is an Assistant Professor at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies where he teaches in the Department of British and American Literature. He is currently undertaking further post graduate studies at the University of Birmingham’s Shakespeare Institute.
  • Part of the University of Birmingham, the Shakespeare Institute – based in the playwright’s hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon – is dedicated to the study of William Shakespeare, his works and the literature of the English Renaissance. Home to the most prestigious international Shakespeare conference in the world, as well as to the biggest postgraduate conference in Shakespeare studies, the Shakespeare Institute has been described by the current Institute Director, Professor Michael Dobson, as ‘the best place on earth in which to explore the impact Shakespeare’s work has had across four centuries of world culture’.
  • For further information please contact Faye Jackson at the University of Birmingham press office on +44 (0)121 414 6029. For out of hours media enquiries please contact the duty press officer on +44 (0)7789921165

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伯明翰大学将在广州市附近的帽峰山举办为期一周的夏令营活动,带领中国儿童学习莎士比亚。

该项目由Readstart教育小组发起并由伯明翰大学莎士比亚研究所硕士研究生黄家修(Duncan Lees)牵头,旨在通过一系列的活动和讲习班从早期阶段激发孩子对莎士比亚的兴趣。

莎士比亚是所有剧作家中最深奥难懂的一位,但他是世界戏剧和文学的瑰宝。

孩子们将在帽峰山探求莎士比亚最著名的三大戏剧:《暴风雨》,《威尼斯商人》和《麦克白》。选中这三部剧的原因是它们可以为孩子带来学习服装、化妆、特效、设计和舞台布景的机会,同时为孩子提供创造自己的艺术形象的机会。

黄家修说:‘莎士比亚是最有挑战性的剧作家之一,但他使我们受益匪浅。如果孩子们在被困难吓倒之前了解并爱上他的作品,那么今生受益是无限的。

 ‘莎士比亚在20世纪被引入中国,在后来的30年里,他成为家喻户晓的人物。莎士比亚的作品是难以企及的高峰,本次夏令营活动提供了一次绝佳机会,让我们在不同文化背景下以不同的方式来演绎他的作品。’

本次夏令营活动于7月13-18日在帽峰山清源酒店举行。

黄家修是广东外语外贸大学的助理教授,讲授英美文学。他目前在伯明翰大学莎士比亚研究院进行硕士研究生深造。

伯明翰大学莎士比亚研究院坐落在这位剧作家的家乡埃文河畔斯特拉福,专注于研究莎士比亚、其作品和英国文艺复兴时期的文学。莎士比亚研究院是最负盛名的莎士比亚国际会议的主办单位,也是莎士比亚研究专业最大的硕士研究生聚集地,现任研究院院长麦克·道波森称赞它为‘探求莎士比亚作品四百多年来对世界文学影响的最佳场所’。

更多信息请联络伯明翰大学新闻办公室 Faye Jackson, 邮箱f.e.a.jackson@bham.ac.uk或拨打电话+44 (0)121 414 6029 . 非办公时间媒体联络,请联系值班新闻官pressoffice@contacts.bham.ac.uk  或拨打电话 +44 (0)7789921165