Global Shakespeare

This project extends MIT's existing Shakespeare Electronic Archive, which includes an unequalled collection of early editions in electronic text and digital facsimile, and, for _Hamlet_, more than 1000 works of art and illustration and several films. We are adding an extensive collection of materials focusing on Asia, where the last fifteen years have been characterized by unprecedented growth and varied experimentation with forms of intercultural Shakespeare performance. The core of the new collection will be complete video records of key theatrical productions from China, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan and elsewhere, with initial focus on the work of major directors including the _Lear_, _Desdemona_, and _Search: Hamlet_ of Ong Keng Sen (director of TheatreWorks, Singapore); The _King Lear_, _Tempest_ and _Macbeth_ of Wu Hsing-kuo (founder and artistic director of the Contemporary Legend Theatre, Taiwan), Su Leci's _Hamlet_ (Shanghai) and the work of Nomura Mansai, one of Japan's leading classical actors and practitioners of kyogen. The Shakespeare Electronic Archive is directed by Peter S. Donaldson, Professor of Literature, and the Shakespeare Performance in Asia project is being developed in the HyperStudio, in close collaboration with Alexander Huang (Penn State), Li Lan Yong (National University of Singapore), Kaori Kobayashi (Doho University), Michiko Suematsu (Gunma University), and other partners.