The interaction between interculture, feminism and intermediality in theatre adaptation: An investigation exploring the concept of the ‘feminist corpse’ when adapting an episode from a Qing dynasty classic Chinese novel – Xueqin Cao’s A Dream of Red Mansions (红楼梦) for contemporary UK theatre audiences

This doctoral project researches the intercultural issues raised for a Chinese writer and director when composing a feminist adaptation of an episode from the Qing dynasty novel A Dream of Red Mansions (红楼梦) for contemporary UK theatre audiences. It seeks to address gaps in the field of theatre adaptation of Chinese classics in an intercultural context, the relationship between theatre adaptation and intermediality, and how feminist theory might inform adaptation and performance praxis.
As the central motif of my practice-led research, the original concept of ‘feminist corpse’ refers to both a living body played by a performer and a concept shaped by feminist theories, which creates a framework connecting intercultural discussions between China and the UK, East Asia and the West. Developed through the recreation of the role of You Erjie (a character who was forced to kill herself under ancient Chinese feudal patriarchy), this concept has been generated to reflect the intercultural feminist issue of the East Asian woman being treated as an aesthetic object against wider socio-cultural patriarchal power dynamics (including the contemporary Western context), which is manifested in suicide in both the original and adapted texts.
To resist gender and race oppression while giving her suicide agency, the ‘feminist corpse’ is constructed through my reflection on the relationship between the writer and the female corpse, exposing the issues behind female suicide (especially woman’s autonomy, female power and female relationships under patriarchy), and advocating an intercultural solidarity against gender inequalities. As an active, binding and theatrical agent, it informs the direction of my adaptation, and identifies feminist topics and theories while building international feminist dialogues. It also fosters intercultural collaborative workshops and the production process, inspires intermedial applications, contributes to body politics and embodied performance, and reflects contemporary social issues.