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Linda Wong
Hong Kong Baptist University
Abstract
This essay examines Rupert Chan’s
Cantonese-language adaptation of G. B. Shaw’s Pygmalion, staged
in 1997 in Hong Kong. The redefinition and adaptation of this play in a
Hong Kong context implies a postcolonial dimension and negotiates
between feminist poetics and political re-orientation. Issues of
language, characterization, and the colonial setting are crucial to
this study, as they point to nostalgic and lyrical feelings toward the
old Hong Kong from a postcolonial point of view, lending a different
cultural outlook to the classic story. Most importantly, the
protagonist in Chan’s interpretation rereads and reinvents
herself in a colonial manner, thus revealing a different way of
understanding gendered politics. In a display of postcolonial
temperament, the woman in the Chinese production symbolizes Hong Kong,
which offers a romanticized and historicized image. However, this
presentation reflects a concern that is more deeply feminist than
romantically sentimental.
Keywords: Post colonialism,
adaptation, translation, localization, transformation, China, Hong
Kong, Shaw, theatre, playwriting
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