Dr Adam Strickson receives International Placement Fellowship with Shanghai Theatre Academy
Dr Adam Strickson receives International Placement Fellowship with Shanghai Theatre Academy
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has announced this year’s round of International Placement Scheme Fellowships at the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) and National Institutes for the Humanities in Japan (NIHU).
Dr Adam Strickson, Teaching Fellow in Theatre and Writing, is one of five UK researchers to be awarded a fellowship allowing them unique access to research institutes in Japan and China. Taking up to six months they will be reading and viewing literature, photography, listen to sound recordings and watching performances as well as the chance to work with craft practitioners which could help them uncover new aspects of their current research.
In our increasingly globalised world, there is a need for researchers to build strong international experiences. The Arts and Humanities Research Council International Placement Scheme (IPS) facilitates such experiences by providing funded fellowships at some of the world’s leading research institutions, offering dedicated access to their globally renowned collections, resources and expertise. Through the access provided by the scheme the academics have the opportunity to enhance the depth, range and quality of research activities conducted by scholars.
Dr Strickson’s award, hosted by the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA), is to examine the act of translating Ming Dynasty plays for performance into English from his point of view as a practising script writer and poet. Specifically, he will be adapting Tang Xianzu’s ‘Handan Dream’, one of Tang’s four dream plays like ‘Dreaming under the Southern Bough’, which Adam and Steve Ansell, director of stage@leeds, have adapted this year and are touring to Edinburgh and China this summer with a student company from the university.
“I will be adapting the play as contemporary music-theatre or ‘opera’ working with scholars and a contemporary script writer from Shanghai Theatre Academy as well as preparing an academic article on this work.
After supervising four visiting students from STA this year, this is hopefully the beginning of more Performance and Cultural Industries students taking a year abroad to study in China and I will be able to encourage them. There are huge opportunities for intercultural co-operation for the School and I hope to develop these further.”
It is the second year that the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) has opened its doors to IPS fellows. Other IPS fellows will be looking at Oscar Wilde’s play Salome and its influence on Chinese drama.
The STA is a comprehensive university of performing arts. Co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of China and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, STA is one of the best higher education art institutions in China. It has grown from a single discipline school into an outstanding comprehensive university of performing and digital arts, fine arts, and visual cultures. It has a particular research strength in Chinese Theatre Studies. On the campus there are two professional theatres for educational practice and formal performance.
