Joseph Graves Staging the World

by Gong Haiying and Xu Shuyuan

Joseph Graves is a famous American theater director and Shakespeare expert who has worked in both the United States and the United Kingdom. As an actor， he has performed several seminal Shakespearean roles including King Lear， Hamlet， Macbeth， Richard III， Othello， Iago and Romeo. As a director， his plays have been staged in London， New York and Los Angeles.

Graves arrived in China in 2002 to take positions as art director of Seven Ages Productions and artistic director of Peking Universitys Institute of World Theater and Film. Graves hasnt missed a beat of his career since. He has directed and acted in dozens of plays including many Shakespeare titles and other classics as well as musicals， dramas and operas. Among the works， 15 plays were debuted in China. In May 2012， Seven Ages staged Man of La Mancha as its first musical. Since then， Seven Ages successfully “localized” a series of classical Broadway musicals， such as Avenue Q， How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and The Sound of Music. The company has staged nearly 1，000 performances and performed in over 50 cities in China for over a million patrons， cumulatively.

Recently， China Pictorial （CP） sat down for an exclusive interview with Graves， who is now focusing on introducing cross-cultural plays to China.

CP： Les Choristes was originally an award-winning movie， which was well received after it was adapted into a French play. Why did you choose to adapt this French musical for China as your most recent work？ Joseph Graves： The decision happened over some time. When we decide to do a musical， the Seven Ages team gets together to talk about various musicals and stories we like. The first thing we look for is powerful stories that every culture can relate to， especially those with universal elements like music and love.

We tried to stay relatively close to the story that French producer Christophe Barratier originally told， but cultural idiosyncrasies will always emerge during the process of adapting a script， as some content would only resonate with French spectators. So we changed the script to make it accessible to our audience in China.

CP： You are also frequently exposed to Peking Opera， Kunqu Opera and other local forms of Chinese drama， and have introduced cross-cultural plays such as Our Town staged at the Peoples Experimental Center in 2004. What do you think is the artistic value of cross-cultural plays？

Graves： Our Town was the third or fourth cross-cultural play I did. I believe that it may be the most important play in American theater history because it revolutionized the way theater works are performed. Heres the story： In 1920， notable Peking Opera artist Mei Lanfang wanted to introduce Peking Opera to the world. So he created a one-man Peking Opera show and toured New York， Paris， and many Western countries. The performance was well received all over the world and introduced a style that Western audience had not previously seen. In New York， a young writer was sitting in the audience named Thornton Wilder. He thought that Meis performance was what real theater works should be like. It was something that had not been done but should be done in America. Because he was so moved by Mei， he developed Our Town based on his idea of what Peking Opera was like. That play， which is maybe the most important play ever written in terms of the impact of theater on our audience， would have never been created without Chinese theater artists. So the relationship between America and China in theater is a lot stronger to begin with than most people are aware， and theater is a universal way of communicating.

Despite different languages， cultures， and approaches to acting， we all share the same form of theatrical expression. When I bring Western and Eastern artists together， theres always a process of learning from each other. And in general， the magic of traditional Chinese opera is how they control their bodies beautifully， which has become almost a lost art in the West. Conversely， there is an internal approach and deep emotional expression that Chinese actors can learn from their Western counterparts. So we often blend styles， and the great artistic value is when actors from different regions appreciate their differences and learn from each other.

CP： How do you balance entertainment and the artistic values of a play？

Graves： This is really an important subject. Shakespeare is widely considered the greatest playwright in the West. He was an artistic genius， but nobody knew that when he first started writing plays to entertain an audience. The thing about artistry in the theater is that you cant have art without entertainment first. Our Town， for instance， is a hugely entertaining play： You sit on the edge of your seat and want to know what happens next. For me， clarity is art. As directors， were supposed to find stories we love and try to tell them as clearly and passionately as possible. Entertainment and art are not two sides of a coin. Art happens on top of what entertains and engages our thoughts magically.

A play doesnt really come alive until you add the audience. The audience gives energy to the actors， and in the best of circumstances， a spiritual relationship is formed between them. Theatrical art is impossible without participation from both the audience and artists.

CP： Have you noticed changes in the Chinese theater market since you first arrived in 2002？

Graves： There has been a huge transformation. When I came in 2002， musicals wouldnt have worked with the Chinese audience. Across the decade， Chinese people became more exposed to Western culture through videos and companies coming to the country. This development has opened the door for musical theater， which I always expected would flourish in China eventually because Chinese people love and live in music. I believe that introducing Western musicals to China was a natural step， but without early educational work and exposure to this form of art， there wouldnt be an audience. There are probably 700 million people in China who are smart and well-educated but completely unaware of what theater is like because they have never been exposed to it. So part of the work we do is to continue to reach out to cities and regions that lack theaters， present scenes from our plays and introduce them. Locals tend to show great interest in our work. Unlike anywhere else in the world， Chinas market for musical theater is vast. But considerable educational work is needed to let people know that musical theater is fun.

CP： As the artistic director of Peking Universitys Institute of World Theater and Film， you have done a lot of work in theater education. How do you think education has influenced Chinese students and plays？

Graves： Chinese theater education is quite different from what American students receive. One of the hugest differences is found in higher education. Almost every university in America has a handful of performing arts courses that mostly focus on music and dance. Yet almost no university in China offers such classes other than institutions like the Central Academy of Drama and the Shanghai Theater Academy， where students aim to become professionals. But that kind of education only reaches a very small group of students. Students in China lack courses designed to expose people to theater rather than create professional actors or directors. Such classes are a vital form of creative education and a key aspect of liberal arts education. Those who have received art education understand and analyze things differently.

One of the great things that happened in China over the last five years is that the departments of education at both central and local levels have reintroduced drama and dance into elementary schools， junior high schools and high schools. Today， many more students are being exposed to theater. There is still a shortage of teachers trained to provide this kind of education， but the efforts are there and really growing.