Staging China: New Theatres in the Twenty-First Century is an insightful analysis of more than a dozen stage productions. Accounts of theatre practitioners and their artistic and ideological decisions within a complex, fast-changing socio-economic, cultural and political environment illustrate how mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are reflected by and even constructed through theatre. The eleven chapters of the book, divided into four parts, explore a wide range of topics: how classical works are approached since the millennium; what the new propaganda theatre looks like; how theatre practitioners respond to the great challenges facing the arts sector in a fast-changing society; and how independent theatres contribute to the cultural landscape. The vivid narrative of today's theatre brings out the "ghosts" - various controversial subjects - of more than a century demonstrating how "spoken drama" has grown from an imported Western genre into a modern theatre deeply rooted in the Chinese soil.
