ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the theatre productions of East Palace, West Palace in Beijing in 2005 and 2009, one of the first publicly performed gay plays in post-Mao China. Bringing together historical video footage from the performance, in tandem with interviews with the creative team, the chapter explores under what conditions and in what forms a gay explicit play was made possible in 2000s China. In particular, I focus on the cultural translation of European avant-garde theatre and Western queer culture, arguing that the production of the play should be seen as a transcultural process in which fixed categories such as China, West and the avant-garde theatre have constantly been expanded and transformed. This chapter explores the implications of this case study for understanding transnational and transcultural theatre.
