Power Asymmetries in Intercultural Theatre in Taiwan: Flagship Productions and Audience Response

Given Taiwan’s colonial past, modern Taiwanese theatre has never been purely aesthetic. Instead, it is largely sociopolitical, providing an alternative space that indirectly transforms local people’s contestations of identity onstage, where practitioners reimagine or even reinvent Taiwan. Taking Taiwan as an intersection of transnational forces, I present an analysis of the ways in which power is negotiated in intercultural theatrical performance. In particular, I examine two ‘flagship’ productions of the Taiwan International Festival of Art: Orlando (2009) directed by Robert Wilson (1941–present), and La Dame aux Camélias (2011) directed by Suzuki Tadashi (1939–present). With these two productions, I explore the subtle ways in which modern Taiwanese theatre embodies both culturally universal identities and postcolonial struggles in Taiwanese contexts. By engaging with the most influential research on intercultural theatre and contextualizing these two flagship productions, I argue for moving away from an aesthetic to a more context-sensitive analysis of intercultural theatre productions that includes the perspectives and agency of practitioners and spectators. Ultimately, my analysis reveals the intense power negotiation of agency between three participating groups: foreign directors of global fame, local practitioners and spectators.