Intercultural Spectacle in Asian Shakespeare Intercultural Archive (A|S|I|A)

At the turn of the 21st century, the advent of instantaneous transmission and hyperlinking within hyperspace and cyberspace facilitated the proliferation of digital archives. Meanwhile, the surge of Asian intercultural Shakespeare adaptations necessitated the establishment of corresponding digital archives to collect and conserve these Asian-related Shakespeare performances. However, most existing archives are monolingual, with English being the only language used for disseminating knowledge and conducting academic research on Asian Shakespeare performances, which further reinforces the dominance of English as the lingua franca of the Internet. Besides, they have been criticized for being preoccupied with the documents over events and being habitual to Western culture by following the West-identified (arguably white-culture) logic. In line with the prevailing argument, the Asian Shakespeare Intercultural Archive (A|S|I|A) established in 2008 attempts to offer Asian perspectives and resources for both scholarly study and audience engagement with Shakespeare. Hence, this article takes the digitization and contextualization of Mak Yong Titis Sakti (Mak Yong’s Magical Drops) and Lear Dreaming as specific cases to explore the interculturality inherent in A|S|I|A. Furthermore, a review of research related to A|S|I|A reaffirms its intercultural essence and credibility in academic research, highlighting its capacity to foster an interdisciplinary perspective within Shakespeare studies. To add, this article also underscores the challenges confronting A|S|I|A, particularly the complexities associated with representing interculturality to global audiences. In short, beyond validating A|S|I|A as a tool in academic research, the article offers insights into the future development of digital archives for intercultural theater on a global scale.

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