"To be or not to be, that is the question."
The Tibetan version of "Hamlet" was performed in Beijing during its latest tour in 2023, following its 2021 premiere in Shanghai.
Nyima Dundrup has been busy writing plays for various new year galas in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region as the Tibetan New Year and Spring Festival approach. However, his mind and heart are still focused on the classic works of William Shakespeare, and he plans to stage the play at more theaters in the new year.
Nyima Dondrup translated the Tibetan version of the play with his wife, and they feel extremely fortunate and thankful to see their work performed beyond the autonomous region.
"There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes. In my eyes, 'Hamlet' belongs to all of humanity. Therefore, it is worthy of being translated into Tibetan," he said.
Nyima Dondrup, who is now in his 50s, was born in a village under the city of Xigaze. The oral stories told by the elders, the most ancient form of Tibetan opera, accompanied most of his evenings throughout his childhood.
"It got fairly cold during winter, but the whole family kept warm by gathering around the stove listening to my mother's stories," recalled Nyima Dondrup. "I wept over a story about a sister and brother becoming homeless after being framed by a witch."
Such stories, he added, were the inspiration for his creative writing.
In 2001, Nyima Dondrup's first work staged was nominated for the Cao Yu Drama Literature Award, a national-level award for dramatic literature.
"This was my true encounter with 'Hamlet,' as the prize was a set of complete works by William Shakespeare," said Nyima Dondrup. He became engaged with the works in no time and every reading left him with a different understanding of them.
His wife Kalzang Drolkar said they had made a plan to translate the complete works of Shakespeare after they retire, which they expected would take 17 to 18 years.
However, the opportunity came knocking before retirement.
In late 2020, Shanghai Theater Academy sent Nyima Dondrup a script of "Hamlet," inviting him to translate it into Tibetan. The script was for a graduation performance at the academy and would be directed by Pu Cunxin, a renowned actor in China.
"It felt like someone had offered me yogurt just as I was craving tsampa (toasted highland barley). My dream came true ahead of schedule," said Nyima Dondrup.
The realization of this dream has not been easy.
Every day, the couple spent more than 15 hours translating the script. "Sometimes tears streamed down our faces due to the long working hours. We would go to the yard and use cold water to soothe our eyes," recalled Nyima Dondrup. "But we took pleasure in the translation process."
Nyima Dondrup has watched many Shakespearean plays performed in Mandarin, including those by Pu. He said Shakespeare's works are replete with rhetorical devices such as metaphors, similar to old Tibetan literature.
He watched the Tibetan version with his son Tenzin Yonten, a university student who has a strong interest in literature and even wrote a 20-page review of "Hamlet" during high school.
"I hope that one day my son will critique my work in more than 20 pages as well," said Nyima Dondrup.
