In collaboration with China Cultural Centre NZ, Victoria University’s Confucius Institute presented two public lectures, by poet David Howard and VUW Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies Megan Evans, and a staged play-reading at an exhibition to mark the 400^th anniversary of

the deaths of two of the world’s greatest playwrights, Tang Xianzu of Ming Dynasty China, and William Shakespeare of Elizabethan England.

‘Dialogue Across Time and Space'’was a homage to the two great writers who lived and worked at almost the same time, at opposite ends of the 16^th century world, and whose works would forever delight and inspire lovers of literature all over the globe.

‘Turning Over the Earth: Replacing The Peony Pavilion in Maoriland’ by David Howard and 'The Weight of Greatness – Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare' by Megan Evans, VUW Senior Lecturer Theatre Programme can be read 'Turning Over the Earth: Replacing The Peony Pavilion in Maoriland’, 'The Weight of Greatness – Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare'.

Excerpts of David Howard’s libretto The Mica Pavilion (2013) which is influenced by Tang Xianzu’s celebrated opera The Peony Pavilion 牡丹亭(1598) were beautifully presented by VUW Theatre Programme graduates, bringing to a warm Wellington evening the enduring themes of love and dreams celebrated by both Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare.

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