The Contemporary Legend Theatre, one of the most celebrated performance troupes in Taiwan today, was founded in 1986 by Wu Hsing-kuo, a traditionally trained Beijing opera performer. Searching for new forms of theatrical expression, Wu started experimenting with productions of Shakespeare featuring Beijing opera techniques and methods of modern staging. The first production, The Kingdom of Desire (an adaptation of Macbeth) in 1986, with Wu as Macbeth and Wei Hai-min as Lady Macbeth, was a great success. In 1996, Wei Hai-ming, a famous Beijing opera actress of the Mei Lanfang school, received the Plum Flower Award, the highest honor for Beijing opera actors.The company has staged both adaptations of such classics as Tempest, King Lear, Medea, and Oresteia (a collaboration with Richard Schechner, in the style of environmental theatre), and modern plays such as Waiting for Godot. It has toured many countries and won many awards. In CLT's performances, traditional Beijing opera techniques heighten the theatricality of Western classics, while modern staging methods and multimedia techniques enrich the tradition of Beijing opera. Wu Hsing-kuo, the founder and artistic director of the Contemporary Legend Theatre, believes that to make traditional topics more meaningful they must be given not only a change of style, but also a new spirit, new thinking, and new attitudes that reflect contemporary society. CLT is one of the most successful troupes of intercultural theatre
