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Rewriting Shakespeare: intriguing exercise or publishing gimmick? Rewriting Shakespeare: intriguing exercise or publishing gimmick?
(3 months later)
I'd always suspected there was more to pushy, hand-washing Lady Macbeth than an obsession with revenge and hygiene. And I wait for the day when Guillermo del Toro makes a zombie sequel, Ophelia Undead: Scandinavian Revenge, in which Shakespeare's most pushed-around female stumps back to court, reeking of seaweed, to demonstrate that there is, literally, something rotten in the state of Denmark.I'd always suspected there was more to pushy, hand-washing Lady Macbeth than an obsession with revenge and hygiene. And I wait for the day when Guillermo del Toro makes a zombie sequel, Ophelia Undead: Scandinavian Revenge, in which Shakespeare's most pushed-around female stumps back to court, reeking of seaweed, to demonstrate that there is, literally, something rotten in the state of Denmark.
Now Hogarth Press, an imprint of Random House, is turning the plays to prose, stage to page, by bringing us Jeanette Winterson's take on the Bard's intriguing problem play, The Winter's Tale, while Anne Tyler tackles the still-perplexing, PC-or-not-PC romance of antipathy that is The Taming of the Shrew.Now Hogarth Press, an imprint of Random House, is turning the plays to prose, stage to page, by bringing us Jeanette Winterson's take on the Bard's intriguing problem play, The Winter's Tale, while Anne Tyler tackles the still-perplexing, PC-or-not-PC romance of antipathy that is The Taming of the Shrew.
But why does Shakespeare require a "reimagining for a 21st-century audience", as Hogarth say in their press release? His work is hardly passé, nor does it require any big sell. It's adapted with multiple approaches in multiple art forms all over the world. This summer at Edinburgh the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group are performing a remixed version of Hamlet, synced with video footage from Richard Burton's 1964 Broadway production when it was directed by John Gielgud. Joss Whedon's film version of Much Ado About Nothing is out now.But why does Shakespeare require a "reimagining for a 21st-century audience", as Hogarth say in their press release? His work is hardly passé, nor does it require any big sell. It's adapted with multiple approaches in multiple art forms all over the world. This summer at Edinburgh the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group are performing a remixed version of Hamlet, synced with video footage from Richard Burton's 1964 Broadway production when it was directed by John Gielgud. Joss Whedon's film version of Much Ado About Nothing is out now.
Shakespeare's plays were performed in 38 languages at the Globe as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, then a few months later some of the history plays were given sumptuous television adaptations under the title The Hollow Crown. The plays are highly readable and endlessly pliable: the Palestinian Ashtar company's Richard II at the Globe depicted a volatile modern Arab despot, while Rupert Goold's TV version cast Ben Whishaw as an immature, wistful, delicate Plantagenet with a messiah complex.Shakespeare's plays were performed in 38 languages at the Globe as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, then a few months later some of the history plays were given sumptuous television adaptations under the title The Hollow Crown. The plays are highly readable and endlessly pliable: the Palestinian Ashtar company's Richard II at the Globe depicted a volatile modern Arab despot, while Rupert Goold's TV version cast Ben Whishaw as an immature, wistful, delicate Plantagenet with a messiah complex.
Perhaps it's a question of inspiration: great art inspires more art, some equally great, some dreadful, some satirical, some expedient, some thrilling. We want to pay tribute, cash in, make the quiet characters speak, overcompensate for the underwritten and give the nice-but-dim some vim. This retelling has been done for centuries with unauthored works like fairytales, myths, legends and folklore, which morph according to the times and their tellers – even to the present day, as with Canongate's Myths series, which boasted contributors including Margaret Atwood and AS Byatt.Perhaps it's a question of inspiration: great art inspires more art, some equally great, some dreadful, some satirical, some expedient, some thrilling. We want to pay tribute, cash in, make the quiet characters speak, overcompensate for the underwritten and give the nice-but-dim some vim. This retelling has been done for centuries with unauthored works like fairytales, myths, legends and folklore, which morph according to the times and their tellers – even to the present day, as with Canongate's Myths series, which boasted contributors including Margaret Atwood and AS Byatt.
But writers also seem driven to confront, reinterpret and emend the canon. Sometimes, as in Jean Rhys's Jane Eyre prequel Wide Sargasso Sea, it works triumphantly; sometimes, as with the official Peter Pan sequel Peter Pan in Scarlet, by Geraldine McCaughrean, it doesn't quite fly. Despite the witty sacrileges of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ("It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains"), Bridget Jones's Diary (whose plot mirrored P&P) and Lost in Austen, sometimes contemporary writers deliver a just karmic kick: in Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James, Wickham finally gets what he deserves.But writers also seem driven to confront, reinterpret and emend the canon. Sometimes, as in Jean Rhys's Jane Eyre prequel Wide Sargasso Sea, it works triumphantly; sometimes, as with the official Peter Pan sequel Peter Pan in Scarlet, by Geraldine McCaughrean, it doesn't quite fly. Despite the witty sacrileges of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ("It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains"), Bridget Jones's Diary (whose plot mirrored P&P) and Lost in Austen, sometimes contemporary writers deliver a just karmic kick: in Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James, Wickham finally gets what he deserves.
But what happens when you tango with the Bard? Maybe the greatest potential for contemporary writers is in the least obvious parts. Tom Stoppard wrote a tender comedy about marginality, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, inspired by two minor characters in Hamlet, and created the clever screenplay for Shakespeare in Love, a mashup of the rom-com genre Shakespeare himself invented. But the freshest take has got to be the sinuous, sexy Manga Shakespeare series illustrated by comics megastar Emma Vieceli.But what happens when you tango with the Bard? Maybe the greatest potential for contemporary writers is in the least obvious parts. Tom Stoppard wrote a tender comedy about marginality, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, inspired by two minor characters in Hamlet, and created the clever screenplay for Shakespeare in Love, a mashup of the rom-com genre Shakespeare himself invented. But the freshest take has got to be the sinuous, sexy Manga Shakespeare series illustrated by comics megastar Emma Vieceli.
So, I'm intrigued. To appoint acclaimed, fully established writers like Winterson and Tyler is hardly some facetious gimmick. It's an opportunity to discover what the timeless geniuses of now make of a timeless genius of then.So, I'm intrigued. To appoint acclaimed, fully established writers like Winterson and Tyler is hardly some facetious gimmick. It's an opportunity to discover what the timeless geniuses of now make of a timeless genius of then.
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