Guelph university puts Canadian adaptations of the Bard on the web
GUELPH, Ont. (CP) — When it comes to adapting the works of William Shakespeare, Canadians have been ingenious and prolific.
There is this classic bit, for example, by comedy duo Wayne and Shuster, loosely adapted from Julius Caesar:
Cicero the Bartender: What’re you drinking?
Flavius: Gimme a martinus.
Cicero: You mean a martini.
Flavius: If I wanted two I’d ask for them.
Similarly profound takes on the Bard have been produced by the likes of Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas in the film Strange Brew, and the Royal Canadian Air Farce in a skit called Multicultural Hamlet.
And there is, of course, the memorable adaptation of Hamlet into the Klingon language, as uttered by Canadian actor Christopher Plummer in the Star Trek film, The Undiscovered Country:
“taH pagh taHbe’. DaH mu’tlheghvam vIqelnIS.
quv’a’, yabDaq San vaQ cha, pu’ je SIQDI’?
pagh, Seng bIQ’a’Hey SuvmeH nuHmey SuqDI’,
’ej, Suvmo’, rInmoHDI’? Hegh. Qong --- Qong neH ---
’ej QongDI’, tIq ’oy’, wa’SanID Daw”e’ je
cho’nISbogh porghDaj rInmoHlaH net Har.”
All these and much more can be found in a massive digital collection of Shakespeare adaptations assembled by a University of Guelph professor of English.
Daniel Fischlin, director of the university’s Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project, launched the website Thursday, culminating four years of research.
“I had no idea it would take the amount of time it did,” Fischlin said. “It’s humbling.”
The site — www.canadianshakespeares.ca — includes versions of Shakespeare produced in print, song and film by Canadians, totalling 6,000-plus pages of information.
Arts dean Jacqueline Murray said the Shakespeare project is “just as much about what Canadian identity is as it is about Shakespeare.”
The project cost about $250,000, with the money coming from granting agencies, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Premier’s Research Excellence Award.
The site will always be a work-in-progress, Fischlin said, with items continuously being added and updated.
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)