Spark Publishing in the USA have translated nineteen Shakespeare plays into modern language. The series is published under the No Fear imprint .
Carlin Romano over at the Philadelphia Inquirer takes a look at some of the texts and illustrates why the task fails miserably and how it should never have been undertaken.
I’ll confine myself here to a famous soliloquy in Hamlet. You’ll remember
To be, or not to be: that is the question
No Fear’s reader-friendly version, in an inspired translation comes up with this:
The question is: is it better to be alive or dead?
Rage away . . .
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Mar 13th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
It can work. I’ve seen ‘Hail Caesar’ – a modern language adaptation of ‘Julius Caesar’ which I think the BBC did – twice and it was quite enjoyable.
jb says: But y o y o y
Mar 15th, 2008 at 10:50 am
But what the fuck is the point? Let’s stick arms on the Venus de Milo or organise a hip hop version of the St Matthew Passion! Time to send the boys round, I think, John…
jb says: I haven’t actually been involved in a rumble for a while, Dick, and don’t know how useful I’ll be. But I’m happy to tag along and if the opportunity arises where I can get a boot in without the necessity for lightening speed, I think I’ll not be found wanting . . .