An interesting blog popped up today in my *Arts Journal daily email. Clicking on "Shakespeare's Words Made Poorer - The Guardian (UK) 04/29/08" took me to an article called "Lose the language and you lose Shakespeare", a rant in response to a recent book release called "To Be or Not To Be, Innit?" Satirist Martin Baum has rewritten 15 of Shakespeare's plays, described as "yoof speak". (To be honest, I'm not sure what this is or how to describe it but if you go to the website, that should give you a pretty good idea). Hamlet becomes 'amlet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona becomes Two Geezas of Verona, you get the idea.
This is nothing new. Movies through time have taken their own cultural spin on the classics (i.e. Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet). And on a personal note, my brother, at age 11, rewrote A Midsummer Night's Dream (did you see the production at the Englert?)
Another Riverside tie-in. Remember Jackson Doran? He's in a production at Chicago Shakespeare Theater called "Funk It Up About Nothin'". This "ad-rap-tation" is created and directed by GQ and JQ. In anticipation of "The Comedy of Errors", check out this YouTube video of their production of "The Bomb-itty of Errors".
Whether you're a total Shakespeare purist or love the humor in it all, there's no doubt about the relevance of Shakespeare in modern culture.
*www.artsjournal.com is a website dedicated to the "daily digest of arts, culture and ideas". It's a fantastic website, one I get a lot of inspiration from.
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