Manga Shakespeare???

[Esoteric]

Okay, I went to a bookstore today and was browsing around in the children's area for a gift for my nephew. Low and behold, I saw something which startled me...a manga version of Hamlet. Thumbing through it, I admit I started chuckling at it...and that's not exactly the response 'Hamlet' should create. They also had Romeo and Juliet, but I didn't even look at that one. Has anyone else seen these; I'm curious about general opinions on the idea.

[Phantom_Sorano]

Really!?! I love Shakespeare, and I have never heard about this! Well, at any rate, I don't know about this manga, but can you describe it more in depth?

[Esoteric]

Here's the link to what I saw.

http://www.selfmadehero.com/manga_shakespeare/manga_shakespeare.html

Personally I think I would like the idea more if they hadn't 'updated' the settings. However, I do realize that when Shakespeare wrote them, his settings were pretty current. Perhaps that was their goal with these mangas.

[AsianBlossom]

...

Wow.

You think they'll do the Merchant of Venice?

[IantheGecko]

I dunno about this; it's an interesting idea, putting Shakespeare into a more "acessible" format. But a lot of his plays are really driven by dialogue and emotion, not really action. I could see where the emotions could play out on anime faces, but I don't think Shakespeare could really work in manga. I could see a manga based on Shakespeare (in the vein of 10 Things I Hate About You, West Side Story, etc.), though.

"Much Ado About Nothing" might work. Might.

[Alexander]

...

Wow.

You think they'll do the Merchant of Venice?

My thoughts exactly. XD

Although the strangest I ever saw was a combination of Walt Disney characters and Magical Girl Anime styled characters. The combination felt more strange then even Kingdom Hearts.

I think I'll try to take a photo of that manga if I ever get the chance to find it again...

[shade of dae]

oh, that's really funny. not suprising, considering how popular shakespear is though. I think they might be kind of fun to read ... maybe I'll check and see if they have any at my library

[USSRGirl]

XDDD Seems Merchant of Venice *Temmy's fav* is by far the most popular. Man I would LOOOVE to see a manga of that one. Pericles would be good too. O.O

[Sheol777]

As amused as I am by this concept, I will probably not buy it. Although I understand why someone would.

[Fish and Chips]

Meh, shouldn't really surprise me. They've already done a Romeo and Juliet period piece rendition with Basilisk (except that they resolved one of my biggest complaints with Romeo and Juliet, that it lacked ninjas).

[Debitt]

Hay guyz, Hamlet's a bishie, lol.

u_u I don't have a problem with the updating of the scenery as long as they didn't try to update the language, too. I can't stand it when they put Shakespeare into "modern speak"

[Ashley]

But wouldn't "old speak" feel outrageously inappropriate if Romeo and Juliet are yakuza kiddos?

Actually, I'm not a big fan of this idea at all. Shakespeare just isn't Shakespeare if you wretch it out of its context. I liked West Side Story, 10 Things I Hate About You, heck I even like the new Gonzo Romeo and Juliet...but I like these things because they aren't imitation/substitutes.

[Fish and Chips]

But wouldn't "old speak" feel outrageously inappropriate if Romeo and Juliet are yakuza kiddos?

...I wanna see that now.

[Debitt]

I was actually thinking of the newer Romeo and Juliet that they set in Venice Beach, Florida - they used the lines from the play, didn't try to slang them up, and watching them be creative with the old language I thought worked surprisingly well. I've seen a similar production on stage (a version of the The Tempest) and neither movie nor play felt outrageously inappropriate to me. I really think you can leave the lines as they are and use it for greater creative purpose.

That and I was appalled by the 'translation' of Hamlet they did in the SparkNotes No Fear Shakespeare. Thinking about it makes me cringe.

[Mangafanatic]

They've already done a Romeo and Juliet period piece rendition with Basilisk (except that they resolved one of my biggest complaints with Romeo and Juliet, that it lacked ninjas).

Verily, sir. Thou doth deserve brown points for thy excellent wit. Take thou thine reward. *bequeaths many much brownie points*

(Really, that's one of the funniest things I've read on CAA in quite a while.)

Modern adaptions of Shakespeare are in vogue right now. Take Romeo x Juliet, for instances. Granted, it's probably more the story that might have inspired the story of Romeo and Juliet, but it plays off of a very similar set up.

[ChristianKitsune]

these aren't very new. I saw these in WalMart about 2 years ago. lol...

I am a bit unsure about this stuff too.. I mean...it's shakespeare...does it mix well with Manga?

[Nate]

Unconventional Director Sets Shakespeare Play In Time, Place Shakespeare Intended

MORRISTOWN, NJ—In an innovative, tradition-defying rethinking of one of the greatest comedies in the English language, Morristown Community Players director Kevin Hiles announced Monday his bold intention to set his theater's production of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice in 16th-century Venice.

"I know when most people hear The Merchant Of Venice, they think 1960s Las Vegas, a high-powered Manhattan stock brokerage, or an 18th-century Georgia slave plantation, but I think it's high time to shake things up a bit," Hiles said. "The great thing about Shakespeare is that the themes in his plays are so universal that they can be adapted to just about any time and place."

According to Hiles, everything in the production will be adapted to the unconventional setting. Swords will replace guns, ducats will be used instead of the American dollar or Japanese yen, and costumes, such as Shylock's customary pinstripe suit, general's uniform, or nudity, will be replaced by garb of the kind worn by Jewish moneylenders of the Italian Renaissance.

"Audiences may be taken aback initially by the lack of Creole accents," Hiles said. "But I think if they pay close enough attention, they'll recognize that all the metaphors, similes, and puns remain firmly intact, maybe even more so, in the Elizabethan dialect."

Hiles said he became drawn to the prospect of setting the play in such an unorthodox locale while casually rereading the play early last year. He noticed that Venice was mentioned several times in the text, not only in character dialogue, but also in italics just before the first character speaks. After doing some additional research, Hiles also learned that 16th-century Europe was a troubled and tumultuous region plagued by a great intolerance toward Jews, historical context which could serve as the social backdrop for the play's central conflict.

Some of Hiles' actors, however, have reacted negatively to his decision. Some are worried Hiles lacks the knowledge and talent to pull off the radical revisionist interpretation, while others characterized it as "self-indulgent."

"I guess it's the director's dramatic license to put his own personal spin on the play he is directing, but this is a little over-the-top," said Stacey Silverman, who played Nurse Brutus in Hiles' 2003 all-female version of Julius Caesar. "I just think Portia not being an aviatrix does a tremendous disservice to the playwright."

Added Silverman: "You just don't mess with a classic."

[rocklobster]

It might work. And then again, it might not. Shakespeare is just timeless, folks.

[Debitt]

Unconventional Director Sets Shakespeare Play In Time, Place Shakespeare Intended

MORRISTOWN, NJ—In an innovative, tradition-defying rethinking of one of the greatest comedies in the English language, Morristown Community Players director Kevin Hiles announced Monday his bold intention to set his theater's production of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice in 16th-century Venice.

"I know when most people hear The Merchant Of Venice, they think 1960s Las Vegas, a high-powered Manhattan stock brokerage, or an 18th-century Georgia slave plantation, but I think it's high time to shake things up a bit," Hiles said. "The great thing about Shakespeare is that the themes in his plays are so universal that they can be adapted to just about any time and place."

According to Hiles, everything in the production will be adapted to the unconventional setting. Swords will replace guns, ducats will be used instead of the American dollar or Japanese yen, and costumes, such as Shylock's customary pinstripe suit, general's uniform, or nudity, will be replaced by garb of the kind worn by Jewish moneylenders of the Italian Renaissance.

"Audiences may be taken aback initially by the lack of Creole accents," Hiles said. "But I think if they pay close enough attention, they'll recognize that all the metaphors, similes, and puns remain firmly intact, maybe even more so, in the Elizabethan dialect."

Hiles said he became drawn to the prospect of setting the play in such an unorthodox locale while casually rereading the play early last year. He noticed that Venice was mentioned several times in the text, not only in character dialogue, but also in italics just before the first character speaks. After doing some additional research, Hiles also learned that 16th-century Europe was a troubled and tumultuous region plagued by a great intolerance toward Jews, historical context which could serve as the social backdrop for the play's central conflict.

Some of Hiles' actors, however, have reacted negatively to his decision. Some are worried Hiles lacks the knowledge and talent to pull off the radical revisionist interpretation, while others characterized it as "self-indulgent."

"I guess it's the director's dramatic license to put his own personal spin on the play he is directing, but this is a little over-the-top," said Stacey Silverman, who played Nurse Brutus in Hiles' 2003 all-female version of Julius Caesar. "I just think Portia not being an aviatrix does a tremendous disservice to the playwright."

Added Silverman: "You just don't mess with a classic."

You're kidding me.

EDIT: They forgot film noir. I've seen film noir MoV.

[AsianBlossom]

We recently borrowed a DVD play version of the Merchant of Venice, and the lines were spot-on. Granted, it wasn't a modern adaptation, but it was a fairly recent (perhaps 80's or 90's) production that was made to look like it was a staged performance set as it probably would've looked had the story taken place in reality. In other words, convincing sets, but you can still tell they're sets. (Not sure if it was BBC or someone else)

[Monkey J. Luffy]

I just think that the whole thing is really strange, but it is very possible to do