Repercussion's upcoming Macbeth
NOT By ShakespeareOr How to Succeed in Disrespecting Writers Without Really Trying
joel fishbane
Last week I made a passing reference to the relative lawless nature of the non-professional world – how many community or school groups will alter the text of a show to suit logistical or artistic whims, both without consulting the author and without informing audiences of the changes. Sadly, this lack of artistic respect is not confined to the non-professional world: it can be prevalent in the professional theatre too.
To witness the most recent case of this, head on down to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival where at least two shows, to my knowledge, have been quietly changed. One is their gender-bending production of Richard III (actress Seana McKenna plays Richard); the other is Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe’s musical Camelot. In the case of Richard III, dialogue from Henry VI, Part III has been interpolated into the script. In Camelot, one song was cut while another was moved to the beginning of Act II.
