# The Shakespeare adaptations you'd love to see **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 9, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736 "2003-06-09T23:15:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/21 "2003-06-10T17:14:53Z")
Once wrote (in high school) Julius Cesare set in modern Chicago (the politics were pretty spot-on) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/22 "2003-06-10T18:59:01Z")
> [@](#): > > a gay porn version of Two Gentlemen of Verona That’s not much of a stretch, is it? 😉 I think placing it in '30s Germany is a bad idea. As it is, people have more sympathy for Shylock than they should. Contrasting him with Nazis would make him look like a hero, which is completely wrong for the play. I’m still impressed that my high school managed to not make Shylock a sympathetic character while still showing the others as the mean-spirited creeps they are. > [@](#): > > Done. Forbidden Planet. From what I remember of the movie, it’s an _extremely loose_ interpretation. I’d love to see someone do an interesting filmed Tempest - and give Patrick Stewart the lead, dammit, I didn’t see him when he did it onstage and the universe owes me. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/23 "2003-06-10T19:31:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > \*\*Heh. I live in one, so if you need any help, drop me an e-mail. \*\* Me too. I’m playing it for laughs. I actually wrote it once already - it was my and my best friends’ joint project for our senior year English final - but I’m editing it to take out a couple of in-jokes and make it suitable for performance by a real acting troupe on a stage. I’m going to try to sucker a community college crew into doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Vixenation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/278dde/32.png) [@Vixenation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vixenation)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/24 "2003-06-10T19:47:50Z")
My teen sister is working on a rap version of Caesar. An excerpt: ::a soothsayer approaches Caesar.:: Soothsayer: Yo J-Ceazy I gots to tell you bitch, you off da heezy But betta watch yaself March fiftweezy All of yo boyz gone get you 'cept fo Antony Shit…I just revealed da plot of act three… ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/25 "2003-06-10T20:49:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vibrotronica \* > \*\*For a college assignment, I once set _Hamlet_ in a Wal Mart. The title? _Dane’s Discount City_ > > And here’s an idea I’ve had for a long time, so everybody has to promise not to use it, OK? I want to do a hip hop musical (I think the term used for _Carmen_ was “hip hopera”) based on _Julius Caesar_ and roughly following the Tupac Shakur / Notorious B.I.G. murders. The title? _Et Tu, Niggah_ \*\* What, not _Et Tu, Muthafucka_? ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/26 "2003-06-10T21:09:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > \*\*From what I remember of the movie, it’s an _extremely loose_ interpretation. I’d love to see someone do an interesting filmed Tempest - and give Patrick Stewart the lead, dammit, I didn’t see him when he did it onstage and the universe owes me. \*\* Yeah, this is what I meant about full-text – I already knew about _Forbidden Planet_ (or that dreadful version they did on TV a few years back). (Re Patrick Stewart as Prospero: Personally, I’m embittered because I didn’t get to see Derek Jacobi do the part at the Old Vic…) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/27 "2003-06-11T07:41:51Z")
Didn’t see the _Forbidden Planet_ remake. The original was one of the first movies I can remember seeing, though. That’d be interesting to check out again. The “Shakespeare in the corporate world” thing is started to get old… in a recent Shakespeare class, we were asked to design adaptations of _Midsummer_, and about half of them were set this way. ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/28 "2003-06-11T08:07:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > The “Shakespeare in the corporate world” thing is started to get old… in a recent Shakespeare class, we were asked to design adaptations of _Midsummer_, and about half of them were set this way. \*\* Tell me about it. I’m just about to go into rehearsals for a “corporate” Othello, after having seen a corporate Midsummer, Julius Caeser and MacBeth. Be assured the corporate Othello is not my idea. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/29 "2003-06-11T08:16:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > **Didn’t see the _Forbidden Planet_ remake. The original was one of the first movies I can remember seeing, though. That’d be interesting to check out again.** Oh, I was unclear – the recent _Tempest_ I’m talking about doesn’t have anything to do with Forbidden Planet. I was thinking of the Civil War-era version that aired a few years back, with Peter Fonda… **Leechboy** , who are you playing in _Othello_? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/30 "2003-06-11T08:19:19Z")
Oh, I get it now. I didn’t see that version, but it sounded kinda lame. People these days seem to be doing to Caliban what history has done to Shylock. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/31 "2003-06-11T09:43:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Katisha \* > **Leechboy** , who are you playing in _Othello_? \*\* I’ll be playing Iago. Though I’m a bit disappointed, because the director’s adaption has removed all of Iago’s reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![tramp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tramp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tramp)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/32 "2003-06-11T13:45:47Z")
Anyone see Scotland, PA? It was Macbeth set in 60’s Pennsylvania… I thought it was great… There was also the version of Macbeth put on by strippers in Seminole County, FL after the county banned nude dancing but couldn’t ban nude artistic expression… I hear the scene with the witches over the pot included some lesbian kissing and touching…An improvement over the original! ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/33 "2003-06-11T13:58:26Z")
tramp- the stripper Macbeth was featured on an HBO Real Sex episode… so I heard _G_ Nobody’s gonna build upon my TITUS ANDRONICUS set in a high school? OK- how about a Shakespearean ham actor fakes his death & then exacts Bard-like vengeance upon the critics who dissed him? Now THAT would be a movie! Too bad Vincent Price is departed- that would have been wonderful for him… and maybe there could be parts for Diana Riggs & Robert Morley too! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/34 "2003-06-11T15:22:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FriarTed \* > **Nobody’s gonna build upon my TITUS ANDRONICUS set in a high school?** First, find someone who has a clue what it’s about. Not one of the better known plays. Maybe you should try to make a version of it about a miserly transsexual - Tightarse Androgynous. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/35 "2003-06-11T15:34:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Tightarse Androgynous _The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged_ rather made this joke. (It has Titus Androgynous host a cooking show.) > [@](#): > > the director’s adaption has removed all of Iago’s reasoning. Boo. What’s he done? ---
**Author:** ![Harli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c0e974/32.png) [@Harli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harli)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/36 "2003-06-11T17:56:25Z")
_Titus Andronicus_ set in a highschool?? I guess with what goes on in highschools these days, why not? Still, it would be quite distubing…not that the play isn’t gory and disturbing on its own, but still! I know _Taming of the Shrew_ was adapted into the film _Ten Things I Hate About You_, but I would love to do a stage adaptation of _Shrew_ with a BDSM theme. I think the play totally fits into the sub/dom lifestyle. I’m considering actually staging a 60 to 90 minute adaptation of it that way for my local Fringe Festival next summer. It would be somewhat difficult and expensive to costume though… ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/37 "2003-06-11T18:24:21Z")
The director’s adaption has removed all of Iago’s reasoning? So he does all the machinations because… well, just because he can? Iago as by Puck? ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/38 "2003-06-23T01:58:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DeVena \* > \*\*The director’s adaption has removed all of Iago’s reasoning? So he does all the machinations because… well, just because he can? Iago as by Puck? \*\* The Director wants the focus to be on Othello and Desdemona relationship. He views the play as a parable about trust in marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/39 "2003-06-23T03:41:41Z")
Is that a ‘yes’ to **DeVena** ’s question? Sheesh. Oh well, it’s still playing Iago. Could be worse… ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736/40 "2003-06-23T07:29:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > \*\*Is that a ‘yes’ to **DeVena** ’s question? Sheesh. Oh well, it’s still playing Iago. Could be worse… \*\* I don’t know; I don’t recall Iago’s last name being Farquhar-Yusuf. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-adaptations-youd-love-to-see/180736.md?page=3)