The Romanian Bard: A Case Study of Shakespeare’s Adaptations in Contemporary Romania
The Romanian Bard: A Case Study of Shakespeare’s Adaptations in Contemporary Romania

Summary/Abstract: In Romania, Shakespeare played an important role in the construction of Romania’s cultural identity and in the reshaping of political awareness during the communist dictatorship. In recent years, the Bard’s work has been translated into a contemporary, accessible Romanian language, with theatrical or musical adaptations targeted at a public whose tastes are shaped by popular culture. The authors discuss, from this perspective, two recent adaptations: The Taming of the Shrew (2005), acclimatized to contemporary Romanian realities (names, locations and folk music), and Romeo and Juliet (2009) that relocates the tragedy in the musical genre. The choice of two musical genres popular with the most widely spread segments of the public – the conservative, but less educated middle-aged group of non-theatre-goers and the youth – indicates an attempt, still new for the Romanian cultural market, to accommodate Shakespeare to the interests of two different communities of consumers, so far absent from this country’s high culture circuit.

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