Shakespeare Remixed
Wednesday, April 9th by scott malia
In music, remixes never die. In fact, some songs only get air play when someone else gets their hands on it and revamps the material, adding vocals, beats or other elements. We live in a self-referential age, so even songs that don’t “sample” earlier works often refer to them lyrically or mirror them melodically. Theatre is a different animal. For the most part, if you take even part of someone’s play and rework it, the results tend to be criticized as plagiarism rather than celebrated as innovations. A related idea is the mash-up, wherein two pieces are combined almost equally (rather than simply having a new work sample an old one). In this format, the idea of commentary is clearer because the two pieces share relatively equal focus.
A new children’s production has effectively created a Shakespearean mash-up. Tempest in a Dream is, as you might have guessed, an integration of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest. The result is that the framework of the latter sets up the love quadrangle of the former. It’s an interesting concept as both plays deal with magic and the attempts of those who conjure to change fate. For example, in this version, the enchanted Titania falls for Caliban instead of a donkey. Also, both plays can be interpreted both lightly and darkly depending on the bent of the director and acting company. The result may not be a new play, per se, but it invites the viewers to change how they think about the originals.
