Cover Versions of Shakespeare's Play

Author Jeanette Winterson, who loves cover versions of established stories, is writing a prose version of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale as part of Random House’s effort to rewrite all of the bard’s plays for his 400th anniversary.

“The Shakespeare purists,” she says, “miss the point about his exuberant ragbag of borrowings thrown into the alchemical furnace of his mind and lifted out transformed. He sums up the creative process, which is not concerned with originality of source but originality of re-making.”

I understand retelling stories, but while West Side Story may be based on Romeo and Juliet, it isn’t the same story. Play it cool, boy. And we all know you can retell essential stories again and again. People like cliches, but they will love one story over another because of the details around the essentials. When contemporary writers retell Shakespearean tales, it’s usually like telling a good joke wrong.

0 thoughts on “Cover Versions of Shakespeare's Play”

  1. >When contemporary writers retell Shakespearean tales, it’s usually like telling a good joke wrong.

    Worst example I ever had the displeasure of seeing (and on a date, no less) was Caesar ’96. They left the words alone but moved the setting to modern day. I groaned out loud when a floppy disk (instead of a scroll) was thrown through Brutus’ window.

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