Remembrance of things past : Shakespeare’s Comedies on French Television

Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin (1) , Sarah Hatchuel (2)

1 IRCL - Institut de recherche sur la Renaissance, l'Age Classique, et les Lumières.
2 GRIC - Groupe de Recherche Identités et Cultures

This essay explores how Shakespeare's comedies were adapted, appropriated and transformed by French television, with a focus on the early days of television. It analyses several French adaptations of Shakespeare's comedies: As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. How have these comedies been appropriated by the French small screen and to what effects? How did the comedies insert themselves into French television culture? What changes were necessary to adapt them to French humour? What did these films reveal about the complex relationships between theatre and television? Here are the questions that this essay strives to tackle.

Mots clés: Comédies; Shakespeare

Domaines: Littératures

Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin, Sarah Hatchuel. Remembrance of things past : Shakespeare’s Comedies on French Television. Shakespeare on screen : Television Shakespeare, Publications des Universités de Rouen et du Havre, pp.171-197, 2008, 978-2-87775-450-7. ⟨halshs-01365240⟩