Colonial Canadian Shakespeare Essay examples -- William Shakespeare

1Colonial Canadian Shakespe ar West Meets East at StratfordIn his essay The regional Theatre System, Czarnecki picks up on the challengeof creating a national theatre in Canada, but also articulates the central and definingchallenge in developing a unified sense of Canadian identity Canada, because of itsimmense span from ocean to ocean, is inevitably divided into regions distinct from theirprovincial boundaries. The regional boundaries which cope with the Maritimes as distinctfrom French Canada and the Prairies as distinct from the West Coast, for example, implynot only geographical, but also social, cultural and political differences between theseregions. Because Canada is a nation born from British imperialism, the colonialrelationship that exists even today between Canada and Britain is undeniable, though thiscolonial relationship is by no means constant across Canada. The different regionalattitudes towards Britain and Canadas colonial history became evident to me when, as aW estern Canadian, I saw a yield of juncture in Central Canada at the StratfordFestival in Stratford, Ontario. This production served to illustrate that Shakespeareserves as a standard by which to measure the colonial relationships between a givenCanadian region and the British Crown therefore Shakespeare also helps to illuminatethe discrepancies between these different regions in relation to Canadas colonial history.The Stratford Festival, whose mandatory is to produce, to the highest standardspossible, the best works of theatre in the classical and contemporary repertoire, with2special emphasis on the works of William Shakespeare, has become the place in Canadato see productions of Shakespeare. As Cza... ...ion to the production of Hamlet was only further proof, however, thatShakespeares iconic position in Canadian culture originates in our shared colonialhistory. Adaptations of Shakespeare are telling of regional differences, which is only thecase because Canada too is rooted in Shakespeares home country.6Works CitedCzarnecki, Mark. The Regional Theatre System. Contemporary Canadian TheatreNew World Visions. Ed. Anton Wagner. Toronto Simon and Pierre, 1985. 35-48.Fischlin, Daniel and mark Fortier. General Introduction. Adaptations of Shakespeare.Eds. Daniel Fischlin and Mark Fortier. London Routledge, 2000. 1-22.Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Susanne Wofford. New York St. Martins Press,1994.Full production details of the Stratford Festivals 2000 production of Hamlet available athttp//www.paulgross.org/theatreindex.htmlhamlet