To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Satirical writer Martin Baum has reashed some of Shakespeares works into Ali Gee style language. This is the start of Romeo and Juliet "Verona was de turf of de feuding Montagus and de Capulet families. And coz they was always brawling and stuff, de prince of Verona told them to cool it or else they was gonna get well mashed if they carried on larging it with each other" The play ends "And they all lived in peace and harmony except fo Romeo and his bitch Jools, who was both well dead" Some how I don't think this is going to catch on, but what do you think

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

I hate it......leave the classical literature alone...and all this garbage about getting children to read it......they won't read the classics done up as something else, because the story line might be there, but it won't instil in them the love of Shakespeare...it takes a dedicated teacher with enthusiasm for the Bard to do that.

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Although I completely agree with Margaret, it's just the fact they are putting it up as a carrot for children to get them interested in Shakespeare. Would be better leaving it as just good fun (or have they?). Can imagine it gets very boring after a while though.

By the way Jaysay, presume you realise your thread title is Hamlet, not Romeo and Juliet. Perhaps should have read :"Romeo, Romeo, where ya' dossin?' :D

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Hear Hear, Margaret.

Why can't they just read the original Shakespeare? Why do they have to mess about like this?

What a load of old bunkum. :(

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

im not sure.........i love shakespeare but some people cant understand the language...im not happy about it being messed with but i do want other people to be able to enjoy it as much as i do..

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

If there are words that people don't understand they should investigate and learn. It's not hard.

Putting things into chav speak won't help matters.

English literature is just what its title suggests. Why dumb it down? :confused:

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

thats far too much effort... people are reading less because tv delivers everything straight to you and alot easier.. im talking about getting it to a wider audience that would otherwise not bother.

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Far too much effort to learn the definition of a word? :confused:

You only need to look it up in a dictionary or on the internet. It's not a cross country run.:rolleyes::)

I'm not against the showing of the classics on television because that will be spoken as it was written.

I'm against translating the classics into chav speak. ;)

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

some people are just too lazy to look something up...... i had someone online the other day that had been given a list of big words to look up as her homework.... what did she do?? asked me.... id given her definions for a few and procrastinating came up...my definition was... messing about on the internet, talking to you friends when you should be doing your homework!

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

The beauty of Shakespeare is that it can be adapted, modernised and set in any setting that you want and still work.

I like a good bit of traditional Shakespeare but equally I think there's room for creativity and innovative approaches. I'm just about to start directing Shakespeare for Kidz: The Dream - it's a simplified version of Midsummernights Dream for 8 - 11 year olds.

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Why 'kidz' instead of 'kids'? :rolleyes::D

Sorry, just being picky now. :)

I'm sure your production won't be spoken like the example that Jaysay posted. There's a difference between an adapted version for young children and making a mockery of the original.

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Once you mess about with it, it really ceases to be Shakespeare......and I stand by the comment that someone who has a love of the Bard can instil enthusiasm into children, by demonstrating their own enthusiasm.
I went to a very lowly secondary modern school, we did Shakespeare and I loved it...we even went to the theatre to see if performed and I thought it was magical.
It isn't really any different to Harry Potter...imagine the furore if someone messed about with that.

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Ya I knoz katex its just that was the headline in the Daily Mail article yesterday innit, but even so don't think Romeo did that much dossin:D:D

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Because that's the name of the production that we've bought the licence for.

Shakespeare 4 Kidz - Home

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Shakespeare has been dead for something like 500 years so isnt it about time we buried him?

so many teenagers suffer each year at his hands lets get rid of him. Surely in the last 500 years of literature there must be something else worth reading.

To be blunt, I dont care if The Bard is performed in Chav version or the original Which is equally gobble do goo it is all painful and time for us to get rid of him

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Still too wordy for your average chav.

Needs to de redone in test speak.:D

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

2 b r nt 2 b.... tht is th q.......

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Lol, good one.:p

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

I laughed when I first heard this on the tv, the novelty of it was kinda ammusing but when you sit back and think about it its not right to me. Yes TV deliveries everything so you dont need to read the book, and I know it can be confusing reading it but the fact that they are not modern times stories and are set in years long ago means that in the way it is written and spoken it takes you back to those times and gives you more to think about when "translating" it for yourself, its just not right to me, its shakespear, its classic and should be appreciated for what it is and how it was originally written, not re-written so the ones that cant be bothered to try to understand it can. I dont think by re-writing it will make it more appealing to the youth of today, the novelty of it all will soon wear off for them and some may even struggle understanding them in chav speak

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Mind you, a lot of Bibles use modern translations.

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

So shall we translate these into chav talk so they understand them too???

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

And the big G said give us some light innit and boo yah!!! it were wicked!

ali G 2:3

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha :p:p:p:p

karma for that one :D

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

No offence to anyone but that is the biggest load of trash I have ever read! If the play was written one way, it should stay that way, unless it's in a different language or something like that. If someone reads it and doesn't understand it then they could just ask someone who does know not turn it into yobbo language!

Re: To Be or Not to Be Innit
 

Well said, karma on its way. :D