Bardomania

Adapting Shakespeare within a Canadian Political Context

Authors

Rod Carley Canadore College and REP 21

Abstract

Cluster: Playwrights' Statements: On Political and Youth Adaptations of Shakespeare in Canada

In choosing to transpose Shakespeare to a modern Canadian political setting, Canadians articulate a history that is a relevant context for interpreting Shakespeare. As an instance of this sort of transposable history, the inherent drama of the Canadian political landscape of the late 1960s and early 1970s is a particularly good match for adapting Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In this essay, Rod Carley, a protean adaptor of Shakespeare's plays, discusses his current work on an adaptation of Julius Caesar based on Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the FLQ (Front de Libération de Québec), and events surrounding the October Crisis of the 1970. In Carley's interpretation, Caesar is based on Trudeau and, in the transported setting, he is assassinated in Ottawa by members of the FLQ as an act of revenge in the wake of his handling of "Black October”—perhaps one of the most fraught moments in the last fifty years of Canadian politics.

Author Biography

Rod Carley, Canadore College and REP 21

Rod Carley is currently Coordinator for Canadore College's new Acting Program in North Bay as well as serving as Artistic Director of REP 21. He has directed and produced over eighty-five productions to date, ranging from the classics to the development of new Canadian works. Rod has a particular passion for the works of Shakespeare, having adapted and directed fifteen of his works. His adaptation and direction of The Othello Project earned him a 1996 DORA Award Nomination for Outstanding Direction.