Shakespeare’s plays are often said to stand the test of time and have universal appeal. And it’s true. Shakespeare was writing for theatre audiences in London over four centuries ago. And yet, the plays he wrote then are still being enjoyed today, in the original English and in translation, on stage and screen. As well as all those directors around the world who still work with Shakepeare’s original texts, many others have taken the plots and themes and expressed them in different ways. Here are just a few examples of how Shakespeare’s work has inspired modern directors.
hamlet
Hamlet is the best known of Shakespeare’s tragedies. It tells the story of Hamlet, prince of Denmark, whose father the king is killed by his own brother Claudius. After a visit from the king’s ghost, Hamlet promises to take revenge on murderous uncle Claudius. Hamlet starts to act strangely, drives his girlfriend Ophelia to suicide, and considers suicide himself in the famous “To be or not to be?” speech. Claudius tries to send Hamlet away but Hamlet returns to Denmark and kills his uncle in a bloody final scene that leaves almost all the characters dead.
It may not seem the most obvious basis for a Disney animation, but the parallels between Hamlet and The Lion King are explicit. The evil lion Scar causes the death of his brother, king Mufasa. Scar then sends the young prince Simba away and takes the throne. In the end, Simba returns and kills the baddie Scar. There are, of course some differences: The Lion King has a much happier ending than Hamlet, and more warthogs!
Another, very different, Hamlet-inspired drama is the TV series Sons of Anarchy, about a California motorcycle club that makes its money trafficking guns. The Los Angeles Times even described Sons of Anarchy as “Hamlet on Harleys”! Writer Kurt Sutter is open about the influence that Hamlet had on the series, which finishes with a quote from the play. Sons of Anarchy’s main character Jax Teller, with his tattoos and leather-jacket, is the Hamlet figure. Jax represents his stepfather Clay Morrow, who took control of the motorcycle club when Teller’s father died in suspicious circumstances. Very soon after the death, Jax’s mother married Clay, just like Hamlet’s mother Gertrude quickly married Claudius. The existential main themes of Hamlet are all there, too —fate, betrayal, and revenge.
macbeth
Shakespeare’s bloody tragedy Macbeth starts with three witches telling general Macbeth that he will one day be king of Scotland. Encouraged by his ambitious wife, Macbeth makes the prophecy come true by killing king Duncan and taking the crown. But the witches also prophesied that the sons of Macbeth’s friend Banquo will take power from him. So should Macbeth kill them too? Spoiler alert… he does!
Throne of Blood (1957), co-written and directed by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, moves the story of Macbeth from Scotland to feudal Japan. A spirit in the forest tells Washizu, a samurai warrior, that he will be given a position of power but that his castle will one day belong to the sons of his comrade, Miki. Washizu’s wife, like Lady Macbeth in the original, encourages her husband to kill as many people as necessary to hold on to power. Kurosawa uses elements of traditional Noh theatre in his film; the acting is stylised and he introduces dance and mime. The film is a fascinating fusion of eastern and western theatre tradition.
ROMEO AND JULIET
We all know the tale of Romeo and Juliet whose love was forbidden because he was a Montague and she was a Capulet. But the story of the young lovers and their tragic end was nothing new. Shakespeare based his play on a previous tale of Romeus and Juliet, a long narrative poem by the English poet Arthur Brooke that had itself been translated from an earlier version of the story. As far back as the early first century AD, Latin writer Ovid included the story of young lovers Pyramus and Thisbe in his work Metamorphoses. In their case, the tragic misunderstanding at the end is caused by a lion, not poison, but the result is the same.
So, when Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim created the hit musical West Side Story, they were building on a long tradition. In their version, set in the 1950s in the Upper West Side of New York, a multiracial, blue-collar neighborhood, they tell the tragic tale of Tony and Maria, whose love is forbidden by rivalry between two street gangs of differing ethnic backgrounds: the Sharks, whose members are of Puerto Rican descent, and the Jets, who are white.
Creators of Disney’s 1995 animation Pochahontas say they were inspired by the Romeo and Juliet storyline of forbidden love. In fact, the film was pitched as “Romeo & Juliet in 17th-century Virginia” and depicts a romance between the daughter of Native American chief Powhatan and captain John Smith, an English explorer and colonist. Powhatan forbids the relationship and orders Smith’s execution. Of course, this being a Disney movie, Pochahontas finally convinces her father to let him go.
Stephanie Meyers, writer of the bestselling vampire series Twilight, also looked at Shakespeare for inspiration. Main characters Bella (played by Kristen Stewart in the film version) and Edward (played by Robert Pattinson) are kept apart by who they are, in this case not just different families but also different species: she a human, him a vampire. Like Romeo, Edward believes that his beloved has killed herself. But unlike Romeo, instead of choosing suicide by poison, Edward asks some Italian vampires to kill him.
what would william think?
As we’ve seen, the themes that Shakespeare addresses in his plays are timeless: revenge, manipulation, bloody ambition, duty, forbidden love... But what would Shakespeare think of modern directors taking those themes and reimagining them in such radically different settings —the African savannah, the forests of Japan, the back-streets of Idaho, or the Powhatan empire? We can only imagine his reaction, but we can safely assume that he’d be delighted to see audiences still experiencing his work in this dynamic way. After all, Shakespeare was an actor and director himself, not just a playwright. He never intended his plays to be fixed in print and read off a page.
henry iv
Shakespeare develops the coming of age story of Prince Hal through three of his so-called history plays. Hal first appears as a young, irresponsible guy, enjoying the company of prostitutes and drunks and with no interest in the duties of being a king like his father. But, when Hal does eventually become king (Henry V of England), he shows a deep understanding for his people, probably thanks to all those wild nights hanging out in pubs. My Own Private Idaho (1991), a coming of age film starring Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix, uses the young prince Hal in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1 for inspiration. Protagonists Scott and Mikey are street hustlers living a wild life but Scott’s father (like Hal’s) is rich and powerful and expects Scott to change his behaviour. A few speeches in the film are taken almost directly from the play. The feeling is the same but the language has been modernised.