Online Anthology

Rick Miller in MacHomer (1995): Macbeth meets The Simpsons–– pop culture meets Shakespeare

The CASP Online Anthology presents a selection of rare plays and other heritage literary materials in a PDF format that can be searched, printed, and used for teaching and research purposes. Each text includes a short introduction and links to the CASP Database records and related multimedia within the website. Because the anthology is online instead of on paper, it is constantly being added to and updated. At the launch of CASP Version 1 (April 22, 2004), over thirty-five texts in their entirety had been uploaded to the site, that number representing only a small portion of the over 500 texts archived in the CASP offices. Since then CASP has continued its drive to collect and publish as many adaptations as possible, with its next major focus being French Canada. Expect to see a range of adaptations with full introductions and scripts from French Canada uploaded in the coming year.

At present, with the launch of the CASP Version 2 (August 2007), the Online Anthology consists of over 50 playscripts with associated multimedia, research hyperlinks, original introductions, database information, and so forth.

This Online Anthology enables the publication and circulation of so-called marginal or non-canonical works in an appropriately contextualized resource environment, works that have had a significant (if unacknowledged) presence in and impact on theatrical culture and literary activity in Canada. These understudied yet remarkable examples of gaps in Canada's cultural history suggest the extent to which the nation's cultural memory remains to be documented and conserved. Moreover, this treasure trove of rare materials points to the significant investment Canadian cultural communities have made in re-inventing, appropriating, bastardizing, hijacking, and adapting Shakespeare to their own purposes: whether in French;, for youth and children; for and by First Nations' peoples; as commentary on Canadian politics; as commentary on the academic study of Shakespeare in Canada; and across multiple genres and in many different sites of cultural production.

We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of living playwrights who have given CASP copyright permission for use of their materials online––many of these published and made publicly available for the first time. Please note that use of the materials presented on this site does not extend to performance rights––users wishing to perform any of the texts in the Online Anthology should seek out performance rights where appropriate. You will require Adobe Acrobat Reader to read these documents; visit the Adobe website to download the Reader.

Shakespeare Unplugged poster, 2002

Table of Contents:

             19th Century:

• Ottawah, the Last Chief of the Red Indians of Newfoundland (1848), Author Unknown; not a playscript.
• Measure by Measure, or, The Coalition in Secret Session! (1871), Author Unknown.
• The Fair Grit; or The Advantages of Coalition. A Farce (1876), Nicholas Flood Davin.
• Sir John and Sir Charles, or The Secrets of the Syndicate (1881), Author Unknown.
• The Locals (1882), Author Unknown.
• Shakspere's Skull and Falstaff's Nose: A Fancy in Three Acts (1889), Charles Ebeneezer Moyse.
  
  20th Century:

• Puffe and Co., or Hamlet, Prince of Dry Goods (c. 1900), John Wilson Bengough.
• Life and Work of J.W. Bengough, Canada's Cartoonist (no date), Thomas Bengough; not a playscript.
• Canada, Fair Canada (1902), Albert Ernest Knight (pseudonym A. E. de Garcia).
• The Shakespeare Play: A Drama in Rhythmic Prose (c. 1911), Hubert Osborne, Laurence Eyre.
• The Land: A Play of Character, in One Act with Five Scenes (1914), Andrew MacPhail.
• A Shakespeare Pageant: Dialogue for Commencement Day (1915), Sister Mary Agnes.
• The Good Men Do: An Indecorous Epilogue (1917), Hubert Osborne.
• The God of Gods (1919), Carroll Aikins.
• The Lost Queen (1925), Olive Archibald.
• Songe d'une nuit d'été (1945), Paul-Henry Spaak.
• Star Crossed: A Play (c. 1950), Clarence T. Malone.
• The Shakespearean Baseball Game (1958), Wayne and Shuster.
• Timon of Athens (1963) Michael Langham.
• The Trumpets of Summer (1964) Margaret Atwood.
• Ubu Roi (1973/77), David Copelin.
• Chief Shaking Spear Rides Again, or The Taming of the Sioux (1975), Warren Graves.
• Love's Labour's Won: A Verse Play in Two Acts (1977), David Fanstone.
• Macbeth (1978), Michel Garneau.
• Mein (1983), Stewart Arnott, Mark Christman, Denis Forest, Maggie Huculak, Tanja Jacobs.
• À Propos de Roméo et Juliette (1989), Pierre-Yves Lemieux.
• Gertrude and Ophelia: A Play  (1993), Margaret Clarke (Helen M. Buss).
• MacHomer: The Simpsons Do Macbeth (1995), Rick Miller.
• The Othello Project (1995), Rod Carley.
• Elsinore (1996), Robert Lepage.
• Othello (1996; presented as part of 38), Jérôme Labbé.
• richardthesecond: a nightmare (1997), Matthew MacFadzean.
• Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice in Auschwitz (1999), Tibor Egervari (tr. Annick Léger).
• Rodeo and Julie-Ed (1999), Peter Skagen.
  
  21st Century:

• Hysterica (2000), Richard Rose, Maggie Huculak, Duncan Ollerenshaw, Rick Roberts, Maria Vacratsis.
• The King #5 Henry (2000), Ken Hudson.
• Peines d'amour perdues (2000), Maurice Roy.
• Prospero's Lie (2000) from the Shakespeare's Womyn series, Mary Druce.
• Sauvée des eaux : Texte dramatique sur Ophélie (2000), Daphné Thompson.

• Shakespeare's Rugby Wars (2001), Chris Coculuzzi and Matt Toner.
• Shakespeare's World Cup (2002), Chris Coculuzzi and Matt Toner.
• The Comedy of Eros (2002), Kari Macknight and Geordie Telfer.
• Rosaline and Benvolio (2002), Jerry Prager.
• Romeo and Juliet: Music, Opera, Dance and Drama (2002), Richard Rose.
• Giving Notes (2002), Michele Siebler.
• Hamlet-le-Malécite (2004), Yves Sioui Durand and Jean-Frédéric Messier.
• The Embarrassing Life of King Ficklefred (2004/05), Allison McWood.
• The Death of a Chief (2005), Kennedy Cathy MacKinnon and Yvette Nolan.
• It was Kit: The TRUE Story of Christopher Marlowe (2006), Allison McWood.
• Shakespeare’s Brain (2006), Allison McWood.
• The Soul of Wit (2007), Edward Folger.
• Tryst and Snout (2007), James Gordon.

 

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Disclaimer: This site has been designed with only non-commercial, academic uses in mind. Although every effort has been made to secure permission for materials uploaded on the CASP site, in some circumstances we have been unable to locate copyright holders. Links may be made to our site but under no conditions are the texts and images to be copied and mounted onto another site server. Researchers using the site should accredit it following standard MLA guidelines on how to do so. Correct citation of information from the site is as follows:

Fischlin, Daniel. Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project. University of Guelph. 2004.

<http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca>.