When Shakespeare wrote and staged his plays in the 16th century, he spoke to the masses in a very visceral way. The playwright often highlighted young people doing the following: falling in love; brooding and sulking; having sex; playing wild tricks on each other; and, quite often, killing one another.
Shakespeare’s plays were a lot like the teen flicks of today. Or is that vice-versa?
So, centering 21st century Shakespearean film adaptations in the world of teenagers makes sense; they are, in many ways, more attune to the problems the playwright wrote about than anyone else. However, young actors cast to play Shakespeare’s weighty characters may inherently lack the acting skills to properly convey the language, therefore weakening the power of the original material.
Therein lies the rub.
The latest entry into the Teen Shakespeare genre is O, with Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles and Josh Hartnett, based on the tragedy Othello. The play has been made (and remade) into powerful film adaptations, so one wonders why the producers wanted to remake it into a teen drama.
The action takes place at a prep school, where star basketball player Odin (Phifer) must battle the jealous demons inside when he is convinced his girlfriend, Desi (Stiles) is cheating on him. The alleged infidelity isn’t true, of course, but the seed is planted by Odin’s supposed best friend Hugo (Hartnett), making the allegations all too believable. Hugo is motivated by his own jealousy toward Odin, who Hugo basically wants to destroy.
How O measures up can only be judged once the film is released. For now, we’ll look back at five of the more recent teen-oriented Shakespearean remakes, rate how well the subject matter translates to these modern times and rate how the young talent fare playing their juicy roles.
10 Things I Hate About You
Based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, this 1999 modern version is chock full of teenage love and angst. Instead of the pastoral surroundings of Padua, the action takes place in a high school–Padua High. Cute and popular Bianca (Laris Oleynik) is a girl who just wants to have fun. Joey (Andrew Keegan) is eager to make this happen, but unfortunately Bianca is told by her strict father (Larry Miller) that she cannot date until her older, rebellious and boy-hating sister, Katarina (Julia Stiles), has found a suitor of her own. In a desperate attempt to get the woman he wants, Joey tries to set Kat up with the moody and rebellious Patrick (Heath Ledger).
Faithful to the original material?: The film keeps fairly close to its source, although marriage between Patrick and Kat at the end would obviously not be an option.
Does it translate to modern day?: Not really. In this day and age, a father telling his teenage daughter she can’t date until her older sister does is not very likely, unless of course the action takes place in the Middle East.
The Hottie factor: Gorgeous Julia Stiles, Australian hunk Heath Ledger, sexy Gabrielle Union (as Chastity) and cutie Andrew Keegan–yep, it ranks high on the Hottie scale.
Acting requirements: Ledger and Stiles, who both can count 10 Things as their breakthrough performances, come off the best as the arrogant Patrick and cantankerous Kat, respectively. The verbal sparring and major confrontations between the two, however, pales in comparison to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton‘s performances.
Original Shakespearean language used?: No. The hip vernacular has been adopted instead.
Line for line comparison: In the play, when Baptista greets his foul-tempered daughter, Katherina, who has just assaulted her sister, Bianca, he asks, “Why, how now, dame, whence grows this insolence?” To which she replies, “Her silence flouts me, and I’ll be reveng’d.” In 10 Things, father Walter Stratford asks his foul-tempered daughter Kat, “Make anybody cry today?” To which she replies, “Sadly, no. But it’s only 4:30.”
Overall Shakespeare rating (1-10): 7
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Romeo + Juliet:
In this 1996 film, Australian director Baz Luhrmann gives the audience a fresh, hip and very modern take on the much-redone Shakespeare classic Romeo and Juliet–and takes the material in new and different directions. The story still takes place in fair Verona, but the city has been transformed into a thriving concrete jungle. Two families–the Capulets and the Montagues–continue to feud, publicly in the streets in gang-like warfare. But when young Romeo Montague (Leonardo DiCaprio) meets and falls for the lovely Juliet Capulet (Claire Danes), those few hopefuls left among the feuding families see the couple’s union as a way to mend old wounds. But alas, it is all for naught–the star-crossed lovers seal their fate in death.
Faithful to the original material?: Mostly by the book, with a few alterations here and there, to accommodate the modern surroundings.
Does it translate to modern day?: Yes. This is why the play can be done in so many ways. Feuding gangs, fathers controlling their teenage daughters (see above), young love torn apart, even teen suicide–the subject matter relates to our world very well.
The Hottie factor: Leonardo DiCaprio. The film put the guy on the teen idolization radar.
Acting requirements: DiCaprio and Danes are some of the few actors of their generation that can actually handle Shakespearean material. DiCaprio as Romeo amply conveys tortured youth while giving off enough bravado. However, it’s Danes‘ Juliet that shows real mettle, deftly moving from innocent girl to determined woman, as the play requires. The casting couldn’t have been better.
Original Shakespearean language used?: Yes, but many felt the original language detracted from the impact of the film’s modern point of view.
Style Comparison: At the start of play, as the Capulets and Montagues duel in the streets, they are on foot and use swords to fight–a lot easier to survive. At the beginning of the Romeo + Juliet, the Capulet boys are riding around in their jacked-up convertible and as they pull into a gas station, run into the Montague gang. Their .45 Magnum “swords” are a little hard to miss.
Overall Shakespearean rating (1-10): 9
My Own Private Idaho:
This 1991 film is loosely based on Shakespeare’s Henry the IV, Part I. It’s a play about Henry (aka Hal), the Prince of Wales, who hangs out with his friends, lead by the portly and jolly Falstaff, waiting for the right time to dump them and take over the throne. In director Gus Van Sant‘s adaptation, however, he gives us a uniquely distinctive portrayal of male street-hustling in the American Northwest. The story centers on two friends, Mike Waters (River Phoenix), a narcoleptic sex-for-hiree and Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves), the son of Portland’s mayor and who is slumming in the trade. Mike’s main objective is to try and find his mother, who abandoned him as a child, while Scott just wants to slack off before having to shed his low-life friends and grow up. They meet up with an eclectic band of hustlers, lead by the charismatic yet tragic robber-bum Bob Pidgeon (William Richert). And somewhere, along the way, Scott will let Mike and the rest of them go.
Faithful to the original material?: Very little of the film keeps the source. The play is most clearly represented when it revolves around Bob Pidgeon, as the Falstaff character, and Scott, as Hal.
Does it translate to modern day?: In a way, yes. Scott’s, as well as Prince Hal’s, apathetic attitude toward responsibilities accurately describes many teenagers today.
The Hottie factor: Keanu Reeves, for sure. River Phoenix downplayed his good looks in this, but somehow they still get through. However, playing male hustlers tends to take them off teenage girls’ lists.
Acting requirements: Reeves really doesn’t have a clue about Shakespeare (even though he tried it again in Kenneth Branagh‘s Much Ado About Nothing), but for his part in Idaho, Reeves handles the material well enough. Phoenix displayed great emotional depth and if he hadn’t died so young, he certainly could have played any number of Shakespearean characters, easily.
Original Shakespearean language used?: No. No need, really.
Line for line comparison: While at the Boar’s Tavern in the play, Falstaff asks Hal the time of day, to which Hal replies, “What a devil hast thou to do with the time of day? Unless hours were cups of sack, and… dials the signs of leaping-houses and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-color’d taffata.” At the derelict hotel in Idaho, Bob asks Scott the time of day, to which Scott replies, “What do you care? You wouldn’t even look at a clock unless hours were lines of coke, dials looked like the signs of gay bars, or Time itself was a fair hustler in black leather.”
Overall Shakespearean rating (1-10): 5
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Hamlet (2000):
This is just one of the many adaptations of this popular Shakespearean play, but in this case, it centers on the Gen-Xers. As the story goes, Hamlet (Ethan Hawke) is visited by the ghost of his father (Sam Shepard), the recently killed CEO of Denmark Corporation. He tells Hamlet that Claudius (Kyle MacLachlan), the new head of Denmark and Hamlet’s uncle, was the one who murdered him and asks Hamlet to seek revenge. To add insult to injury, Claudius has also married Hamlet’s mother (Diane Venora), whom Hamlet has a very close relationship with. Hamlet must determine if the ghost is truly his father, and if Claudius did the deed. Hamlet feigns madness and makes a film about murder to try and catch his uncle’s conscience. Finally convinced of Claudius’ guilt, Hamlet must avenge his father. Claudius now knows Hamlet is a threat and even uses Ophelia (Julia Stiles), Hamlet’s love, in his own plots against the young man.
Faithful to the original material?: Indeed it is, but somehow throwing it in the cold New York environment, leaves the emotional heart of the play high and dry.
Does it translate to modern day?: As in Idaho, the apathy Hamlet feels towards the world is dead on with many young people of today. However, it may have served the film better if they used variations of the characters’ names.
The Hottie factor: Ethan Hawke, looking a bit scuffy; the lovely Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber as Laertes
Acting requirements: Hawke has certainly proven himself as a good actor, but in bringing the Prince of Denmark to life, he played it almost too much like a slacker. He needed more spark to his Hamlet. However, Stiles, the queen of Shakespearean teen movies, actually gives Ophelia some backbone not usually seen, while Schreiber does an excellent job as Laertes.
Original Shakespearean language used?: Yes. Particularly interesting when Bill Murray‘s Polonious says, “This, above all, to thine own self true.”
Style comparison: In the film, Hamlet delivers his “To be or not to be” wandering up and down the aisles at a Blockbuster video store.
Overall Shakespearean rating (1-10): 7
Love’s Labour’s Lost:
Even if its not one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, director and Shakespeare aficionado Kenneth Branagh decided it was the perfect framework for a 1930s musical. And we’ll take his word for it. Set right before the advent of World War II, the King of Navarre (Alessandro Nivola) and his three companions swear a very public oath to study together and to renounce women for three years. Their honor is immediately put to the test by the arrival of the Princess of France (Alicia Silverstone) and her three lovely companions. It’s love at first sight for all concerned followed by the men’s highly entertaining but hopeless efforts to disguise their feelings.
Faithful to the original material?: Yes, to the degree it follows along with the text. The film loses touch with the original material when it breaks off into whimsical dancing and singing.
Does it translate to modern day?: Not in any way. Young men certainly don’t break into song when they fall in love.
The Hottie factor: Alessandro Nivola (Jurassic Park III) definitely stands out, with Alicia Silverstone, Emily Mortimer, Carmen Ejogo and Natascha McElhone rounding out the chick list.
Acting requirements: Not counting Branagh, whom we all know may be channeling Shakespeare, the rest of the young actors struggle to find the meaning in the language, at the same time having to sing and dance. However, the play really doesn’t require the same set of acting skills as, say, playing Macbeth.
Original Shakespearean language used?: Yes and no. Yes, the dialogue is spoken in Shakespearean language. But no, Shakespeare didn’t write any of the songs. In his time, Shakespeare may have wanted to write the song, “I’ve Got a Crush on You”–but that didn’t happen.
Style comparison: When Berowne (Branagh) is talking to the other three men about the incredible power of love and he says: “And when love speaks, the voice of all the gods. Make heaven drowsy with the harmony.” He is so moved to express himself in song that he naturally starts singing: “Heaven, I’m in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak.”
Overall Shakespearean rating (1-10): 3
