Hamlet: An Eighteenth-Century French Adaptation

The premiere of Jean-François Ducis's Hamlet in 1769 marked Shakespeare's first faltering steps onto the French stage. Within a couple of generations, his play had itself been translated so widely that it was better known than Shakespeare's across most of Europe; it has thus aptly been called 'one of the most important Hamlets of all time'. Ducis, who spoke no English, takes copious liberties with his Shakespearean source material, attempting to tap into the dramatic power of the English or...