Revisiting Shakespeare for Young Audiences: Tim Crouch’s Shakespeare Adaptation Plays

Adaptation as an act or process has been used in different disciplines and it has applied in literature and theatre for years achieving certain goals regarding to its time and its society and its adapter’s purpose. There is no consensus about the essence of the true adaptation, in addition to this, as literary critic Professor Linda Hutcheon suggests, the borders of adaptation have been enlarged particularly after the year 2006, and broader ideas have been put forward. In this study, the selected adaptation plays from Shakespeare which have penned by contemporary British playwright Tim Crouch establish that adapted works may have both close similarities and differences with the original text under certain conditions. Shakespeare’s plays in which the narratives on the upper echelon were unfolded are retold and reperformed in Crouch’s plays by placing the emphasis on the ignored secondary characters of the plays. Touching the nature of human beings, the limits of their wishes and drives, Crouch carries these invisible Shakespearean characters on contemporary stage in front of young audiences. With this study, the recreation process of Crouch’s plays which are adapted from Shakespeare’s plays will be revealed considering his young audience as his addressee and his inclination to use new contemporary theatrical techniques while performing his plays. 

Cite this article: Bozkurt, K. (2022). Revisiting Shakespeare For Young Audiences: Tim Crouch’s Shakespeare Adaptation Plays. Journal of Literature and Humanities, 68, 9-16.