An exploration into adapting Shakespeare for very young audience

Adapting Shakespeare for kids has always been a much debated and controversial issue. This article examines the discussions over Shakespeare adaptations that involve change both in the audience group and in medium. Many critics oppose the practice of adapting for kids on several grounds that mainly involve the original texts’ language and medium. The argument is that the alterations made in the process of adaptation contribute to the creation of series of works that are not “Shakespeare” anymore. We suggest that adaptations are necessary means for Shakespeare to survive over the course of history, and that such judgments about adaptations are essentially misunderstandings of the practice of adaptation and of Shakespeare himself. We bring Marcia Williams’ comic strip style adaptation of Hamlet as a case by which our argument can be best illuminated. By implication, for Shakespeare, survival and accessibility for all, also means “flexibility”; the reshaping of his works in various media and for different age groups will contribute to a continuation of his reputation as the great Bard. This will contribute to the democratization of Shakespeare as part of an otherwise inaccessible and intimidating literary Canon. Adaptation after all, is a survival strategy in an environment where the popularization of culture runs hostile to the elitist ethos embedded in the process of canon formation.