Desdemona’s changing voices: from the “Willow Song” to the “Canzona del Salice” by Chantal Schütz

“…The boy’s performance of Desdemona’s death left a lasting impression on early modern audiences, just as Barbary’s singing death did on the character of Desdemona – a detail which enables the dying Emilia to put a finishing touch on the mimetic process by comparing herself to Desdemona, and both of them to the swan, who only sings when she is about to die.The mimetic process was carried further in the 19th century, thanks to the operatic version written by Rossini in 1816. …”
Get full text

Shakespeare revived in contemporary canadian drama by Rüdiger Ahrens

“…La variété des interprétations possibles peut être illustrée par le cas du Canada, qui n’est pas tant un pays post-colonial mais plutôt un pays de colons, au moyen de trois exemples de pièces contemporaines : Ken Mitchell, Cruel Tears (1977), Anne-Marie MacDonald, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Night Juliet) (1990), et Ken Grass, Claudius (1993). …”
Get full text