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7
Germany,s.7SchlegelinventedthemelancholyprinceHamlet.8Lefttohis
owndeviceshemayhavebeenthegoodhumouredcharacter,jokingthrough
adversity,thatemergesthroughmanyofhiswittylines.9Brecht,stheories
ofepictheatreare,byhisownadmission,basedonShakespeare,spractice.
Later,initiallythroughtheunexpectedmediationofCharlesandMaryLamb,s
talesforchildren,hebecameChinese.10Afterbeingreviledasiconof
oppressivecolonialism,hebecame–fullcircle–awriterchosentoinaugurate
anewAustralianAboriginaltheatregroup:theBlackSwanCompanyin
WesternAustraliapresentedTwelfthNightasitsfirstplayin1991.His
playshavebeenregardedsimplyassourcematerials,potential,pretexts,
moreorlessasBrechtsawthemas‘aquarryofrawmaterial,tobe
appropriatedtohisowntheatricalmodeofMarxistde-familiarisation.In
short,hehasbeenusedinexactlythesamewaysthathehimselfused
hissources.AwholeliteratureisgraduallyemergingthatshowMarxist
appropriationsineasternEuropeofwhichweinthewesthavebeenkept
largelyignorant:forexample,theBulgarianexperienceasmappedinPainting
ShakespeareRed:AnEast-EuropeanAppropriationbyAlexanderShurbanov
andBoikaSokolova.11Finally,ifwejudgefromthecaseofZeffirelli,s
Shakespeareanfilms,heatleast,alongsidemanyfinecriticsamongsthis
compatriots,considersthatanItalianhasasmuchaffinitywith,andas
muchrighttoappropriate,Shakespeare,asanyEnglishman.Russia,Germany,
JapanandItaly–thesewereneverimperialistoutpostsofEngland,yet
theycanbesaidtohaverecontextualisedhisplaystotheirownnational
ends.AnynotionthattheinternationalcurrencyofShakespeareisapost-
colonialphenomenonandalegacyoftheculturalimprintingoftheBritish
empire,israpidlydispelledbyreadingPerformingShakespeareinJapan
editedbyMinaniRyuta,IanCarruthersandJohnGillies.12Shakespeare
7SeeShakespeareontheGermanStage,ed.S.Williams,Vol.1:1586–1914,Cambridge
1990andShakespeareontheGermanStage,ed.W.Hortmann,Vol.2:TheTwentiethCentury,
Cambridge1998.
8SeeM.Pfister,‘‘GermanyisHamlet:TheHistoryofaPoliticalInterpretation,,,New
Comparison.AJournalofComparativeandGeneralLiteraryStudies,1986,2:‘Hamlet’at
HomeandAbroad,106–126,and‘‘HamletsMadeinGermany,EastandWest,,,[in:]Shakespeare
intheNewEurope,edsM.Hattaway,B.Sokolova,D.Roper,Sheffield1994,pp.76–91.
9‘‘TheSpiritofYorick,ortheTragicSenseofHumourinHamlet,,,HamletStudies1985,
pp.7–23.
10SeeM.J.Levith,‘‘TheBardandtheDragon:ShakespeareinChina,,,[in:]Shakespeare:
Readers,Audiences,Players,ed.R.S.White,C.EdelmanandC.Wortham,Universityof
WesternAustraliaPress,1998,pp.64–73.
11AssociatedUniversityPresses,London2001.
12PerformingShakespeareinJapan,ed.M.Ryuta,I.CarruthersandJ.Gillies,Cambridge
2001.SeealsoShakespeareandtheJapaneseStage,edsT.Sasayama,J.R.Mulryne,
M.Shewring,Cambridge1998.
