Canadian
theatre 
Image
Gallery Madness
Good Lord, what madness rules in brainsick men,
When for so slight and frivolous a cause
Such factious emulations shall arise! (King Henry VI, Part I,
4.1)
We have built this image-cluster around adaptations of Shakespeare that employ shifting ideas of "madness" in terms of insanity, folly, rage, and hilarity, and the infinite possible combinations of these. "Madness" is itself a richly expressive and widely used word and thematic in Shakespearean theatre with a wide range of resonances.
Here are a few examples of the various types of madness found in Rick Miller's MacHomer, Michael O'Brien's Mad Boy Chronicle, Madd Harold’s The Tempest: Forecast Disorder and Edward Folger’s The Soul of Wit.. In MacHomer, Miller blends the paranoia and hallucinations of Macbeth brought on by the murders of Duncan, Banquo and Macduff's family, with the comic, hysterical stupidity of Homer Simpson, from the popular television show. Michael O'Brien bases Mad Boy Chronicle on Shakespeare's source for Hamlet, the thirteenth-century history by Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum. The result is a violent, cruel, and crazy revenge tragedy set in Viking Denmark. In Madd Harold’s adaptation of The Tempest, all of the characters are either inmates or doctors in a 19th century style insane asylum. The setting throws the entire play into question; when Prospero claims to be the Duke of Milan or Caliban asserts “this island’s mine,” we are left to wonder which worlds are real and who is sane. In The Soul of Wit, Edward Folger uses mental illness and a psychiatric institution to further examine the characterization of Hamlet, Ophelia and Polonius. Repetitive and garbled speeches of Shakespeare, and careful camera angles and edits draw the viewer into “uncomfortable experience of what it’s like to be schizophrenic”.
The contrasts between Miller's parodic voicing of madness, O'Brien's tragic vision, Harold’s dark and playful approach to madness and Folger’s realistic and interpretative concept of mental illness outline the continuum of adaptive possibilities inherent in Shakespeare.
MacHomer (1995), Rick Miller
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| Rick Miller as MacHomer |
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| Rick Miller with Donut |
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| MacHomer sees the ghost of Banquo |
Link to Online Anthology
Link to Database
Link to Interview with Rick Miller
Link to Streaming Audio
Link to Streaming Vidio
Mad Boy Chronicle (1995), Michael O'Brien
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| Shaun Smyth as the Mad Boy |
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| "No, I said a head of lettuce." Gale Garnet as Gerutha |
MacKay, Ellen. "The Spectre of Straight Shakespeare." Canadian Theatre Review 111 (Summer 2002): 10-14.
The Tempest: Forecast Disorder (2001), Madd Harold
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| The Lords: Paul Castonguay, Alan Heillig, Paul Rogic, Lowell Gasoi Photo courtesy Gravy Bath Productions |
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| A range of Madness: Mike Huges as Trinculo, Yann Bernaquez as Stephano and Nicolas Wright as Francisco Photo courtesy Gravy Bath Productions |
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| Tony Palermo as Ariel, Mike Huges as Trinculo, Nicolas Wright as Francisco, Yann Bernaquez as Stephano, Danyel Lee as Miranda, Richard Orlando as Prospero and Gareth Potter as Ferdinand. Photo courtesy Gravy Bath Productions |
Link to database
Link to Review
The Soul of Wit (2007), Edward Folger
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| Dr. Polon- Polonius. |
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| Where is the beauteous majesty of denmark |
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| The Soul of Wit video still |
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| Ed Folger explaing shot to Ray Besharah |
Link to Interview with Edward Folger
Link to The Soul of Wit in CASP's Anthology
Link to The Soul of Wit shooting script & actors' notes
Link to Mad Ramblings about the Genesis and Evolution of The Soul of Wit by Edward Folger
Link to Project Description by Edward Folger
Disclaimer: This site has been designed with only non-commercial, academic uses in mind. Although every effort has been made to secure permission for materials uploaded on the CASP site, in some circumstances we have been unable to locate copyright holders. Links may be made to our site but under no conditions are the texts and images to be copied and mounted onto another site server. Researchers using the site should accredit it following standard MLA guidelines on how to do so. Correct citation of information from the site is as follows:
Fischlin, Daniel. Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project. University of Guelph. 2004.
<http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca>.
