https://shakespeare.edel.univ-poitiers.fr:443/shakespeare/index.php?id=847 Index de The Merchant of Venice fr 0 https://shakespeare.edel.univ-poitiers.fr:443/shakespeare/index.php?id=1857 Looking at the reception of Shakespearean plays that were produced at the Comédie‑Française from the beginning of the 20th century onward, we are surprised to acknowledge mitigated reactions. At the beginning of the twentieth century when tragedies predominated in the repertoire, apart from Hamlet (adapted by Dumas) and later Emile Fabre’s Coriolanus which was a significant performance in the turbulent year 1933, the adaptations of the Elizabethan classics did not encounter a frank success nor did they remain in people’s memory. After the Second World War, the technical means used in scenography were rather uninventive and the evolution of Shakespeare’s fame was timid until foreign stage‑directors such as Terry Hands, Jorge Lavelli, Luca Ronconi or Luis Pasqual were invited. But even then, the success of the guests’ productions was uneven for various reasons, which would have made us forget them partly had there not been archives to leave traces of them. Hence, one of the questions that should be raised is : what are the material, ideological or phenomenological events contributing to imprint a given production in the memory of a theatre such as the Comédie‑Française ? Today, we are in a good position to analyse what made mythical Shakespearean productions in the « Ruche » (Beehive) in the 20th century because some time has elapsed. In this paper, I would like to discuss the various reasons that contributed to dissociate successful productions of Shakespeare’s plays at the Comédie‑Française from those that have vanished from our minds for ever. Undoubtedly, either inner political conflicts or international preoccupations have influenced the history of Shakespeare’s reputation in Molière’s House but there is more to be said. This analysis should enable us to anticipate whether productions such as Oskaras Korsunovas’ 2007 Taming of the Shrew or Andrés Lima’s 2009 Merry Wives of Windsor will ever become mythical. ven., 27 déc. 2019 18:31:45 +0100 sam., 28 déc. 2019 14:34:47 +0100 https://shakespeare.edel.univ-poitiers.fr:443/shakespeare/index.php?id=1857 https://shakespeare.edel.univ-poitiers.fr:443/shakespeare/index.php?id=865 One of the most notorious productions in the history of Shakespeare on the German‑speaking stage is The Merchant of Venice at Vienna’s Burgtheater in 1943. This production has become iconic in a negative sense as the most glaring example of how Shakespeare can be misused for insidious propaganda purposes. Whenever debates erupted in the post‑war era over whether The Merchant should be performed on a German‑speaking stage once again or not, those against invariably cited the 1943 production to bolster their arguments. This paper attempts to throw a critical light on some of the myths and clichés that have accrued around this production, for instance regarding theatrical life in the Third Reich or the position of The Merchant of Venice on the Nazi stage. Of specific interest is the question where the professed infamy of the 1943 production should be located : on the level of the performance text, the directorial approach, the impersonation of the actors, the reception, or the historical context. The essay also takes a look at some of the people involved in this production, such as the director Lothar Müthel, the Third Reich’s star actor Werner Krauß, and the Nazi governor of Vienna, Baldur von Schirach. jeu., 23 avril 2015 09:03:16 +0200 sam., 28 déc. 2019 14:24:01 +0100 https://shakespeare.edel.univ-poitiers.fr:443/shakespeare/index.php?id=865