Rewriting the ‘Duchess of Malfi’

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dc.contributor.authorDalziel, Fiona
dc.contributor.authorSantucci, Anna
dc.contributor.authorSpedo, Giampaolo
dc.contributor.editorSchewe, Manfreden
dc.contributor.editorEven, Susanneen
dc.date.accessioned2022-03-14T15:44:48Z
dc.date.available2022-03-14T15:44:48Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.description.abstractThis article addresses issues of text adaptation in full-scale ESL drama production. After choosing to present Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, participants in the English Drama Workshop at Padua University set about the task of adapting the play in order to make it more suitable for a group of non-native speakers of English acting in front of an audience made up predominantly of non-native speakers. Substantial changes were made during the adaptation process: as well as cutting and simplifying the text, certain characters were eliminated while others were doubled (or rather tripled) and one scene was totally rewritten. When implementing these changes, the group had to take account of both the student-actors’ linguistic competence and the size and composition of the cast, most of the members of which were female. It is argued that text adaptation in ESL drama is not only a way of creating a more appropriate product, but also greatly enriches the process leading up to the performance. The students gained deeper insights into the text and were also able to achieve a strong sense of ownership of the final production. This article addresses issues of text adaptation in full-scale ESL drama production. After choosing to present Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, participants in the English Drama Workshop at Padua University set about the task of adapting the play in order to make it more suitable for a group of non-native speakers of English acting in front of an audience made up predominantly of non-native speakers. Substantial changes were made during the adaptation process: as well as cutting and simplifying the text, certain characters were eliminated while others were doubled (or rather tripled) and one scene was totally rewritten. When implementing these changes, the group had to take account of both the student-actors’ linguistic competence and the size and composition of the cast, most of the members of which were female. It is argued that text adaptation in ESL drama is not only a way of creating a more appropriate product, but also greatly enriches the process leading up to the performance. The students gained deeper insights into the text and were also able to achieve a strong sense of ownership of the final production.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationDalziel, F., Santucci, A. and Spedo, G. (2011) 'Rewriting the ‘Duchess of Malfi’', Scenario: A Journal of Performative Teaching, Learning, Research, V(1), pp. 5-20. https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.5.1.2en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.5.1.2
dc.identifier.endpage20
dc.identifier.issn1649-8526
dc.identifier.issued1
dc.identifier.journalabbrevScenarioen
dc.identifier.journaltitleScenario: A Journal of Performative Teaching, Learning, Researchen
dc.identifier.startpage5
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/12925
dc.identifier.volumeV
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherDepartment of German, University College Corken
dc.relation.urihttps://journals.ucc.ie/index.php/scenario/article/view/scenario-5-1-2
dc.rights© 2011, The Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.titleRewriting the ‘Duchess of Malfi’en
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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Scenario: A Journal for Performative Teaching, Learning, Research. Vol. V Issue 01