French Hamlet - A Reading rediscovery with Prof Joseph Harris

Come and discover J.-F. Ducis's French Hamlet, through a rehearsed reading in English and French with actors from London's bilingual company Exchange Theatre, introduced by Prof. Joseph Harris (Royal Holloway, University of London).
Despite not speaking English, Jean-François Ducis (1733–1816) introduced Shakespeare’s plays to the French stage with his radical adaptation of Hamlet (1769). Drawing from a sparse French translation and his own imagination, Ducis aimed to modernise Shakespeare and align his work with French tastes. Though not a direct translation, this adaptation served as a bridge between the lively English original and French classicism, marking a significant moment in the evolution of French theatre.

Now largely forgotten, Ducis inhabited the transitional period between the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Elected to the French Academy in 1778, he succeeded Voltaire. He produced a
series of Shakespearean tragedies from Roméo et Juliette (1772) and Le Roi Léar (1783) to the highly successful Othello (1792). Despite declining Napoleon's offer of a senatorial position, he accepted the Legion of Honour from Louis XVIII. After the failure of his original tragedy Phédor et Waldamir, Ducis retired from the theatre, spending his remaining days in Versailles, reading widely, obsessively reworking Hamlet, and writing poetry.

With readings by Alexis Danan, David Furlong, Rosie Hilal and Meena Rayann.

Host or Publisher Exchange Theatre with Pr Joseph Harris (Royal Holloway University)