Remaking e refashioning “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”: cartoons, fumetti, manga e graphic novels

Abstract

The plays of Shakespeare have undergone radical transformations in the ways they have been produced and perceived over the centuries.  In the 20^th and 21^st centuries, the plays have been adapted, localized, appropriated through a vast range of media: theatre, cinema, music, comics, and cartoons. This article will focus on the appropriation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in form of cartoons and comics, comparing different versions and different media, from the puppet version of Jiri Trnka to the animated tales, to the manga version adapted by Richard Appignanesi and illustrated by Kate Brown, to Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel version of the play.