Plays based on some of the classics have been staged for centuries. But which ones have become very popular? Here are some of them:
- “Hamlet” and “Romeo and Juliet” by W. Shakespeare.
These two works are imperishable. “Romeo and Juliet” has been staged since 1599. Even the classical playwrights perceived the characters in different ways: some saw them as unhappy victims of the system, others – young people who paid for their passions and disobedience to their parents. It is “Romeo and Juliet” that production companies love the most. “Hamlet” is considered the pinnacle of theatrical art, so it is dreamed of being played by almost all dramatic actors. Today, producers gravitate toward “modernizing” these plays. - “Tartuffe” J-B. Moliere
Another classic of drama is Jean-Baptiste Moliere. The comedy “Tartuffe” is presented almost in all theaters around the world. In Russia, it is performed at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater, Lenkom, the Theater on Taganka, the Baltic House in St. Petersburg and many other theaters. An interesting fact is that it is this comedy that they do not try to “modernize”, while others are eager to remake. They prefer to leave the classics in the 17th century. - “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmund Rostand
This heroic tragicomedy in verse has been staged at such theaters as Port St. Maarten, Comédie Française, Old Vic, and the Sarah Bernhardt Theater.
Tadashi Suzuki has staged one of the modern interpretations of the play Cyrano de Bergerac. His main character appears to us as a real samurai, and Roxanne French. So the play is often reduced to the eternal theme of the relationship between east and west.
- Chekhov’s “The Seagull.”
Chekhov’s Russian work is also on the list of world plays. It has been staged with pleasure in many theaters around the world since the beginning of the 20th century: theaters in Japan, Korea, France, Germany, and England. Our Chekhov is often staged by foreign directors as well. For example, Christian Lupa, a classic of Polish theater, the world-famous avant-gardist staged The Seagull at the Alexandrinsky Theater. Disregarding the desire to transpose a classic story to modern conditions, Lupa went further and sent Chekhov’s characters into the future, into the world after the industrial catastrophe.
The list could go on, but the most popular productions are the classics.