Old Wines in New Bottles : Three Examples from French Canadian Theatre
With reference to fundamental critical works and by way of introduction, this essay reviews the main ideologies underlying the special treatment of some classical works of European drama by francophone playwrights in Canada over the past thirty five years. Then the author examines three plays belonging to this period, confronts them with their respective models, and thus investigates the concept of theatrical adaptation and its specific links with translation strategies. The three pairs of texts under consideration are : Le Légataire universel by Regnard /L’impromptu de Québec ou le testament by Marcel Dubé; Le médecin malgré lui by Molière /Cré Sganarelle by Claude Dorge and Bartholmew Fair by Ben Jonson/ La foire de la Saint-Barthélémy by Antonine Maillet.