Hip-hop musicals,Star Trek speeches among team’ s literary discoveries

BY BARBARA AGGERHOLM
GUELPH

Shakespeare speaks to Catholic nuns. He speaks to aboriginal peoples, French-Canadians and the gay community.

Heck, he even speaks to HIingons. A University of Guelph professor and a team of researchers are reveal- ing the vast influence that William Shakespeare’s works have had on Canadian culture.

In so many ways, Canadians are staking their claim on the Bard’s writ- ing and reshaping it to suit their own experience.

Even the experts are surprised by how much energy Canadians have de- voted to adapting the works of Shake- speare since pre-Confederation. They’ve unearthed 500 adaptations, more than a quarter of them in Que- bec… (continued in attached file)