Introducing Shakespeare to the fringes of Europe: The first Romanian performance of The Merchant of Venice

Abstract

Shakespeare was introduced into the Romanian Principalities between 1830 and 1855, beginning with a production of The Merchant of Venice, translated from a French adaptation of the play. This essay considers the dearth of critical attention paid to the influence of French melodrama in Southeastern Europe, and in Romania in particular; examines the circulation of Shakespearean productions in this area; and investigates the various processes of de-and re-contextualization involved in the melodramatic adaptation of The Merchant of Venice in France in the 1830s and in its translation/performance in the Romanian Principalities in the 1850s.