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26

Out Now: Classical Comics’ adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V

Posted in: Press Room on 26th November 2007 by UKSFBN admin

'Classical Comics' adaptation of Henry V' by William Shakespeare - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukClassical Comics is a new UK-based independent publishing outfit with a unique approach to publishing great works of literature in an accessible, reader-friendly graphic format.

Their first two titles, Shakespeare's Henry V [Amazon and Macbeth [Amazon] are both being published in three separate editions, with identical illustrations across all three, but different interpretations of the text: 'original', 'plain' and 'quick'.

In a press release, Classical Comics' Karen Wenborn explains the concept: "Having been told by young readers that they were bored by the Bard, Classical Comics set out to make Shakespeare as energetic and colourful as Spider-Man.

"With literacy levels in schools, and amongst school-leavers, at an all time low, Classical Comics has devised a revolutionary three-tier dialogue approach as an invaluable classroom teaching tool. Each book is published in three versions: Original Text – the full, unabridged script; Plain Text – a modern English version of the original script; and Quick Text – with reduced, simplified dialogue for easier and faster reading."

Clive Bryant of Classical Comics explains further: "We wanted to spread a joy and appreciation of literacy, and particularly to target readers in key stages 2 and 3. Often children of that age are forced to read Shakespeare, but they struggle to get past the language.

"The comic book format and three text versions will undoubtedly help with their understanding. By providing these three text versions, which are all on the same artwork, we allow a reader to absorb the story at Quick Text level, proceed onto Plain English, and then onto the Original script. That way, they understand the play and can appreciate the beautiful language that Shakespeare used.

"We believe that we've created a way for readers to enjoy these fantastic stories regardless of their age or their reading ability."

Karen continues: "Not wanting to patronise its readers, and mindful of the sanctity of the original text, Classical Comics carried out a large amount of research to arrive at the right approach with its books.

"The response from teachers, parents and young people themselves has been extremely positive; three schools - Olveston Primary School, Gloucestershire, Ingleton Middle School, Lancashire and City of Ely Community College, Cambridgeshire - are currently road testing the books. Teaching resources, in the form of both hard-copy ready-made lesson plans for teachers, and interactive whiteboard toolkits, are available to accompany each book."

Four more titles have been scheduled for publication later in 2008, with each being made available in an abridged Original Text and Quick Text versions [click on the titles for more information from the Classical Comics website]:

And there's plenty more information on the whole project at www.classicalcomics.com.

Source: Karen Wenborn, Classical Comics


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2 Responses to “Out Now: Classical Comics’ adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V”

  1. Joe on November 28th, 2007 7:44 pm

    Worth noting that the artwork for Henry V is by Neill Cameron, very well known on the British small press comics scene; as well as his own Thumpculture on his site - http://www.neillcameron.com/ - he collaborated with Jason Cobley on Bulldog Empire, the first part of which was featured in the first Mammoth Book of Best New Manga last winter from Constable. Macbeth features art from another well known Brit comics person, Jon Haward, who's done a lot of work for the UK editions of Marvel collections published by Panini (you can see his work on his site: http://www.jonhawardart.com/). So as well as maybe getting more kids interested in reading (and having had a look at them they are very accessible, with extra material on the play, Shakespeare and the real history included, very handy for teachers) they're also generating some welcome work for Brit artists.

  2. Darren Turpin on November 28th, 2007 7:46 pm

    Cheers Joe, excellent info there, mate.

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