Slings & Arrows
Adapting Shakespeare in Theatre and Television
Published on 17. February 2026
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-1-4875-0772-5 (ISBN)
Description
Canadian television comedy Slings & Arrows shows the backstage lives of a Shakespearean theatre company. Finding wild success in Canada and abroad, the series won twenty-two television awards, received rave reviews in the United States, and the Brazilian version, Som e Furia, earned audiences of eighteen million viewers. This book not only asks but also answers the question, why Shakespeare today?
Offering a diverse collection of essays as well as original interviews with the actors (Rothaford Gray) and creators (Susan Coyne, Bob Martin, and Mark McKinney) of the show, this text is a pivotal resource for any fan, critic, or scholar of Slings & Arrows and Shakespeare adaptation. With the backdrop of debates over Shakespeare's cultural value today, this book fittingly articulates and fosters its own scholarly debate about the relevance of Slings & Arrows in Shakespeare adaptation studies and Canadian theatre. A common theme linking the different perspectives of the book's contributors is the idea that the adaptation of colonial figures like Shakespeare continues to be contentious, and, in fact, is symbolic of colonialism deeply embedded in Canadian cultural identity. Slings & Arrows, the book proposes, does not merely explore Shakespeare and Canada, but rather the more provocative relationship of Shakespeare as Canada.
Tying together themes of art, theatre, film, culture, and colonialism, this collection investigates the longstanding relevance of Shakespeare through the lens of adaptation.
Offering a diverse collection of essays as well as original interviews with the actors (Rothaford Gray) and creators (Susan Coyne, Bob Martin, and Mark McKinney) of the show, this text is a pivotal resource for any fan, critic, or scholar of Slings & Arrows and Shakespeare adaptation. With the backdrop of debates over Shakespeare's cultural value today, this book fittingly articulates and fosters its own scholarly debate about the relevance of Slings & Arrows in Shakespeare adaptation studies and Canadian theatre. A common theme linking the different perspectives of the book's contributors is the idea that the adaptation of colonial figures like Shakespeare continues to be contentious, and, in fact, is symbolic of colonialism deeply embedded in Canadian cultural identity. Slings & Arrows, the book proposes, does not merely explore Shakespeare and Canada, but rather the more provocative relationship of Shakespeare as Canada.
Tying together themes of art, theatre, film, culture, and colonialism, this collection investigates the longstanding relevance of Shakespeare through the lens of adaptation.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
19 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 164 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
670 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4875-0772-5 (9781487507725)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Kailin Wright is an associate professor of English, Jules Leger research chair, and award-winning teacher at St. Francis Xavier University.
Don Moore is an adjunct professor of English at the University of Guelph.
Don Moore is an adjunct professor of English at the University of Guelph.
Content
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Slings & Arrows: Adapting Shakespeare as Canada in Theatre and Television
Kailin Wright
Act I
"Neither a Borrower nor Lender Be": The Adaptation and Remediation of Shakespeare
1. Reborn in Germany: Theory and the Theatre in Slings & Arrows
Matt Williamson
2. Slings & Arrows: An Intermediated Shakespearean Adaptation (reprint)
Kim Fedderson and J.M. Richardson
3. Specters of Ethics, Race, and Colonial Inheritance in Slings & Arrows:
The Hyperreal Spectacle of Shakespeare as Canada
Don Moore
4. Performing "a Nobody": An Interview with Rothaford Gray on His Role as Nahum in Slings & Arrows
Don Moore and Kailin Wright
Act II
"What Players Are They?": Vulnerable Performativity, Spectatorship, and Ghosts
5. "Who's There?": Slings & Arrows's Audience Dynamics (reprint)
Kailin Wright
6. Actors, Names, and the Cultural Inheritance of Slings & Arrows
Laura Estill
7. Fistfights and Sacrifice: Troupe Dynamics, Transformation, and Shakespeare Offstage
Elizabeth E. Tavares
8. Coloured "Extras" and Spotlit Whites: Spectating "Race" in Slings & Arrows
George Elliott Clarke
9. Comic Terror and Masculine Vulnerability in Slings & Arrows: Season Three. (reprint)
Francesca T. Royster
Act III
"The Play's the Thing": Television, Theatre, and the Afterlife of Slings & Arrows
10. "Why Shakespeare? Why Canada?": An Interview with Susan Coyne, Bob Martin, and Mark McKinney on Creating Slings & Arrows
Kailin Wright
11. Levinas-Based Shakespearean Adaptation, Performance, and Fandom in Slings & Arrows
Lisa S. Starks
12. Haters Gonna Hate: Vid Adaptations of Slings & Arrows
Charlotte Stevens
13. Exhaustive Shakespeare, Shakespearean Exhaustion: Slings & Arrows and the End of Endless Adaptation
Daniel Fischlin
Afterword
Mark Fortier
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Slings & Arrows: Adapting Shakespeare as Canada in Theatre and Television
Kailin Wright
Act I
"Neither a Borrower nor Lender Be": The Adaptation and Remediation of Shakespeare
1. Reborn in Germany: Theory and the Theatre in Slings & Arrows
Matt Williamson
2. Slings & Arrows: An Intermediated Shakespearean Adaptation (reprint)
Kim Fedderson and J.M. Richardson
3. Specters of Ethics, Race, and Colonial Inheritance in Slings & Arrows:
The Hyperreal Spectacle of Shakespeare as Canada
Don Moore
4. Performing "a Nobody": An Interview with Rothaford Gray on His Role as Nahum in Slings & Arrows
Don Moore and Kailin Wright
Act II
"What Players Are They?": Vulnerable Performativity, Spectatorship, and Ghosts
5. "Who's There?": Slings & Arrows's Audience Dynamics (reprint)
Kailin Wright
6. Actors, Names, and the Cultural Inheritance of Slings & Arrows
Laura Estill
7. Fistfights and Sacrifice: Troupe Dynamics, Transformation, and Shakespeare Offstage
Elizabeth E. Tavares
8. Coloured "Extras" and Spotlit Whites: Spectating "Race" in Slings & Arrows
George Elliott Clarke
9. Comic Terror and Masculine Vulnerability in Slings & Arrows: Season Three. (reprint)
Francesca T. Royster
Act III
"The Play's the Thing": Television, Theatre, and the Afterlife of Slings & Arrows
10. "Why Shakespeare? Why Canada?": An Interview with Susan Coyne, Bob Martin, and Mark McKinney on Creating Slings & Arrows
Kailin Wright
11. Levinas-Based Shakespearean Adaptation, Performance, and Fandom in Slings & Arrows
Lisa S. Starks
12. Haters Gonna Hate: Vid Adaptations of Slings & Arrows
Charlotte Stevens
13. Exhaustive Shakespeare, Shakespearean Exhaustion: Slings & Arrows and the End of Endless Adaptation
Daniel Fischlin
Afterword
Mark Fortier
Contributors
Bibliography
Index