Shakespeare took Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland and refashioned them into stories fit for the theatre – the most popular format of his time – transforming history into a rose that “might never die”.
Now Penguin Random House and Brett Wright are returning the compliment, publishing Shakespeare’s classics in a medium made for the 21st century: textspeak. The OMG Shakespeare series, published under the Random House Books for Young Readers imprint, includes YOLO Juliet. srsly Hamlet. And the forthcoming Macbeth #killingit and A Midsummer Night #nofilter.
“Imagine: what if those star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet had smartphones? A classic is reborn in this fun and funny adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays!” says Penguin Random House. “Two families at war. A boy and a girl in love. A secret marriage gone oh-so-wrong.”
“Follow-back expert” Freddy Amazin wasn’t impressed, tweeting “Never wanted to burn a book before.” Early comments on Amazon.com include: “This is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen” and the succinct “*poop emoji*” . But have these critics spoken too soon? One user of the shopping site appears to be convinced by the new version:
“I read Romeo and Juliet when I was a freshman in high school about 5 years ago. Being that young it was kind of hard trying to read through and understand everything because it was in old english, but now I’m pretty clear on what the story is all about. Its a tragic love story and I loved it even though the ending was sad.”
So there you go. Shakespeare, redux. At least now we can find out what he was on about.
