Terminator 2 Gets Shakespearean Rewrite

Is this an Uzi 9mm which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?

Killer cyborgs from the future, like those you might find in James Cameron’s classic 1991 action movie Terminator 2, aren’t something you’d normally associate with the works of William Shakespeare. That hasn’t stopped Nashville-based theater company Husky Jackal from fusing the two together however, and in doing so, creating the positively regal sounding “Terminator the Second.”

The project got its genesis when Husky Jackal was looking for a way to insert some theater into the Nashville independent music scene. The idea of converting the popular movie came to Husky Jackal in a late-night flash of inspiration, and using only material taken from Shakespeare’s plays – and only those from folios printed before or on 1685 – they pieced together a new version of T2’s script, line by line. They were very strict on authenticity, and only changed names and proper nouns, pronouns, and the occasional verb ending to make the lines fit together. The end result works surprisingly well, as you can see below:

Terminator: It is the T-1000 that threatens thee. He is indeed, sir, the most skillful, bloody, and fatal opposite you could possibly have found.
John: How should he be made then?
Terminator: There are a sort of men whose visages do cream and mantle like a standing pond. This outward-sainted deputy is yet a devil.

Husky Jackal said that the reason it works so well is that underneath all the crazy action sequences and sci-fi trappings, is a movie about characters. What’s more, parallels to the themes in the movie – themes like dire prophecies, madness, and a mother’s love for her son – can be found throughout Shakespeare’s work. Having finished the script – which is no mean feat by itself – Husky Jackal is hoping to raise enough money to actually put on a production of the show. They figure they need at least $3,000 to put on a bare bones version, but hope to raise more and do an even better production. You can donate to the fund on Husky Jackal’s Kickstarter page, as well as read a little more of the script.

Source: Blastr

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