Shakespeare Goes Maori

The Merchant of Venice, which was translated into Maori in 1945, has become the first Maori-language film version of a Shakespeare play. 

The only adaptation is that the play's fictional town of Belmont has been moved to New Zealand.

Shakespeare's use of language was similar to the ancient Maori style, and captures the essence of how the Maori language would have been spoken before the arrival of the Europeans.

Read more about Shakespeare in the Maori Language>>