- LONDON (Reuters) - A British
theater company has dropped the word hunchback from its stage adaptation
of the classic novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" to avoid offending
disabled people, newspapers reported Friday.
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- Oddsocks Productions has renamed its touring production
"The Bellringer of Notre Dame" after discussions with a disability
adviser raised the possibility of offending people with spina bifida or
the disfiguring scoliosis of the spine.
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- "We have not changed the novel in any way, we simply
felt changing the title would cause less offence of people," producer
Elli Mackenzie was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.
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- French author Victor Hugo's classic 1831 novel, set in
15th century Paris around the cathedral of Notre Dame, tells the tragic
story of a deformed bellringer Quasimodo and his love for a beautiful gypsy
girl Esmeralda.
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- The novel has been translated into 20 languages and adapted
several times for the stage and screen -- including a 1939 Hollywood film
starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara.
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- The original title of the novel was "Notre Dame
de Paris," but its name was changed when the book was translated into
English and the hunchback has remained part of the title until now.
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- Libby Biberian of the Scoliosis Association told newspapers
she was pleased at the change.
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- "I would be embarrassed and offended by the original
title," she said.
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