If you need some ideas for 'modernizing' your play, or simply to think about problem scenes and ideas, here are some useful resources!
PAST ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY PRODUCTIONS:
This link has clickable productions from 1960 to the present, showing every time a play has been performed, and some of the production notes and photos outlining how it was performed and some adaptations that were made. Some entries have more detail than others, but note that, for example, The Comedy of Errors was only performed FOUR times in 60 years (!) by the RSC, most of them recently: in 1996, 2005, 2010, and 2012. So this tells you that it used to be totally ignored, but has now become almost popular--maybe an undiscovered gem among Shakespeare's plays?
THE LINK: https://www.rsc.org.uk/about-us/history/past-rsc-productions
THE GLOBE THEATRE WEBSITE
This showcases plays that are performed at the reconstructed Globe Theatre in London, where Shakespeare actually performed many of his plays. They always do a more 'traditional' staging, though minus boy actors, yet still try to incorporate modern ideas and practice. Note that on May 20 they feature "Anti-Racist Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream," a free webinar about race and Shakespeare's play. Many of these events can be streamed at home, some for free, and some for normal ticket prices. But it gives you a sense as to what plays are being performed and how in Shakespeare's 'home.'
THE LINK: https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/
LOVE TROUBLE
A review about a 2013 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, noting some of the uncomfortable issues in the play, notably: "In the playing, of course, much of the venomousness comes across — as it should — as hyperbolic, and therefore comic. And it’s of course true that Titania, Lysander and Demetrius have all been led into their romantic follies not by the yearnings of their own hearts, but by the manipulations of magic."
THE LINK: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/theater/the-light-and-dark-of-a-midsummer-nights-dream.html
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: A PROTEST WITHIN A PLAY
An article about the Habima Theater's production of The Merchant of Venice in Hebrew at the Globe Theatre in 2012. It caused a large protest which almost spilled onto the stage. As the author writes, "The thought that crossed my mind, as I watched events unfold on the stage and in the auditorium, was not so much how resonant the themes contained within Shakespeare's play still are, but what protests, if any, would The Merchant of Venice have provoked had it been written today and not more than 400 years ago?"
THE LINK: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-18262621
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW: THIS IS NOT A WOMAN BEING CRUSHED
A review of a 2012 production with interviews by the actors, asking them what kind of play this really is. As one actor notes, "Hall doesn't think Shakespeare was being misogynistic in portraying female subjugation, but questioning the values of society. "He's challenging an audience's expectations of how a woman is supposed to behave. What if, as a human being, she doesn't want to roll over, as was expected in Shakespeare's day? I actually think he's championing the woman's rights."
THE LINK: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jan/17/taming-of-the-shrew-rsc
POWER AND GENDER IN THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
An article from the British Library with many historical document giving context about Shakespeare's time and intentions. A great overview of many of the controversial issues, and how they could be understood in light of Shakespeare's age.
THE LINK: https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/power-and-gender-in-the-taming-of-the-shrew#
WHY SHYLOCK SHOULD NOT BE CENSORED
A New York Times article from 1974 tackling the problematic question of Shylock, and why he's still relevant to the stage (and our lives).
THE LINK: https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/31/archives/why-shylock-should-not-be-censored-tv.html
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