Where are you on the "real Shakespeare" debate?

[Ponder Stibbons]

True, he mostly dug up old greek and roman stuff then twisted it. Kind of like terry, if you think about it, but less true to today

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

True, he mostly dug up old greek and roman stuff then twisted it. Kind of like terry, if you think about it, but less true to today

That's because it was true to HIS today not ours

In terms of staging and production Shakespeare's work was performed in contemporary (so 16th Cent) costume and language too, with a nod towards prose forms of course. So the 'modern' habit of performing A Mid-Summer's Night Dream in 1920's Italian costume or Hamlet with David Tennant in a skeletal tee shirt is nothing 'new' at all!

 

[raisindot]

Of course none of his plots were in entirely original but that is an invalid argument seen as no plot is entirely original.

Back then, just about every play was based on an earlier source of some kind, whether historical, biblical or based a previous play. Audiences came to see works based on historical figures or stories they were familiar with, so a completely "original" story wouldn't have worked, commercially.

Aristophenes may have been the first playright to actually create plays with "original" stories (even though he used mythical and historical events as backdrops), but the comedians had a lot more latitude in this area.

J-I-B

 

[theoldlibrarian]

Of course none of his plots were in entirely original but that is an invalid argument seen as no plot is entirely original.

Back then, just about every play was based on an earlier source of some kind, whether historical, biblical or based a previous play. Audiences came to see works based on historical figures or stories they were familiar with, so a completely "original" story wouldn't have worked, commercially.

Aristophenes may have been the first playright to actually create plays with "original" stories (even though he used mythical and historical events as backdrops), but the comedians had a lot more latitude in this area.

J-I-B

But even more fundamentally than that, no story is entirely original and only a few are even remotely original. Think of any movie you've seen or book you've read recently and if you do enough research you'll find where they got the idea for the plot from.

 

[Ponder Stibbons]

True, he mostly dug up old greek and roman stuff then twisted it. Kind of like terry, if you think about it, but less true to today

That's because it was true to HIS today not ours

Thats what i meant