I’M OK WITH CHANGING THE GENDER OF SHAKESPEARE’S CHARACTERS, TRANSLATING SHAKESPEARE AND CUTTING SHAKESPEARE, IF IT ENLARGES THE AUDIENCE FOR SHAKESPEARE. I only disagree with the new director of the Globe in one respect.
As for her first two positions:
[1] Changing the gender of Shakespeare’s characters. I have seen several all-female productions (Much Ado, Twelfth Night, Richard III—at the Globe) and several all-male productions (the three parts of Henry VI, Twelfth Night). All of them worked. As for changing the gender of individual characters, Shakespeare, with boys playing women, already did a lot with gender shifting.
[2] Welcoming in “noisy, beer-swilling audiences”. Shakespeare on the Sound opens tomorrow (weather permitting), on the Five Mile River, just two blocks down the hill from us. There will be noise—trucks going by and every so often a fire alarm. Children will be wandering around. People will not be swilling beer, but they will be picnicking and drinking lots of white wine. The first production in 1996 was Much Ado. This year it is Hamlet.