ENDING HAMLET BY SHOOTING HORATIO. James Shapiro in The New York Review (April 19, 2018) recalled watching a production of Hamlet in the 1980’s in which Fortinbras, “as he recited the play’s final line—‘Go, bid the soldiers shoot’—unholstered a pistol, put it to Horatio’s head and pulled the trigger.”
This reminded me of the production of Measure for Measure that I posted on here in which the ending was changed by having a released convict rush forward and stab the nun Isabella to death.