Friday, July 15, 2005

Bard news?

A fascinating Guardian piece in which two eminent Shakespeareans look forward to next year's RSC productions of all 37 of Will's plays.

Dominic Dromgoole, the incoming artistic director of the Globe, claims the Bard is arguably more relevant now than ever, whereas Gary Taylor, one of the editors of OUP's Complete Works, is markedly less enthusiastic, arguing: "What we will get ... is the old cliche about Shakespeare's 'infinite variety'. The aesthetics of the supermarket. Walmart Shakespeare. Walmart is international, Walmart is ambitious, and - if we measure 'universality' numerically - Walmart tells us more about human nature than the Complete Works of Shakespeare. But we all pay a price for Walmart (whether or not we shop there), and we will all pay a price for the year-long bard binge the RSC is about to impose on us".

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