Free Shakespeare

The more productions of Shakespeare I saw, the more I became restless and unwilling to take all that was offered without question. I did not want to see the plays through another person’s eyes and be told what I should think. When reading and thinking about the plays and imagining them in action on a stage, I was continually surprised and challenged but too often when I saw them in performance what was fresh and engaging was dominated by what was traditional, lazy, intrusive or inept. I sought a shared experience that would lead me to a new understanding of the play and awaken sensations and thoughts that caught and held my attention. Frustrated, I tried to share my thoughts in the article reprinted here and subsequently in a short book that is still in print, both entitled Free Shakespeare (1971 and 1974).