INTRODUCTIE

QUOTE : ?If Shakespeare would have been alive now, he would have been a filmmaker.? ?He was not of an age, but for all time?(Ben Jonson, 1623) If you associate Shakespeare?s plays with boredom, just of lot of difficult reading work, old-fashioned and completely out-of-date, what follows on these next pages is really going to challenge your state of mind. Because, how come that so many directors of plays and films still use or adapt his plays today? How come that his work survived the test of time? Just like in fairytales, myths and legends, Shakespeare did not write about typical 16th century stuff. He writes about death, hate, jealousy, betrayal, violence, murder, intrigues peace, ? true love. Sounds familiar? Human nature remains the same throughout time. All these emotions were recorded by one of the best authors to write in the English language. Some people believe that, what Shakespeare has written, must remain untouched and pure. These ?worshippers of the word? believe that you cannot change a single word of what he has written. They consider Shakespeare to be a saint and the texts to be holy. However, these people forget one important thing. If you go back in time, to the 16th century or the Elizabethan Age, no such thing as copyright existed. Shakespeare did not write plays with the intention that they still would be read 400 years later. Just like moviemakers today, Shakespeare was a populair playwright whose main aim was to entertain a large audience. Another group stresses that Shakespeare?s plays were not meant to be read, but to be performed. Throughout the centuries, every performance of the plays is a unique interpretation of the text in the political, social and cultural context. These ?worshippers of interpretation? state that the texts are sources of possibilities and challenges, the ground on which contemporary artists can create their interpretation.