WIDELY regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, whose phrases still pepper the spoken word centuries on, Shakespeare is now accused of being “problematic”, featuring scenes in his work that could be "potentially triggering" to audiences and actors.
What’s happening?
The Bard is the focus of a new project that aims to highlight his “glossing over” of issues such as sexual ethics and consent.
In works from centuries ago...?
Indeed, the playwright, poet and actor, considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time, wrote his plays - from Romeo & Juliet to Hamlet - in the late 16th and early 17th centuries for a small repertory theatre, but hundreds of years on, they are still performed and read all over the world.
And the problem is…?
Hailey Bachrach, a US-born dramaturg who is based in London and doing a PhD focusing on "historical and contemporary performance of Shakespeare's history plays through a feminist lens”, has voiced concerns that aspects of some of Shakespeare’s most popular plays could be “potentially triggering” to modern audiences and actors.
How so?
The academic, who believes the actors should be taught about sexual ethics, points out that, for example, neither Henry V or Richard III receive an actual “yes" from Princess Katherine and Lady Anne respectively in the Bard’s works, while Titania is drugged and therefore unable to consent to sex with Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
This makes him “problematic”?
Bachrach told the Telegraph: “If Shakespeare is being more regressive and less careful about consent than other writers, that is very interesting to know. It can make Shakespeare problematic. No matter what Shakespeare intended, it is experienced by modern actors and modern audiences. It could potentially be triggering.”
What now then?
The academic, who is researcher at the University of Roehampton, has launched a “Shakespeare and Consent” project that will run over three years, offering workshops for performers to highlight the issues around consent and the famed playwright’s “glossing over” of said issues.
What has the response been to her remarks?
Not hugely supportive it has to be said, ranging from "That naughty Mr Shakespeare - he never gave woke a thought" to "Give me a break!”
As for William?
His words have resonated and endured through the ages to such an extent that you may find yourself today using phrases from his sonnets and plays 400 years ago without even realising.
For example?
Some of his expressions still used today include, to name but a few, "Too much of a good thing", from As You Like It; "Cruel to be kind" and "In my heart of hearts" from Hamlet, "He hath eaten me out of house and home" from Henry IV, "The be-all and the end-all" and "What's done is done" from Macbeth, "Foregone conclusion" from Othello and "All that glitters isn't gold" from The Merchant of Venice.
