Those examples just show you how destructive the theater can be to his writings. I don't think an actor's interpretation has any inherent superiority over the reader's, and is often much worse. I know from my own experience that a lot of actors don't even understand Elizabethan texts.
agreed a hundred times agreed, it is imersing oneself in the Eizabethan world that is exciting. To devolve his works to fit a feminist of gay agenda, or a nationalist or social agenda, is to miss the gold. but if one wraps oneself in the age of exploration, the English flower of philosophical awakening that was his time....I don't mean some stuffy masterpiece theate crap, its more a rough world with small pieces of exquisite beauty. Hamlet - a modern man in a Mideval world....Caliban - the native - the savage on a faroff island.... the awakening possible only to a seafaring people....their ocean voyages were more exotic than our space travel with contrast to their knowledge. The 2 best Hamlets (on film) are a Russian version from the 30s and Kevin Kleins'. The best Lear (on film) ironically is Albert Finney in The Dresser---he gets the FIVE nevers beautifully....makes me cry... but hey, were conservatives, eh, guess we agree in the sense that we are both "Originalists". Hope to continue this....passionate about the Bard... WONDERFUL.