ABSTRACT
In 1608 the King's Men began performing indoors at the Blackfriars Theatre as well as at the Globe. Shakespeare was out of fashion by the end of his career. The view of Shakespeare's plays has been deeply affected by their production history. Facelifts of Shakespeare dictated by the aesthetics and biases of subsequent periods have perpetuated false traditions even after they were no longer used. William Davenant, the manager of one of the two London companies who followed Ben Jonson as poet laureate in 1638. For his 1674 adaptation of Macbeth, Davenant gave the Sisters additional songs, scenes, and dances. Davenant's Macduffs are sentimentalized as the good foils for the evil Macbeths in several added scenes. Other Restoration adaptations of Shakespeare's plays held the stage for an even longer period of time and with similar damage. The most notorious Restoration adaptation is Nahum Tate's version of King Lear. He removed the Fool and gave Lear and Cordelia a happy ending.
