ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the methods and approach behind my work as Creator/Director of the award-winning Shakespeare Republic: a female-led and culturally diverse short-form anthology web series that celebrates Shakespeare’s works and his insightful understanding of the big issues of his time that still hold relevance today. Shakespeare is often seen as ‘difficult,’ ‘irrelevant,’ and ‘too hard’ by many, and his work is often avoided as an entertainment choice in this modern age. With a desire to make his work more accessible, without compromising his original text, I created a series built on the premise of ‘bite-sized Shakespeare’—taking soliloquies and scenes and endeavouring to make them more appealing to modern audiences by setting each piece in a contemporary situation, while playing with gender and embracing diversity. This chapter shows that playing with Shakespeare’s texts in this sometimes perceived irreverent way only benefits his ‘brand’ and widens his modern audience through the rediscovery, reinvigoration, and occasional re-interpretation of these well-known texts, while remaining true to his original words.
