Series: Play on Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s most spirited play, adapted for new audiences by Jeffrey Whitty. Tony Award–winning and Oscar-nominated storyteller Jeffrey Whitty offers his adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, mindfully adapted into modern language. Matching the Bard line for line, rhyme for rhyme, Whitty illuminates Shakespeare’s meaning for modern audiences while maintaining the play’s storytelling architecture, emotional texture, and freewheeling humour. Designed to...

To thine own text be true—Lisa Peterson’s translation of Hamlet into contemporary American English makes the play accessible to new audiences while keeping the soul of Shakespeare’s writing intact. Lovers of Shakespeare’s language take heart: Lisa Peterson’s translation of Hamlet into contemporary American English was guided by the principle of “First, do no harm.” Leaving the most famous parts of...

An updated version of The Merchant of Venice that speaks to our contemporary reckoning with racism and injustice. Elise Thoron’s translation of Shakespeare’s searing The Merchant of Venice cuts straight to the heart of today’s fraught issues of social justice and systemic racism. Thoron’s clear, compelling contemporary verse translation retains the power of the original iambic pentameter while allowing readers...

This translation of Shakespeare’s overlooked play will captivate contemporary readers. Virginia Grise takes on one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known plays in her translation of All’s Well That Ends Well. It is a play that has challenged actors, directors, and audiences for four hundred years, and in this edition, Grise updates Shakespeare’s language for modern ears. This translation was written as part...

Shakespeare’s early comedy reimagined for modern audiences. Love’s Labour’s Lost is a wacky comedy of disguise and mischief, following the King of Navarre and his companions as they attempt to swear off the company of women. Focusing on bringing new life into the musicality of Shakespeare’s language, Josh Wilder’s translation of Love’s Labour’s Lost brings out the play’s romp and...

A new translation of Shakespeare’s great tragedy that renews it for today’s audiences. Marcus Gardley’s translation of King Lear renews the language of one of Shakespeare’s most frequently staged tragedies for a modern audience. Gardley’s update allows audiences to hear the play anew while still finding themselves in the tragic midst of Shakespeare’s play. This translation of King Lear was...

A modern translation that will appeal to new audiences. In her translation of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Dipika Guha updates the language of Shakespeare’s comedy through the lens of our current moment. Guha maintains the humour at the heart of the play while making it accessible for both performers and audiences. This translation was written as part of the...

In a respectful, but not reverent, adaptation, Kenneth Cavander reimagines Timon of Athens for the twenty-first century. Never performed in Shakespeare’s lifetime, Timon of Athens presents an intriguing puzzle for contemporary audiences. The disjointed plot and many gaps in the story have led scholars to believe it was a collaboration between Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton, a younger writer known for...