William Shakespeare hasn’t stood still through the centuries. As Bart van Es points out in this engaging essay, his texts are rich enough to bare many sorts of stagings and settings. That wealth is based on the fullness of his characters as well as the fulsomeness of his language. Prior to Shakespeare, plays were populated by types. He filled the stage with people in three dimensions. As for comedy, the boundary between his comedies and tragedies has often been drawn too sharply, van Es argues. By changing the accent marks, even The Taming of the Shrew has been staged as tragedy.
