If someone were to ask me to name my favorite playwright, I would say Oscar Wilde in a heartbeat. But if that same person were to ask for one of my favorite movies, I'd just as quickly same "10 Things I Hate About You"... and since I watch movies more frequently than I go to the theater, should I give Shakespeare some credit for one of my top ten movies?
There is no doubt that Shakespeare is one of the most influential writers who transcends hundreds of years and is still studied in classrooms worldwide. However, I am not one to cozy up with one of his plays for a long read unless it is for a class- it's just not my style. (More power to those of you who do this!) But I love his stories and the many adaptations of them- like "10 Things I Hate About You" and the musical, "Kiss Me, Kate." For me, it has more to do with the kind of characters and the way they develop over the course of events and less to do with the use of iambic pentameter and rhyme. Unlike this number from "Kiss Me, Kate" suggests, not all girls would be impressed with a guy who brushed up his Shakespeare...
What do you think? Do you feel like modern day adaptations do justice to the timeless work of Shakespeare or not? Do you prefer the classic performances as they looked in his time or the modern performances which take liberties with altering the script?
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I feel like these modern works do do some justice to Shakespeare's timeless works because even though they are not as rich as the original text, they are still getting Shakespeare's work out there. This keys in on his truly timeless plots and drama.
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