Morrace
Monday 11th May 2009 10:54pm
2,727 posts
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ May 11 2009, 6:20 PM BST
he was an amalgam of several writers
Possibly. In fact, many say that Shakespeare "stole" or "plagiarised" the majority of his stories from previously published sources. e.g. 'The Merchant of Venice' (written between 1596 and 1598) based on Marlowe's 'The Jew of Malta' (1589 or 1590)
Quote: Gavin @ May 11 2009, 4:22 PM BST
Not enough car chases.
Thing is, there are hardly any directions given in his plays, nor are there any descriptions of characters, etc - apart from, for example:
SCENE II. The sea-coast.
Enter VIOLA, a Captain, and Sailors.
There's dialogue (exposition!) disclosing that they've been shipwrecked and don't know where they are, etc, etc. The scene ends with:
Exeunt
The above scene could be up-dated and set on a tropical island.
Viola with the captain, crew and stewards could be the survivors of an air crash not unlike the first episode of 'Lost'.
This can be done with Shakespeare's plays and many of his peers' plays - and has been with impunity as they're all in the public domain. To update these plays (or just a scene), apart from anything else, is a very good exercise in writing.
Gavin could even stick in a car chase or two!