I originally wrote this post for the Dutch Courtesan project site.
On 2nd July, Michael Billington wrote an article for the Guardian asking ‘Is it OK to rewrite classic plays?’ Billington’s article, in which he raises concerns about the perceived need to simplify early modern plays for a modern audience, has sparked a heated discussion, but offers our production of The Dutch Courtesan as an example of actors
‘taking a tricky play and making it totally accessible through their vocal clarity.’
The Billington article briefly discusses the RSC‘s A Mad World My Master’s, which makes substantial changes to the original text, but follows a much longer conversation with Michael Cordner at our ‘Jacobean Theatre Now’ event.
The full film of this discussion is now available:
