Shakespeare Abuse.

I recorded a TV performance of Bill Shakespeare's Julius Caesar which I began to watch yesterday. I was rather bemused to find that it had been set in a warring african kingdom.

Okay. I know about The Boys From Syracuse, West Side Story, Forbidden Planet and the many other productions which pay a certain lip service to Bill.

FINE.

BUT I find it all rather tedious that every director is vying with every other director to find new and different settings for the actual plays.

What is the point? Why was the Macbeth I saw at The Crucible in Sheffield set in First World War Trenches? What purpose was served?

We see little enough Shakespeare. It would be rather nice to see good productions as the author intended.