What and where: stories, plots and worlds

Abstract

In class we sometimes forget just how good Shakespeare’s stories are. But not in the theatre; here the action sweeps us along. We should always remember that

• what we see in the theatre are actions performed by a set of characters.

Shakespeare’s ideas and themes are enthralling, but what makes them so is the fact that they’re acted out by characters on a stage. A useful point to remember is this:

• the story comes first.

Ideas arise out of the story. Julius Caesar is about loyalty and treachery, but those ideas emerge because we see before us a story of how a group of people kill the man who was once their friend.