Timeless Tales With a Modern Twist in ShakespeaRe-Told

New York Times
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Published: August 4, 2006

A SCOTTISH chef carves up his boss, Duncan, king of the celebrity restaurateurs.

A cross-dressing aristocrat tames a shrew aiming to become the next Margaret Thatcher.

Beatrice and Benedick are bickering co-anchors on a local news broadcast, and Titania falls for Bottom in a tacky theme resort known as Dream Park.

There have been so many adaptations of Shakespeare that it would seem almost mathematically impossible to find a fresh approach. Yet the BBC series “ShakespeaRe-Told” manages just that. “Macbeth,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “Much Ado About Nothing” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” have been reconfigured into contemporary tales that are deliciously far-fetched, yet faithful to the plays.