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Finally catching up on #NotGranShax, and the conversation between @drlettycgarcia @noraj_williams and @emeramchugh is really highlighting the profound weirdness of how many Anglophone directors think.
The whole notion of what a "concept" is -- just so utterly, utterly bizarre. "Let's set this Shakespeare play in this historical context and this very specific place because I want that aesthetic": that's not a concept.
It's also (as all three of the presenters noted) not a justification for using those settings. The frequency with which Anglo directors go for super-specific frames of reference without then actually thinking through them remains totally baffling to me. WHY?
And even if they think through the specifics: unless the new frame is one that's MORE familiar to your audience than Shakespeare's, what's the point? What exactly is gained by nerding out over a 1930s Measure for Measure? That's just a different kind of museum theatre.
