In Shakespeare’s day, theatre was intended for all realms of society; the upper and lower classes experienced the same masterpiece, albeit through financially segregated seating zones. Strangely, with the birth of cinema and the inevitable birth of Shakespearean cinematic depictions, this intentional accessibility vanished – Shakespeare became a product of high culture, intended for a demographic of well-cultured thespians and critics. Perhaps due to presumptions about the capability of the uneducated population to understand Elizabethan theatre, individuals outside of these parameters were no longer expected to enjoy Shakespeare.
However, 90s cinema sought to challenge this.
