Portland State professors take on Shakespeare: oppression, misogyny, imperialism

Article here. Excerpt:

'Portland, Oregon played host this summer to the Original Practice Shakespeare Festival — which “prides itself on replicating production techniques true to Shakespeare’s time.”

But OPS Fest Company Manager Beth Yocam told the Portland State University student paper PSU Vanguard there certainly are things the company can “update” and “make things land differently” than they would in the playwright’s time.

This is due to what the paper considers a “controversy” — that the playwright’s works remain “highly regarded” given their “prejudiced language and representations.”

Yocam said the OPS Fest Company “attempts to deconstruct patriarchal expectations” by casting “female or nonbinary actors for traditionally misogynistic male characters” and replacing “offensive and racist language.”'