WS

Reading Michael Wood's In Search of Shakespeare is leaving me with the sense that the reality of Shakespeare challenges our rather tired and earnest ideas of what a great artist is. If he'd been writing today he would have been hauled before the courts as a plagiarist. He was often an improver and sometimes a collaborator. He was keen to make money, sensitive to the market and something of an entrepreneur. And not so fussed about credit. A pragmatist. It is not a portrait of lonely tortured soul writing in a garret by candle light, defending his artistic integrity. A much more cooperative view of artistic production.

"Filmmakers are like potters who come down from the hills. They don't want people f–ing with their pots. You either buy it or you don't." - Ray Lawrence