(Applause Books). This expanded edition of Free Shakespeare is a tool to liberate the works of Shakespeare from directors and academics who seek to impose their ideas upon the plays. John Russell Brown empowers actors and readers to approach the plays freshly and boldly armed with the many different interpretations inherent in the plays. Recognized as a benchmark for the understanding of Shakespearean performance in the twentieth century, a new chapter explores the technological and funding challenges facing Shakespearean productions in the next millennium.