How have we modernized Shakespeare's plays today?

Answer 1

Sometimes they're not!! A good example of a successful movie adaptation is "Romeo + Juliet" with Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. This play was set in modern times, with cars, gas stations, automatic pistols, modern clothes, etc. The original dialog was retained and contemporary music was used as well. "Richard III" was updated to WWII era and some of the dialog was rearranged, but overall it worked anyway. Many others have been filmed and updated as well. On stage, they are also sometimes set in other time periods, but often are not. Because these plays generally run 3 hours, which is way too long for most modern audiences, a lot of directors cut non-essential dialog and/or characters. On stage, projections could be used in, for example, "Hamlet" when his dead father appears and tells Hamlet that the father was murdered. The 3 witches in "Macbeth" could be projections as well. But Shakespeare doesn't need any extra gimmicks or additional special effects. There's already enough violence and poetry without any superfluous nonsense!

Answer 2

The setting