2 Hours Traffic

THE TWO-HOURS’ TRAFFIC SERIES

Is now the two-hours’ traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend…
— from the Prologue, Romeo and Juliet

When we see a performance of any one of Shakespeare’s plays, be it live on stage or on film, chances are that we are dealing with an abridgement or adaptation of the original text.

Recognizing that few productions, even at professional theatres, attempt these plays in their entirety, The Two-Hours’ Traffic Series will provide credible, ready-to-act editions of Shakespeare’s plays that are most frequently produced by American high schools and colleges.

Need one of Shakespeare's plays adapted for your school
as a shorter, more accessible full-length (under 2 hours)
or as a one-act for high school competition (40 minutes)?
Let me know...if time and energy permit, I'll be glad to work with you.

How Edited and Adapted

Each edition abridges and adapts the original text according to the following guidelines:

Performance of each edition should require no more than two hours, hence the title of the series.

Cuts to the text are intended to reduce passages that are inaccessible to most American audiences today, primarily obscure literary and mythological references as well as archaic, idiomatic language.

These cuts are judiciously made with sensitivity to the meter and syllabic emphases of the verse.

A limited number of modern word substitutions will be suggested; these substititions also maintain the meter and syllabic emphasis of the line in question.

Characters also may be omitted if they are perceived as extraneous to the action (the Boy in Much Ado) or if they compound the plot structure in ways that make a two-hour reduction impossible (Fortinbras in Hamlet).

Conditions for Use in Production

Your theatre may produce any of these editions free of charge under the following conditions:

If you produce Dave's edition as is, you contact him in advance and cite him in your posters, publicity, and programs as "edited and adapted by David A. McTier."

If you produce Dave's edition but make additional changes, you contact him in advance and cite him in your posters, publicity, and programs as "based on an adaptation by David A. McTier."

Currently Available Titles

The following titles are currently available for your use:

Hamlet (previously produced by Rockhurst University)

A Midsummer Night's Dream (previously produced by Rockhurst University and The Woodlands College Park High School)

Much Ado about Nothing (previously produced by Johnson County Community College)

This page was last modified on Saturday, June 09, 2007

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