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From kings to groundlings, Shakespeare made his work profound for everybody. That is how it should be. There is no hierarchy in theatre. It makes everyone part of a collective.

Shakespeare is, essentially, the emanation of the Renaissance. The overflow of his fame on the Continent in later years was but the sequel of the flood of the Renaissance in Western Europe. He was the child of that great movement, and marks its height as it penetrated the North with civilization.

You can find more traditional Shakespeare than we do. But what we want to bring to these works is energy, passion, freshness.

It's amazing how, age after age, in country after country, and in all languages, Shakespeare emerges as incomparable.

To have a sense of contemporary ownership of Shakespeare is the most important thing to his work.

It's like saying French shouldn't be taught because you don't understand it because it's new. Shakespeare is just like learning a new, exciting language.

With Shakespeare, because you invest so much time in working on material, it always sort of stays with you to some degree.

At his heart, Shakespeare was a YA author. So many of his plays are set with high school-aged characters. He understood the passion, the confusion and drama that marks that life stage.

Particularly for English people, Shakespeare is always at the forefront of both drama and the English language. He's always been there. I can't remember starting school and not learning about him.

Shakespeare is universal.