Shakespeare would be “shocked” to see how his plays are treated today, directors have said, claiming if the Bard were alive today he would say: “Guys, get over yourselves”.

Erica Whyman, deputy director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the award-winning Phyllida Lloyd said Shakespeare would be surprised to see how few women were still on stage in his plays.

Whyman, who claimed American dramas are now much better at providing roles for women than the British stage, said the playwright would say “for goodness sake” if he was still alive.

The directors were interviewed by Mark Ravenhill, a former Shakespeare Company playwright in residence, as part of a Radio 3 feature to mark the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. […continued]