Jeanette Winterson on writing a cover version of Shakespeare

To reimagine The Winter’s Tale as a modern-day novel with hedge funds and video games is to stay true to the spirit of the playwright – he knew how to riff on an idea

‘I w

asn’t interested in copying Shakespeare – this isn’t a retelling’ … Jeanette Winterson. Photograph: Gary Calton

Jeanette Winterson

Saturday 26 September 2015  The Guardian

On the day of the first new moon of June 1599, at 3 o’clock, the new Globe theatre opened its doors with a new show – Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.
Everything was new – it was the spirit of the times. London had quadrupled its population in 80 years; this mass migration itself was new. Young men, in particular, staked themselves for adventure, money and chance.

Anti-apartheid hero, Nazi favourite, Bollywood inspiration – no other writer’s work is embedded in such a variety of cultures, and today takes such different forms

London, an old city, inhabited for more than 1,500 years, was suddenly a youthful city again. Half of its population was under 20. And life expectancy – rich or poor, whether in Shoreditch or Mayfair, barely got beyond 45.

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