To whom...,
As a lover of the Bard I have a rule of thumb: When you hear the director or actors or someone talk about a new Shakespeare production and tell you how great Shakespeare's *stories* are, the production will invariably be crap. Shakespeare stories are really just vehicles for poetry. The poetry's the thing.
I did not see the production to which Uncle Lou refers, but I am glad to hear that they went far enough outside the lines of the original story. "Ran" is a great re-make of King Lear entirely because it is barely a re-make of King Lear. I think it's good when people use Shakespeare stories because of their familiarity and then build their own dramas on them. After all, that's what Shakespeare did for the guys he ripped off and he did them an enormous favor.
peace
p.s. - I also think that nearly every recent production of Shakespeare has been over-acted. I'd like to see actors and directors remember that when doing Shakespeare, Shakespeare is the star of the play.