LONDON, April 8 (UPI) -- A new edition of Shakespeare's works, published in London with official backing, has changed some of the characters and elements of his plays.
One of the main changes in the "RSC Shakespeare Complete Works" is the character of Lady Macbeth -- in the new version she is not quite as vindictive, The Sunday Times in London reported.
The "Works" claims to be a version that is closer to the playwright's original intentions.
It uses Shakespeare's First Folio of 1623, which is the version authorized by John Hemings and Henry Condell, Shakespeare's fellow actors.
The new edition was created by a team of authors and experts and was led by Jonathan Bate, professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance literature at the University of Warwick, and Eric Rasmussen, professor of English at the University of Nevada.
Directors are still free to cut or add lines with the new version, but the new texts, says the Royal Shakespeare Company, "will form the base text provided for every director working with the company."
