I’m reading NightShakes essays and an author has written: “One of the key points to consider when studying Shakespeare is the theatrical element, the fact that his plays are not meant to be read.”
I edited “are” to “were.” Yes of course, the original plays were not meant to be read but performed. Shakespeare did not care to publish his plays — the production was the point, production as publication. But even early on when the plays were still being performed by Shakespeare’s company, unsanctioned quarto versions were in print — to meet the demand of readers, I suppose.
And somewhere over their 400+ years of existence, the plays have surely settled into at least a dual existence, meant to be meaningfully enacted but also sanctioned as excellent reading material. In this latter existence they have come to stand, for many readers, as kinds of textual puzzles — quite satisfying (if challenging) in their own right.
There is more to this, but I must return to reading essays.