The world of the play is its cultural and historical context as well as the characters' situation and relationships. Old plays can be reinterpreted and their time and setting changed.
Shakespeare’s plays are often reinterpreted in a 20th-century setting. In this clip the cast and crew from the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2011 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream explain how they transformed the court of Oberon and Titania into a 1960's London East End gangster club.