Shakespeare for the Masses

I went through a brief phase studying Shakespeare. This also tied in with my 'I can act' phase. (Hey, college is about experimentation.) Most of the time, I faked my way through.

The stories in Shakespeare are great, but the language is a terrible barrier to that world. In college, the director always 'updated' whatever Shakespeare play we were doing to make it more 'timely,' but stuck with iambic pentameter and archaic terminology.

Sometimes, I just want it told plainly.

Whenever someone dumbs down Shakespeare, I get excited. I like to understand what I'm reading and not work to translate it into Alicia-speak. Shouldn't the time come when the Bard's writings get updated for a new generation?

It's been done with Hamlet.
Hamlet as Told on the Street by Shel Silverstein.
Hamlet (Facebook News Feed Edition) by Sarah Schmelling

I'm not talking about movies or books that take the plot and twist it into something else. I mean taking the whole story - complete with existing characters and settings and just updating the language. (And maybe beef up some subplots.) If this was done, wouldn't more people be into reading these stories?