There were lots of ways we could have looked at the topic of Shakespeare's most famous plays. A deeply analytical examination of what makes some plays rise above others. A detailed case study of a single play, like Romeo & Juliet or Hamlet, that has remained popular over the years. Or even a dismissal of the very idea of popularity.

Instead, we decided on a listicle format. What can we say? We've been moving all week, and we needed to relax and have some fun. We hope you'll have some too as we rank our top five most popular plays - if we were the sole deciders of what is popular.

Notes:

• The 171012.html">Shakespeareances list of most often produced plays was our basis for winnowing down the list to the most common productions for establishing our lists.
• Our five categories for ranking the popularity-factor (TM pending) of each play were as follows:
  • Characters
  • Plot/story
  • Quotability
  • Accessibility
  • Relevance