1) This is a tool you can use on your iPad, an android device, or on a computer (though it appears that on a computer, the plays are rarely free).
2) Not all plays are free. (But "The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet" is! Let's hear it for the 9th grade ELA curriculum!) Be sure to check before you use this app in class.
3) You can choose the original text or a modernized (or translated, as my students like to say) version. I like to ask students to use the original text because all one has to do to get to the modernized version is swipe one's finger across the screen. But the best part? Now you can do it line by line! When I used this app last year, the whole scene would change. I really enjoy the ease of moving back and forth from the original text and the modern version, and my students appreciate this tool as well, especially as they adjust to Early Modern English.
As you can see, I really like this app. I think it's a smart way to help students learn to appreciate Shakespeare. Yet even if you aren't an English teacher, you can enjoy this app. Perhaps you are a parent and you'd like to help your teen-aged child who is struggling through Shakespeare or perhaps you'd like to brush up on a play before seeing it live. Whatever the reason, if Shakespeare's works will be in your life, so should SwipeSpeare. You won't be sorry.
Cheers,
Lesley