Actor Mark Rylance has revealed he cuts out parts of Shakespeare's plays because they are antisemitic.

The star of the BBC's Wolf Hall series said he had to decide whether to edit lines when characters said "unfortunate things".

Speaking on Monday at London's Globe theatre, where he was unveiling a recently discovered copy of the playwright's First Folio, he said: "The pressures I feel are more for times where he will say something very antisemitic. I have to make the decision: do I include that or not? There are some very unfortunate things that characters say."

He added: "If a character says it, it doesn't mean the author means it. But since the Holocaust… these statements have a lot more resonance than they did at that time."

Three years ago, Mr Rylance, a former artistic director of the Globe, called on the theatre to cancel a performance by Israeli company Habima.

He was one of 37 people who signed a letter sent to the Guardian, protesting against Habima's inclusion in the Globe Festival and criticising its past performances in West Bank settlements.