Catching up on Shakespeare

[Kegek]

I neglected to mention the Shakespeare films I've been watching.

Well, if you're interested in rather loose cinematic interpretations, there's always Kurosawa's Throne of Blood (MacBeth) The Bad Sleep Well (Hamlet), and Ran (King Lear), which are all available under the Criterion label.

I've always liked the Olivier films personally, and they do bear rewatching. Once I had to edit down Hamlet substantively for time and Olivier's Hamlet was my primary model.

 

[S. Gomez]

Well, it's been a bit since I've posted thoughts on Shakespeare. Sorry about that (at least, to those who care). I sort of wanted to get through the 'Henriad' and post about it collectively, then I found myself getting into Hamlet before I could get a chance to.

The Histories--Second Tetralogy: This was the second time I had read the quadrilogy and it still holds up, from the beautiful poetry of Richard II to the troubling complexity of Henry V (which is, by the way, my favourite of the Histories; the Olivier and Branagh films together demonstrate how radically a play can be reinterpreted in performance). Perhaps a low point can be found in Henry IV, Part Two; the two major scenes aren’t until the end of the piece, and I found myself a little lost with some of the Falstaff sequences. I plan to watch the BBC productions of all four, particularly for Derek Jacobi in Richard II.

Hamlet: Well, really, what can you say? It’s Hamlet, fer cryin’ out loud! But this time, I found myself digging deeper into things, and I think I’ve come out the other end with an even deeper appreciation than I had before. For some reason, I feel desperately inclined to perform Shakespeare (I wouldn’t really want to act in anything else) and certainly the Prince of Denmark practically tops the list of roles I’d love to get a crack at. The DVD of Branagh’s film is on my birthday list; if I don’t unwrap it, I’m going to buy it. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen it in quite a while, though the memory of by far my favourite version is strong.

Well, that ends my “first phase” in engaging with Shakespeare’s play-texts this summer (I’m going to try to get to them all); I’ll take a break now for some sci-fi and then dive back in.

 

[CaptainCanada]

I’ve got the Kenneth Branagh movie (in which he doesn’t act?!?) on hold from the library.

He has a voice cameo.

He was apparently considering playing Touchstone, but decided to cast Molina in that part instead.

Regarding Henry IV, Part II, I've read some interesting literary analysis that argues that it was originally one play split in two, with most of the important stuff placed in the first part, and so it is filled out with a rehash of the first part's main plot and more rustic comedy scenes, before getting to the important banishment stuff.

Richard II is one of my favourites; very underrated.

If you're looking into film, Orson Welles' The Chimes at Midnight (or Falstaff) is a classic; he takes pieces from all the plays Falstaff was in and cuts them to together to make a single movie centred on the character's story. All-but-lost, really; I had to order my DVD in from Brazil through a middle-man.