Shakespeare

[ando]

I heard Judi Dench asked why she doesn't read audiobooks and she said that even before her macular degeneration that wasn't the way her eyes "read" a text. That its an entirely different skillset being able to "see" the wider text on a first reading and anticipate the tone as opposed to learning lines the way she does.

Interesting. Other than the cover I don't really read audiobooks, either. I listen. 

[SimonNZ]

Interesting. Other than the cover I don't really read audiobooks, either. I listen. 

Heh. After I heard her say that it occurred to me that I've heard a small number of successful audiobooks read by film/tv actors, but far more that were simply flat, making it clear that their "acting" depended on physicality.

Not that I've done an exhaustive survey. But enough to agree that it's a different skillset, or an only slightly overlapping one.

[ando]

Heh. After I heard her say that it occurred to me that I've heard a small number of successful audiobooks read by film/tv actors, but far more that were simply flat, making it clear that their "acting" depended on physicality.

Not that I've done an exhaustive survey. But enough to agree that it's a different skillset, or an only slightly overlapping one.

Indeed. In fact, my favorite actor/performer audiobooks are those read by the subject. Patti LuPone's memoir was the last really fun audiobook I've enjoyed.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Watched several tv clips featuring Dame Judi Dench.  The first one was on Graham Norton in which she recited a sonnet (No. 29 from the comments on the GN show).  I watched it probably four times and was blown away.

Trying to find more of her performing more Shakespeare online and/or recs for performances on DVD to check out.

Here is the clip:

PD

[SimonNZ]

Watched several tv clips featuring Dame Judi Dench.  The first one was on Graham Norton in which she recited a sonnet (No. 29 from the comments on the GN show).  I watched it probably four times and was blown away.

Trying to find more of her performing more Shakespeare online and/or recs for performances on DVD to check out.

Here is the clip:

PD

I would strongly recommend both of these:



She also turns up in smaller roles in the Richard III part of The Hollow Crown series and in Branagh's Henry V

There's also a 1968 film of Midsummer Nights Dream with her as Titania, but I haven't yet found a copy

[ando]

There's also a 1968 film of Midsummer Nights Dream with her as Titania, but I haven't yet found a copy

It's one of my favorite performances from Dench. 

[ando]

Found an interesting 2016 BBC film made up of archived clips and director commentary on film translations of Shakespeare. Penelope Wilton narrates:

[ando]

The '75 Abbado/La Scala production of Verdi's Macbeth with Verrett, Cappuccilli and Ghiaurov is one the best on vinyl/CD but I'm just getting around to watching the staged recording now. Came in about halfway. The full version stream above should stay up for a while after the live one is finished. Recommended.

[foxandpeng]

Watched Antony Sher's magisterial take on Lear, last night.

Hot take?

It was a bit hammy. Heath scene, in particular, wasn't as good as I remember and was, well, just a bit shouty.

[SimonNZ]

Looking for something else I learn that this memoir on performing Shakespeare has just been published:



https://www.amazon.com/Piece-Work-Playing-Shakespeare-Stories-ebook/dp/B0CTM9CWN8

[calyptorhynchus]

OK, it's here, and very very reasonably priced (especially the ebook version).

Buy it here.

[ando]

Making Shakespeare: The First Folio

Hi. Just a reminder that this great program (a Great Performances feature) streaming free on national PBS affiliate websites and its stand alone app will expire in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure where it will be available to watch after Jan. 1 so bookmark it for later viewing if you haven't already seen it. Must watch, imo. It's been up since November of 2023 and I'm just getting around to it now. The IMDb page for it is not terribly informative as far as the film's participants go, but there are a bevy of smart people involved, including a narrator who sounds awfully like Audra McDonald.

[SimonNZ]

Will be seeing performances here of Midsummer Nights Dream in January and Richard III in February. Also in Feb will be a cinema screening of Macbeth with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo:



Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a screening out here of the Macbeth with Ralph Feinnes and - the real draw - the always amazing Indira Varma as Lady M:

[ando]

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a screening out here of the Macbeth with Ralph Feinnes and - the real draw - the always amazing Indira Varma as Lady M:

Agreed. Great draw. Insert zI missed its run in American cinemas last Sring. The National Theater at Home has it streaming with a subscription.

[Kalevala]

Will be seeing performances here of Midsummer Nights Dream in January and Richard III in February. Also in Feb will be a cinema screening of Macbeth with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo:



Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a screening out here of the Macbeth with Ralph Feinnes and - the real draw - the always amazing Indira Varma as Lady M:

Agreed. Great draw. Insert zI missed its run in American cinemas last Sring. The National Theater at Home has it streaming with a subscription.

Simon,

They both look interesting!  I, sadly, don't know the actors' Cush Jumbo nor Indira Varma works.  Any insight into what you like about them/background/awards, etc.?

K

[SimonNZ]

Simon,

They both look interesting!  I, sadly, don't know the actors' Cush Jumbo nor Indira Varma works.  Any insight into what you like about them/background/awards, etc.?

K

I only know Cush Jumbo as one of the officers in the crime show Vera with Brenda Blethyn. Apparently she's also co-lead with Peter Capaldi in a new crime series, but that hasn't made it my way yet.

Indira Varma, however, turns up, often unexpectedly, in a large number of quality British tv shows/miniseries I've seen. She might be most familiar as the mother of the sandsnake girls in Game Of Thrones or as Idris Elba's long-suffering wife in Luther, but for me she's one of those handful of actors where you can safely give your time to watching something just knowing she signed on to it. In fact just the other day I picked up a dvd of the 6-part series The Whistleblowers just because she was one of the two leads.

I can easily imagine her giving a much more convincingly subtly manipulative Lady M than many have attempted.

[ando]

Simon,

They both look interesting!  I, sadly, don't know the actors' Cush Jumbo nor Indira Varma works.  Any insight into what you like about them/background/awards, etc.?

K

I don't know Cush Jumbo's work at all. But my admiration for Varma's work goes back to her debut appearance in Mira Nair's film, Kama Sutra, where Varma plays a free spirited young servant and eventual courtesan. But more recently I've admired her earlier tandem with Ralph Fiennes (and The National) in a production of GB Shaw's Man and Superman. It's a tour de force from Fiennes and Varma is an intriguing opposite to his tempestuous Jack Tanner. Both parts of that production are currently on The Tube -

[Kalevala]

I only know Cush Jumbo as one of the officers in the crime show Vera with Brenda Blethyn. Apparently she's also co-lead with Peter Capaldi in a new crime series, but that hasn't made it my way yet.

Indira Varma, however, turns up, often unexpectedly, in a large number of quality British tv shows/miniseries I've seen. She might be most familiar as the mother of the sandsnake girls in Game Of Thrones or as Idris Elba's long-suffering wife in Luther, but for me she's one of those handful of actors where you can safely give your time to watching something just knowing she signed on to it. In fact just the other day I picked up a dvd of the 6-part series The Whistleblowers just because she was one of the two leads.

I can easily imagine her giving a much more convincingly subtly manipulative Lady M than many have attempted.

I have watched some of the Vera episodes; I should watch more of them (Forget where I left off though!    ).

And I did watch GOT and remember her character in it--very good actress!  I'll jot down their names and see what I can find either online or from my library.   

K

[foxandpeng]

Saturday evening just gone saw us at the RSC in Stratford to watch Twelfth Night. Decent performance, with Freema Agyeman playing Olivia acceptably well, and Samuel West with a positive portrayal of Malvolio.

Hamlet next...

[DaveF]

...Samuel West with a positive portrayal of Malvolio.

I hope his father would have been proud.

And here's something I hadn't seen for a long time:
Dame Edna does Stratford

I'm going to make mischievous reference to it in a book review I'm writing, so had to look it up to get my details right.  It's even funnier than I'd remembered.  (Playback disabled on other sites, hence the link.)