Shakespeare

[(poco) Sforzando]

"Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile;
Filths savour but themselves..."

Very apropos.

[NikF]

I finally got to see The Tempest (albeit via live broadcast to a cinema) and it was worth the wait. While a positive fuss was made in the press about the real-time motion capture and effects provided by Intel and Imaginarium, the performance by Simon Russell Beale as Prospero still came through with depth and sensitivity. Good stuff.

https://www.rsc.org.uk/the-tempest/about-the-play

[kishnevi]

[Jaakko Keskinen]

it is a coherent whole, but not in my opinion a very nuanced one: basically Timon spends the first half of the play as a total altruist; then he becomes disillusioned by his "friends" and turns into a total misanthrope.

Although that can be argued to be the whole point of the play. At least Apemantus explicitly calls Timon out for his jumping from one extremity to another:

"The middle of humanity thou never knewest, but the
extremity of both ends: when thou wast in thy gilt
and thy perfume, they mocked thee for too much
curiosity; in thy rags thou knowest none, but art
despised for the contrary."

Thus the play could be seen as a study of unpleasant consequences of extremist views in general.

[SimonNZ]

Just learned there's a King Lear with Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Emily Watson et al I wasn't aware of, which came out last year:



also: there was a Shakespeare live with Roy Kinnear as Hamlet. Did anyone see either of these?

[SimonNZ]

Was worried that there wasn't going to be any Shakespeare Live at the theatres this year, but see now there is a Anthony And Cleopatra with Ralph Feinnes and Sophie Okonedo here in may and a Richard II with Simon Russell Beale in June. They seem to have screened overseas already. Anyone catch them?



I know it shouldn't matter, but...the historical Richard II died at age 32 and introduced an era of dandyism to English fashion, so SRB is an odd casting choice.

Can't fault the casting of A&C, and am really excited.

[vandermolen]

I recently really enjoyed 'The Tempest' ( film version) with Helen Mirren as 'Prospera' and Ben Whishaw as Ariel. I found it very moving with good music etc:

[Karl Henning]

I recently really enjoyed 'The Tempest' ( film version) with Helen Mirren as 'Prospera' and Ben Whishaw as Ariel. I found it very moving with good music etc:

Interesting, thanks!

[Mandryka]

I recently really enjoyed 'The Tempest' ( film version) with Helen Mirren as 'Prospera' and Ben Whishaw as Ariel. I found it very moving with good music etc:

There's an amazing filmed Tempest by Derek Jarman.

[Mandryka]

Was worried that there wasn't going to be any Shakespeare Live at the theatres this year, but see now there is a Anthony And Cleopatra with Ralph Feinnes and Sophie Okonedo here in may and a Richard II with Simon Russell Beale in June. They seem to have screened overseas already. Anyone catch them?




I know it shouldn't matter, but...the historical Richard II died at age 32 and introduced an era of dandyism to English fashion, so SRB is an odd casting choice.

Can't fault the casting of A&C, and am really excited.

Yes I saw both and enjoyed both. (I'd never read or seen Anthony and Cleopatra before, my first encounter with the play, apart from the bit in The Wastelands (or is it Four Quartets?).)

[SimonNZ]

Yes I saw both and enjoyed both. (I'd never read or seen Anthony and Cleopatra before, my first encounter with the play, apart from the bit in The Wastelands (or is it Four Quartets?).)

Good to hear, thanks. Curiously Anthony and Cleopatra was the first Shakespeare I saw live, and a production of Richard II some years back was instrumental in rekindling my appetite.

Had to google the Eliot reference. Didn't think it was going to be Four Quartets, which I know and love much more than the Waste Land:

"Four plays inhabit the imagination of The Waste Land with particular presence: Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, Coriolanus and The Tempest. The ancient clash of empires which shapes the erotic tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra anticipates the poem's modern interweaving of European war and personal catastrophe, a parallel which the opening lines of Part 2 brings to the surface: the faltering rhythm of 'The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne', mishears Enobarbus's great description of Cleopatra on her sumptuous royal barge (not 'Chair'), offering a depleted Cleopatra for diminished times. Much of the poem is preoccupied with suffering of a specifically female kind, and if the archetype of Cleopatra involves a downfall that is at least partly the work of her own hands, then the death and madness of Ophelia, from Hamlet, is more unmitigatedly a portrait of victimhood."

[vandermolen]

Interesting, thanks!

Well worth checking out Karl. I was initially sniffy about the idea of a female Prospero but thought that it worked brilliantly and I thought that Helen Mirren and Ben Whishaw were terrific in their respective roles.

[Iota]

There's an amazing filmed Tempest by Derek Jarman.

Well worth checking out Karl. I was initially sniffy about the idea of a female Prospero but thought that it worked brilliantly and I thought that Helen Mirren and Ben Whishaw were terrific in their respective roles.

Both sound very inviting. Thanks for mentioning!

[vandermolen]

Tonight I'm going to see an open air production of 12th Night in Chilham, Kent. Looking forward to it.

[Mandryka]

Tonight I'm going to see an open air production of 12th Night in Chilham, Kent. Looking forward to it.

Hope it doesn't rain.

[vandermolen]

Hope it doesn't rain.

Thanks, weather was fine. We were lucky and performance was in a beautiful landscape setting.

[Mandryka]

Thanks, weather was fine. We were lucky and performance was in a beautiful landscape setting.

When that happens it can be a fabulous thing to do. 12th nights such a hoot, with all those yellow garters or whatever it is.

[vandermolen]

When that happens it can be a fabulous thing to do. 12th nights such a hoot, with all those yellow garters or whatever it is.

That's right. It was very well acted by the young cast who were also talented musicians and singers.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Hope it doesn't rain.

"For the rain it raineth every day.:

- the fool in Twelfth Night.

[SimonNZ]

Saw this earlier today and mixed feelings at best, but still worthwhile.

Far far far too much, especially in the first half ,was given a humorous interpretation and played for laughs, which detracted tome and again from the depth of the characterization and made everything frivolous. Likewise having Enobarbus played as a drunk. The two leads shout their lines at each other (I know this is theater and they have to reach the back row, but still) which robs scenes of not only subtlety, but also romance. Shakespeare's Cleopatra is a hard role to pull off without leaving the viewer wondering what her famous lovers saw in her - it is there in the text if played carefully - and much as I often admire Sophie Okonedo, this one was warped by bad directorial decisions.

The costumes and very creative staging are justly praised.