David Tennant as Hamlet
Shakespeare is on my mind at the moment as next month I’ll be going on holiday to the Cotswolds and visiting Stratford upon Avon – and seeing an RSC production of The Winter’s Tale while I’m there. I was supposed to see an open-air forest production of the same play last year but we couldn’t go as my husband had (suspected) swine flu, so it will be good to see it this year instead.:)
Anyway, I was just thinking it would be nice to watch some Shakespeare productions on film to get me in the mood before going and I’ll probably write (hopefully short) pieces about anything I watch. Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for productions they especially liked. I recently liked the TV version of the RSC production of Hamlet starring David Tennant, which has come up in discussion on a previous posting here – ok, so this is partly an excuse to post a picture of Tennant, who is one of my favourite actors, but hasn’t done much period drama. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Ah. I see we have more in common than just a love of costume drama. Any excuse to post a pic of DT is fine. It is a good pic too.
The only noteworthy productions of Shakespeare I can recall are Richard III with Ian McKellen though that was a contemporary setting, Othello with Ian Holm, and the Brannagh versions. His Henry V is one of my favourite films. Oh and the Toby Stephens Twelth Night. Most of these are films. Many years ago I enjoyed the BBC Shakespeare series. I recently got hold of Romeo and Juliet for my eldest who is studying it this year.
And then there is Shakespeare in Love, not one of my favourite period films and the Dr Who episode where DT meets the bard himself. (DW is occasionally costume drama.)
Janette
Thanks for the suggestions, Janette – I have seen several Branagh productions and enjoyed them, and also seen many of the BBC productions in the past. Will have to get hold of some of these from the library.
I’ve realised DT has actually done more costume drama than I thought, as I was forgetting about ‘Casanova’, and I see from the imdb that he also played Rousseau in a mini-series of ‘The Romantics’ introduced by writer Peter Ackroyd, which I somehow managed to miss completely… yet another one for the ever-growing to be watched list…
I had not heard of the Romantics. Another to add to my list. I have seen part of Casanova but we obviously missed an episode when recording it from TV. HE was also in “He Knew He Was Right” which I have not yet seen.
Janette
Sadly it doesn’t look as if ‘The Romantics’ is available – seems it was an Open University production so it may not have had much publicity at the time. There are one or two clips on Youtube, though. ‘He Knew He Was Right’ is a great production – I remember Tennant being good in his part in that.
The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino as Shylock and Jeremy Iron as Antonio (2004), Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet (1968) and Hamlet (1990) are among my favourite Shakespeare adaptations. Have a nice trip to Stratford then!
I’m sure I saw that ‘Merchant of Venice’ at the cinema, but don’t remember anything about it, sad to say, and it was only six years ago! I must give it a look again. I also love Zefferelli’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, MG – happy memories of going to see it at the cinema with my class at school when we were studying the play for O-level all those years ago when I was 15. I’ve seen it since on TV and especially like Peter (or is it John?) McEnery’s performance as Mercutio in the Queen Mab speech. Thanks very much for the recommendations, and the wishes for a good trip.:)
I remember watching extracts of ‘Othello’ with Kenneht Branagh (I don’t know if it’s the same as the Ian Holm one) while studying it for A-level English lit, and he made a fantastic Iago. He’s also in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ with Emma Thompson as Beatrice, Kate Beckinsdale as Hero and Robert Sean Leonard (better known as Dr Wilson in ‘House’) as Claudio. It’s wonderfully lighthearted.
I’d be interested to see what you make of the BBC’s ‘Shakespeare Retold’ series of a few years ago. As far as I rememeber they did ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, ‘Macbeth’, ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ – with varying degrees of success (transposing Shakespeare into a modern-day setting with more modern-day language).
Rachel, I saw that ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ last year because my son was studying the play for an exam and they put on a special big-screen showing at his school – we both thought it was a great production and as a ‘House’ fan (though I think the series is not as good as it used to be) it was a bonus to see Robert Sean Leonard in this, as well as Branagh and Thompson.
I haven’t seen those ‘Shakespeare Retold’ productions as yet, but definitely want to do so – I wondered if the Andrew Davies ‘Othello’ with Eamonn Walker as policeman John Othello, which has been recommended to me also, was part of the same series, but I see this was a separate production… and looks like it is harder to get hold of. Thanks for your suggestions!
I just realised that I make a mistake in my first post. Ian HOlm was in KIng Lear not Othello. I apologise for that.
I have not see the Othello with Brannagh in it but I have heard that was was very good in it. I enjoyed Much Ado About Nothing when it was on at cinemas but have never seen the vid’ or DVD sadly.
Janette
Don’t worry, I’m always mixing up who was in what! I’d like to see the Branagh ‘Othello’ with Laurence Fishburne as they are both such great actors. I can see I’ll still have a lot more productions to see after my visit to Stratford. Thanks, Janette.
Macbeth is my favourite Shakespeare play & my favourite version of it is the Ian McKellan/Judi Dench RSC production from the 70s. It was available on DVD a few years ago when I bought it. It’s a very simple production, plain costumes, a bare set but so atmospheric. I also like Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet & I recently saw the David Tennant Hamlet which was great.
Thank you for the suggestions, Lyn, and good to hear you also enjoyed the Tennant ‘Hamlet’. I really need to see the Branagh one again too. I like both Ian McKellen and Judi Dench very much so would be interested to see them in Macbeth… so many great adaptations.
Shakespeare is still done on the stage and I’ve seen numerous of these — I love Shakespeare. Alas, many are never filmed. Still ….
A powerful — and insightful — performance of Shakespeare’s _Othello_ which you can get at Netflix is Andrew Davies’s updated _Othello_ (2001) with Eamon Walker, Christopher Eccleston, Keely Hawes, Rita (?) Stirling. It transposes the action to today and Othello and Ben Jago are police officers.
I’ve seen some wonderful productions on the Central Park stage; one filmed was A Midsummer Night’s Dream with William Hurt as Oberon. One of the best renditions of this play I’ve ever seen.
When I was in my later teens I saw a production of Twelfth Night which was not jolly, but bitter and melancholy. It was part of a PBS series called Play of the Week — that’s my best memory to reach that one. There was also a Duchess of Malfi (Webster) done as part of that series.
Also not Shakespeare but electrifying is Middleton’s The Changeling and it exists as a VHS Cassette. Hugh Grant (not at all comic here, scary in fact), Bob Hoskins (truly great), Elizabeth McGovern.
Two Partrick Stewart films: as Iago in an Othello and as Sejanus (Ben Jonson play). Extraordinary.
I’ve a three record (33 long playing records) of the finest Winter’s Tale: John Gielgud as Leontes and Wendy Hiller as Hermione.
So there are a few,
Ellen
Thanks very much for all these suggestions and citations, Ellen, enough to keep me going for ages. I’m very pleased to hear about the productions you have seen by contemporaries of Shakespeare too – The Changeling with Hugh Grant sounds excellent.
Unfortunately the Davies Othello is not available in the UK but I hope it might turn up on TV if I keep an eye on the schedules, as a lot of his dramas do tend to be repeated. I know Eamonn Walker has also played the role of Othello in a film with the original text, so it would be interesting to compare the two.
I’ll be seeing a live performance of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ in the open air in Ipswich next week – weather permitting.:)
Judy, as you know your taste here is shared gloriously, and I envy your proximity to Stratford von Avon, which would be first on my list if I could visit your island. (wouldn’t mind seeing you and Allan either!) As I stated at ‘Movie Classics’ the BBC Shakespeare box set, containing every play, would seem to be essential. I own it, but have only watched half the contents to this point. I have also added some essentials, like:
Chimes of Midnight (Welles)
Richard III (Olivier)
Hamlet (Russian)
King Lear (Russian)
Ran (Kurosawa)
Throne of Blood (Kurosawa)
Romeo and Juliet (Zeffirelli)
Othello (Welles)
Otello (opera/Verdi/Zeffirelli)
Macbeth (Welles)
Macbeth (Polanski)
Hamlet (Branagh)
Hamlet (Olivier)
Henry V (Branagh)
Henry V (Olivier)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Dieterle/Reinhardt)
Titus (Taymour)
Julius Caesar (Mankiewicz)
Much Ado About Nothing (Branagh)
Prospero’s Books (Greenaway)
Merchant of Venice (Pacino)
Taming of the Shrew (Zeffirelli)
Thank you very much for commenting over here too, Sam – a fantastic list of films. I hope you do make it to the UK one of these days and I know Stratford would be high on your list of places to visit, along with the Globe I’m sure – it would be good to meet up too.
[...] At Movie Classics, Judy has taken a brief break from her stupendous Wellmann series to spend some time with her beloved Bard, and she pens an excellent consideration of the Olivier As You Like It, the first British made adaptation to hit the screen: http://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/as-you-like-it-1936/ and has another excellent post up at her costume drama blog on the same subject, including urged suggestions for worthy film adaptations of Shakespeare: http://costumedramas.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/shakespeare-productions/ [...]
I’m startled that Davies’s Othello is not available in the UK. It’s just so rooted in contemporary British life and issues. So Netflix offers in the US then are different from Netflix offers in the UK. I rented the copy I saw at Netflix. Ellen
I was a bit surprised too – it actually looks as if it is only available on a Spanish DVD with subtitles, as the region 1 DVD appears to have been deleted. However I’ve just discovered that someone has put the Davies ‘Othello’ up at Youtube, so I might manage to see it there, fingers crossed:)
Judy