A
Shakespeare Trio, The Fifth!
by
Kristin Battestella
Spring
is upon Stratford-upon-Avon, so it's time for another trio of
tragedy, shrews, and Shakespearean documentary. Huzzah!
King Lear - Ian McKellan
(Richard III),
Romola Garai (Angel),
Sylvester McCoy (Doctor
Who), and Frances Barber
(Silk)
anchor this 2008 two and half hour PBS television presentation based
on the cast's previous stage performance also directed by Trevor
Nunn. Although such small scale stage design and up close cameras may
seem congested at times, other frames are well done with a deceitful
daughter in the foreground looking over her shoulder at the angry
father questioning which child will prove her love and earn her
inheritance. Colorful gowns, regal red robes, and strategic lighting
invoke a fifteenth century abstract meets anachronistic Cossack look
while frenetic organ music parallels the titular senility. Our seated
king is an indulged old man, fickle, and vain. He's pushing for more
flattery but exiles his favorite over a blunt opinion when such
honesty doesn't glorify him. Rival duchies toe their positions while
everyone wants a piece of the king's power but not his affection, and
several soliloquies almost break the fourth wall as viewers
understand the illegitimate son looking for an angle. Between
brotherly coups and dukes in disguise, our regal dad bounces from
daughter to daughter – neither want him there and we understand
that, too. Lear has no one to blame but himself as he descends from
the gilded seat to dark brawls and jester humor, snapping and
shouting amid angry gesturing and out of control tears. This ornery
old man is surrounded, not with feigned love and regal safety but a
rainy wilderness of fools and madmen. In such squalor, one might even
suspect he is imagining his jester on the moor as his spiral spreads
to the aristocracy with hangings, eyes gouged, and armies
approaching. The barren outdoors stir an overcast purgatory for this
near biblical reform as blind fathers meet lost sons and the women's
costumes likewise darken to match their jealousy and power through
their weak or lusty men. The older dog may learn the error of his
ways, but there is a higher cost for such late education. Where Lear
once reigned from a bright court on high, now the bleak swords and
battle planning happen within the hedge hogs. Is it better to be
crazy and blissfully unaware or do you realize your humility too late
and pay the terrible price? This turmoil could have been prevented,
and as much as we feel the family emotion, the tearful reunions and
brief moments of clarity only lead to more poisons, duels, suicide,
and executions. Without subtitles or name tags for all the dukedoms,
the intrigue may be confusing if you don't know who is who. Time away
from the eponymous circumspection lags a little and this is too long
for a younger classroom. However, this play isn't meant to be Bard
for the youthful audience either. One has to be in the mood for such
depressing, but this is a well played take on the enduring tragedy.
The Taming of the Shrew –
After
the bitterness of Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for
their
fifth collaboration producers
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starred in this 1967 feature
comedy debut from Franco Zeffirelli.
Pleasant countrysides, rainbows, sing songs, carnivals, and
cobblestone set the bemusing scene while big plumes, jumbo sleeves,
and velvet galore invoke a colorful sixties meets medieval jovial.
Some of the crowd scenes are, well, crowded, but the wide camera
captures both the stage action and all the movement within alongside
creative up close angles. We know that's Liz's violet eye spying
through the shutter before we even meet her! The viewer is smitten by
her huffing, puffing, and wild hair amid laugh out loud rough and
tumble chases, Kate sitting on a trap door to prevent Petruchio from
entering, and his swinging across the loft a la Tarzan to reach her.
Beautiful and talented as she is, however, Taylor doesn't quite have
that effortlessly iambic Bard rhythm. She plays her dialogue
seriously against gruff Dick's larger than life wink but that
contrast does match the shrewish behavior. The leads may be a little
old for these roles, too, but the battle of the sexes ruses and boys
will be boys disguises aren't meant to be taken at face value.
Subtitles
are still a must, yet the trimmed dialogue is less about the younger
daughter with multiple beaus and more about getting the bawdy done
with her older eponymous sister. Framing elements and side characters
are excised for these two hours, emphasizing this wooing with peacock
feathers on full display. Despite a very misogynist subject with men
making all the plans and never considering the women's input, part of
the charm here is in seeing a strong woman like Kate clap back at
such brash male thinking when Petruchio takes her over his knee. This
lady peering through the window pane is well aware of the fronting –
Kate's having none of it, he likes it that way, and our leads' off
screen turbulence adds to the je
ne sais quoi.
Why must the woman who can take ownership of herself cower so the man
can claim her? Does he test her spirit so she'll keep him on his
toes? This couple balks at courtship while celebrating why love is
worth it, and it's interesting to pro/con or compare and contrast the
then versus now innocence, rowdy, and acrimonious here, with Woolf
prior,
and Zeffirelli's subsequent Romeo
& Juliet.
Is it better when the woman won't come when called or does so but
steals his thunder? Taylor's Kate becomes a refined woman that makes
her husband look good, and here I'd like to think of her final speech
as the orgasm restaurant scene in When
Harry Met Sally. Whether
the woman is tamed or pretending, the man may never know.
Shakespeare Uncovered – Season
One of this 2013 six episode PBS series opens with Ethan Hawke
exploring the serial killer line between man and monster in
“Macbeth.” Archival Orson Welles, Sean Connery, and Patrick
Stewart clips compare the Thane's capacity for violence and a king's
ambition versus an actor's drive for success amid psychiatrist input,
ballet interpretations, and body language cues breaking down The Bard
syntax. Scholars discuss the historical sources and Scottish
locations as well as witchcraft and politics in Shakespeare's time,
yet the superstition and recognizable evils almost place the ruthless
circumstances and self-fulfilling prophecy in modern horror terms.
Joely Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, and Helen Mirren study the more
lighthearted but multi dimensional female roles of As
You Like It and Twelfth
Night in
“The Comedies” with
Old Vic tours and insights on Bill's early, ordinary life shaping his
relatable characters in an era when the parts couldn't even be played
by women. 1910 silent films and Alec Guinness footage accent the
liberating disguises despite the problems they cause – like falling
in love with the wrong person. Gender subtext and stage cross
dressing present more about what's inside thanks to paired androgyny
or twins lost and found. Ganymede terms and mistaken identities
further push the sexual innuendo, letting the audience in on the
layered gender studies of this four hundred year old play.
Westminster Abbey graves, poetic verse, and prophetic warnings for
leaders who believe in their own invincibility anchor “Richard II”
with Derek Jacobi and Ben Whishaw comparing their own interpretations
alongside Ian McKellan and John Gielgud performances. Professors
study the gilded artwork reflecting Richard's divine influence amid
regime changes then and now, Thatcher history, Elizabeth I coups, and
de Vere authorship possibilities. Can a king separate the man from
the duty and go out on his own terms? Jeremy Irons, Tom Hiddleston,
and Simon Russell Beale tackle the patriotic rousing of “Henry IV
and V” with Laurence Olivier highlights, The
Hollow Crown behind
the scenes, Shrewsbury locales, and play with in a play revelations.
Shakespeare took historic license to heighten his drama – unafraid
to get brutal with famous speeches, noble ambiguity, and dark
consequences on fathers, sons, and the inescapable mortality we bear.
David Tennant and Jude Law test that most celebrated very definition
of theatre “Hamlet” by choosing a version in the video store –
Mel Gibson, Kevin Kline, or Monty
Python. Bad Quarto and
First Folio side by sides strip down the grief, anger, and revenge,
exposing an actor's personal retrospection and raw performance with
the audience inside his state of mind as Hamlet famously asks what's
the point of it all. Shakespeare's own ill father and dying son
influenced this writing of ghostly specters versus imaginative
excuses and righting wrongs at the expense of the son, however later
Freudian interpretations add to the poisons and maternal taboos.
Episode Six “The Temptest” has directors Trevor Nunn and Julie
Taymor end discussing the ambitious fantasy of Will's last complete
play and whether or not he himself played Prospero in this semi
autobiographical text with experimental stage directions, Bermuda
shipwreck inspirations, and colonialism suggestions. Early candlelit
presentations, Christopher Plummer footage, and today's inventive
storm on stage effects recount the stranded father cum unforgiving
alchemist unable to keep his daughter away from new princely
influences. Was art imitating life for The Bard? The more he tries,
the more Prospero looses control as his beastly servants deliver
beautiful speeches on good versus evil duplicity and nature versus
nurture choices. Lofty soliloquies ponder the celestial and life
itself using puns on the globe – both theatre and world must face
that inevitable final frailty. Although thoroughly British with a
certain pretentious formality at times, more often than not this
personal per hour remains educational with densely packed information
and analysis to pick and choose a discussion.
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