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Shakespeare's Plays

And while I'm on the subject, Arkangel's 'The Tempest' is interesting. Bob Peck as Prospero. Remember the epilogue? Some say it's Shakespeare's farewell to the stage. Bob Peck died not long after and the credits (I think read by Colin Salmon) includes a dedication to the actor. If you're going to go . . .
 
I don't get shakespeare. I think the whole thing is just one of those things: everybody says he is great and so that's why he is, rather than actually being great. It's just opinion.

To illustrate: I heard an interview on the radio a few months ago. In it, an art critic said: 'If you don't think it's great art, then you're stupid.' He wasn't talking about Shakespeare but some piece of crappy modern art, but if you just looked at it, you could see that it was not art, it was crap. If supposedly smart people at the top of the pyramid says something's great and anybody who says different is stupid, then all the people who think their smart or want to look smart always agree.
 
Stewart said:
Which is your favourite Shakespeare play? I'll admit that I've not read many but of those Macbeth takes my fancy. A wonderful tragedy with some supernatural events. And set in my homeland.

I would expect that the tragedies are more likely to be others' favourites since they have fared better down the years. I never could see the funny side of Malvolio's yellow socks in Twelfth Night. I guess you had to be there.
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Hamlet
 
Just saw the Al Pacino version of The Merchant Of Venice, and... damn, that was pretty good. It's virtually impossible to do it as a comedy these days, of course, so it's straight drama, but Michael Radford balances it perfectly - to the point where it becomes pointless to argue whether Shylock is the victim or the villain, or whether all the others are heroes or selfish upper class twits. Pacino's Shylock is just incredible; a man who's spent his entire life being spat upon and finally snaps and demands revenge because it's literally the only thing he has left to hold on to. And our supposed heroes are all a bunch of anti-semites, sure, but so is everyone else and they're just too caught up in their own dealings to notice that their happiness is bought by the misery of others... Well, except for Jeremy Irons' Antonio, who spends the last act knowing (though obviously not saying out loud) that he ruined a man's life. And then that final shot of Shylock, locked out of the synagogue, having lost absolutely everything... Damn, Pacino needs to do more quality work.

Merchant Of Venice is a tricky play to do 400 years later - almost impossible - but if you have to, do it like this.

:star4: +
 
Excellent review, for a play that I find to be totally repellent in its written form. It sounds like the actors and director have found an interpretation that is far from obvious on the printed page, at least to me. Time for a reread, now that I know the answer. :)
And, yes, Al Pacino is a great actor.
 
I want to recommend a set of absolutely gorgeous pieces of iOS apps, namely the Shakespeare in Bits series. They currently have A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth.

Each of the apps feature the complete unabridged text of the play, an animated video of the whole play, voiced by professional actors (although no Ian McKellan, I have to say, but still not bad!), complete with analyses and study notes.

This is so important for a Shakespeare newbie like me. I've read the plays before, but I'd be lucky if I understood half of what was written most of the time. The app actually has definitions of obscure words at a tap of a finger, and background on paragraphs and most importantly context! For example, Macbeth's opening sequences has a lot of background info on the ongoing battle, and it details exactly whose forces were involved and the relations of the characters in the play with the events of the world at large. It literally opened up the stories for me.

I have to say I had a fantabulous time with it. If you want to read more go here.
 
A question to all the Macbeth lovers!

When Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth (shortly before he gets back home and meets her for the first time in the play), where did you envision her to be at that moment?
 
beer good said:
Just saw the Al Pacino version of The Merchant Of Venice, and... damn, that was pretty good. It's virtually impossible to do it as a comedy these days, of course, so it's straight drama, but Michael Radford balances it perfectly - to the point where it becomes pointless to argue whether Shylock is the victim or the villain, or whether all the others are heroes or selfish upper class twits. Pacino's Shylock is just incredible; a man who's spent his entire life being spat upon and finally snaps and demands revenge because it's literally the only thing he has left to hold on to. And our supposed heroes are all a bunch of anti-semites, sure, but so is everyone else and they're just too caught up in their own dealings to notice that their happiness is bought by the misery of others... Well, except for Jeremy Irons' Antonio, who spends the last act knowing (though obviously not saying out loud) that he ruined a man's life. And then that final shot of Shylock, locked out of the synagogue, having lost absolutely everything... Damn, Pacino needs to do more quality work.

Merchant Of Venice is a tricky play to do 400 years later - almost impossible - but if you have to, do it like this.

:star4: +
Click to expand...

It's been a few years since I watched this movie, but I remember liking it.
 
direstraits said:
A question to all the Macbeth lovers!

When Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth (shortly before he gets back home and meets her for the first time in the play), where did you envision her to be at that moment?
Click to expand...

Hm, never gave it any thought, her chamber or something. What makes you ask?
 
eclair said:
Hm, never gave it any thought, her chamber or something. What makes you ask?
Click to expand...
Because in the Shakespeare in Bits app, it portrayed her in the middle of lounging in the bathtub! I went up and down the original text see exactly why she was placed there, if I somehow missed something, but apparently no. This was pure interpretation.

I'd have placed her inside her oxygen tank, ala Michael Jackson.
 
I think I've seen at least one Macbeth adaptation where she is indeed in the tub. Huh.

The original stage directions only say:
[Enter LADY MACBETH, reading a letter]
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I suppose it's possible that she's entering in a bathtub that's being carried by her servants.
 
I was worried, Direstraits, that you were going to say she was actually on the chamberpot or something!
 
He is pretty much free to adapt Shakespeare's entire oeuvre. The horror.

Tybalt, Prince of Blowing Shit up.
To Explode, or to explode thrice, that is the question.
All the world is a grenade.
 
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