The Reduced Shakespeare Company - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)When the Reduced Shakespeare Company performs , it is a case of three apparently indefatigable actors (Adam Long, Reed Martin, Austin Tichenor) whirlwinding through the plays, some of which are barely mentioned, some of which are treated at greater length--all in 90 minutes. Well, the Good News is that the show is now available from Acorn Media on a VHS. (Note: this video contains material not shown on PBS.)
To cut to the chase, you really have to know your Bard to get all the jokes. Treating "Titus Andronicus" as a cooking class works if you are familiar enough with the plot (the recent movie might help here); and unless you know your English kings from Richard II to Richard III (with all the Henrys in the middle), the football game with a crown as ball will have little meaning. ( I thought the line about cutting Henry VI into three parts was the best in this sketch.)
Possibly the bit that calls for the audience's greatest degree of knowledge and concentration is the resume of a plot that combines all the Shakespearean comedies into a single play (with a very long title). There are plenty of in-jokes and bad puns throughout Act I to demand your fullest attention--and again, few of them work if you do not know the originals.
The first act ends with a little situation in which one of the troupe refuses to do "Hamlet" and flees from the theater. When Act II begins, he has not been brought back and the remaining actor must fill the time with Monty Python-like bad routines. Once back on track, the audience is enlisted to help one of their number (I assume she is not a plant) "feel" the part of Ophelia. The trio's versatility is put to the test at the very end when they repeat the entire Hamlet production quickly, then very quickly, and finally very quickly and backwards!
So all in all, this is a joyous romp for those "in the know" and one that might seem pretty pointless for those who have avoided Shakespeare once school was over. Therefore I must give it 4 stars out of 5 in general, although it deserves 5-plus for those who have stuck with the iambics all these years.
A perfect gift for your English teacher, by the way. Unless you are an English teacher, in which case buy one for yourself.

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Life is short. The complete works of Shakespeare are long. To the rescue: THE REDUCED SHAKESPEARE COMPANY, the three-man comedy troupe known for fast, funny, physical condensations of real serious stuff. They wrap up the Bard's outsized oeuvre in 90 roller-coaster, rib-tickling minutes. After warming up with a nothing-is-sacred send-up of Romeo and Juliet, they're off, dispensing with the comedies in one fell swoop (because the tragedies are funnier). You decide after you see Othello as a rap song, Titus Andronicus as a cooking program, and the show's unforgettable finale - Hamlet - told with the help of audience members and lascivious sock puppets. Contains material not seen on the PBS broadcast. "Intellectual vaudeville" - The New York Times. "Inspired American spoof merchants...slings and arrows of outrageous comedy" - Daily Telegraph. "This trio of modern Marx brothers will leave you in stitches" - Boston Herald. DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE: Trade secrets: Two commentaries featuring the stars and the director; Humble beginnings: Rare footage of an early RSC performance; Who are these clowns?: Cast bios; Pop Quiz: Interactive trivia, Say Again?: English Subtitles. WARNING: High-speed hilarity. Not for people with weak hearts or English degrees! Starring Adam Long, Reed Martin & Austin Tichenor.

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Othello (2001) (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)Unlike many Shakespeare enthusiasts, I adore modern adaptations and staging of Shakespeare's works. One of the reasons his plays have endured is that they have a timeless quality that is understood generation after generation. His stories capture something essential about human nature that cannot be confined to a historical period.
Some modern versions of Shakespeare use original dialogue with updated settings, costumes, and character relationships. This sometimes works very well, as in Ethan Hawke's Hamlet or the Julie Taymor's Titus (my favorite). In this version of Othello, however, the dialogue has been modernized to match the setting.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I saw it in a class on Shakespeare's Tragedies at Syracuse University which was taught by a reknowned Shakespeare scholar. This was her choice as the best film version of Othello to show us. Othello is a story which translates particularly well into a modern version because it deals with issues such as racism, jealousy, and insecurity that make it applicable to a variety of situations. The acting in this movie is excellent - very believable and powerful. I highly recommend this movie to anyone, whether or not you have previous experience with Othello.


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Slings & Arrows - Season 1 (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)...entertaining. I'm not going to rattle on about how wonderful this series is -- so unlike anything on dreck-laden US television. Instead, I'll just say that I agree with all the praise piled on "Slings & Arrows" by others and note it is a special source of fun for anyone with backstage experience. And I'll add the lyrics of "Call the Understudy," the song sung by Cyril and Frank over the closing titles to each episode --
Call the understudy
I can't go on tonight
I'm drinking with my buddy
I'm getting good and tight
Before they raise the curtain I'll be higher than a kite
So call the understudy
I can't go on tonight

Tell the cast and crew to break a leg (break a leg!)
Roll me out another bloody keg (bloody keg!)
I need to ease the pain that life can bring
And liquor is what will hit the spot
The play is not the thing

So call the understudy
I think it's only right
My diction will be muddy
I'll never find my light
Before the intermission I'll be pissin' on a sprite
So call the understudy
I can't go on (he can't go on!)
I won't go on (he shan't go on!)
I can't go on tonight (damn right!)
If you want to laugh -- and, finally, to be moved once again by "Hamlet" -- scoop this up and settle down for a treat.

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Showered with awards and critical acclaim, this darkly comic Canadian series follows the fortunes of a dysfunctional Shakespearean theatre troupe, exposing the high drama, scorching battles, and artistic miracles that happen behind the scenes. Paul Gross (Due South) stars as washed-up actor Geoffrey Tennant, who returns to the New Burbage Theatre-the site of his acting triumph and his career-ending meltdown-to assume the artistic directorship after the sudden death of his mentor, Oliver Welles. Believing that theatre is meant to provoke not anesthetize, Geoffrey takes on the suits who want to turn the festival into a theme park, a director who runs amuck with Hamlet, and his own demons, including Oliver-who returns to haunt him. Also starring Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers, The Notebook), Stephen Ouimette (Mentors), and Mark McKinney (Kids in the Hall).

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Slings & Arrows - Season 3 (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)Warning: Spoilers!
Season Three was the final act in one of the remarkable small format series in the history of television. The Canadian series is unlike anything that could ever have been produced in the United States. American TV is focused on long-running series that can be taken into syndication. This doesn't mean that some great television doesn't result, but it does mean that smaller series such as SLINGS AND ARROWS, with its three six-episode seasons, has no place. This is a tragedy on a number of levels, not least because some series are simply better served by shorter formats.
Season Three of the series was far and away the most controversial of the three. Many fans of the first two seasons found the collapse of all the successes of the first two seasons to be off putting. They liked the way that HAMLET in Season One was an unexpected success while the daring MACBETH of Season Two became not only a festival success but made its way to Broadway. The final season was, however, a far more subdued and somber affair. Like the first two seasons, it focused on a central play in the Shakespearean corpus: KING LEAR. And like the first two seasons there is a difficulty with the lead actor. In this case, however, the actor is dying.
I personally think the final season is a tremendous artistic success. And much of the reason for that is the amazing performance by William Hutt as Charles Kingman, the dying Lear. Hutt has, very much like Ellen in the series, spent very little time in television and film. He is in fact one of the most distinguished Shakespearean actors of his day. Some great stage actors' transition to the silver screen as they age, finding the less grueling film schedule's physical demands easier to meet. But Hutt continued onstage well into his eighties. This season of the show would not have worked with a lesser actor. There are moments in the season when Hutt's Kingman is performing LEAR that you simply stop breathing his performance is so extraordinary. You become acutely aware that you are seeing someone do something that the vast majority of actors, even the majority of very good actors, simply cannot do. Though in his mid-eighties one is struck by the sheer power in his voice. Getting Hutt to play this role pretty much guaranteed the success of the season.
Another delight in Season Three was seeing Sarah Polley appear in a production with her father. She plays the play's Cordelia, while her father was in all three seasons as Frank, the hard-of-hearing half of the elderly male couple. I've always respected Polley for her political activism and her rejection of Hollywood stardom (among other moves, she turned down the role in ALMOST FAMOUS that later made a star of Kate Hudson). So it was a rare treat to see her in this.
As mentioned, many fans of the show didn't care for this season. Many wanted in outline a repetition of the first two seasons, where success is snatched out of the jaws of failure. Things this season simply do not go very well. This is not to say that the series ends unhappily, but it does end by rejecting conformity to a formula. I've little patience for television viewers who have no tolerance for risk or change. The best television is never safe television. The best shows I've seen on television, whether THE SOPRANOS or BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER or SIX FEET UNDER or BATTLESTAR GALACTICA or THE WIRE are essentially risk-taking shows. In each of these shows not all the fans were willing to follow where the writers were taking them. These fans wanted the shows to stay safe. But the best shows always a bit of the sense of a tightrope walker working without a net. SLINGS AND ARROWS did precisely this in Season Three. And I just say: good for them!
And what can you say about Paul Gross. Before this series I mainly knew him for his role as a Mountie who had been reassigned to Chicago in the series DUE SOUTH. His Geoffrey Tennant is one of the finest characters I've seen on television in several seasons. Though the series has ended, it is, I believe, technically qualified for Emmy nominations this next round. If there were justice Gross would receive an nomination for Best Actor. He won't. The Emmys ignore shows on all but the Big Four and HBO, which means that shows like this one and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA will be ignored, and inexplicably even the HBO drama THE WIRE. (The three shows I've seen television critics consistently praise more than any others are THE WIRE, BATTLESTAR, and FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, but I don't expect all three--except for the special effects, which BATTLESTAR will sweep--to get any nominations, those the three shows should dominate the Best Drama, acting, and writing categories.) And having only six episodes hurts further. But Gross's Tennant is eccentric, brilliant, human, funny, and magnificently flawed. Yet Gross manages to endow him with greatness as well.
The series ended after only eighteen episodes. Not even quite a full season of a broadcast network series in the United States. But there was no filler, so it felt like it had more content than most regular series. And it ended like any good show is supposed to: it left us wanting more. With eighteen episodes it has no hope for syndication. But as long as the DVDs stay in print I believe that this show will have a continually expanding audience as one person watches it and then tells his friends about it. And it will be a steady rental on Netflix even if Blockbuster fails to stock it on its shelves (yeah, I know Blockbuster has a rental service as well, but after all the gouging they did with all those late fees, why should I ever give Blockbuster another penny?)
This is a truly great series. I am a life long movie buff who firmly believes that in the past decades television has surpassed the movies as the thinking person's visual medium of choice. And this is one of the series that I would point at to prove my point.

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"Pitch-perfect drama and comedy" -- San Francisco Chronicle "Sweet, smart and seriously addictive" -- Philadelphia Inquirer "The most fully satisfying slice of entertainment in ages" -- Newsday As seen on the Sundance Channel In its third season, this universally acclaimed series continues to mine dramatic and comic gold from the trials and tribulations of a dysfunctional Canadian theatre troupe, both on- and offstage. Struggling with the unfamiliar burdens of success, the New Burbage theatre festival mounts two ambitious productions: King Lear, Shakespeare’s epic tragedy, and East Hastings, a debut musical about a heroin-addicted hooker with a heart of gold. Emotionally fragile artistic director Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross) coaxes legendary actor Charles Kingman out of semi-retirement to play Lear. But with plenty of personal baggage, Kingman doesn’t so much play the part as live it. Meanwhile, the festival’s resident bean-counter (Mark McKinney) joins forces with the musical’s flamboyant director (Don McKellar) to create the unlikeliest hit in theatre history. Special guest stars include award-winning actor William Hutt of Canada’s Stratford Festival and indie-film sensation Sarah Polley (My Life Without Me, The Sweet Hereafter). DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE interviews with Paul Gross and Susan Coyne; extended scenes of King Lear; bloopers; deleted and extra scenes; trailer; production notes; photo gallery, song lyrics, and cast filmographies. Contains strong coarse language

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Slings & Arrows - Season 2 (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)If anyone had told me a year ago that my favorite program on television would be a Canadian import about a Shakespearean theater troupe, I would have had my doubts. But Season 1 of "Slings and Arrows" beguiled me. So droll and sophisticated, but with moments of sheer slapstick, I was absolutely enchanted. The writing was so smart, so funny, the performances spot on--including Paul Gross and Rachel McAdams (two of the more familiar actors for American audiences). It ended in six episodes and I wistfully said good-bye to a near brilliant show. I had no idea there was more to come.
So I was delighted when I heard Season 2 was on it's way. But I was also doubtful. Could they really mine the same material and come up with another winner? To my mind, they did that and even more. I enjoyed it every bit as much.
This season there was less back story, so it dealt more specifically about the inner workings of actually staging a couple of shows. The misadventures of producing the cursed "MacBeth" is definitely the highpoint. It might have been the funniest thing on TV last season, seriously. Add subplots about theater ingenues in "Romeo and Juliet" (McAdams says farewell in episode 1, so there's a new ingenue), a romance found/lost/found, and plenty of wit--and you have a delight. One subplot about an experimental advertising campaign to lure new traffic to the theater festival is perfection. As someone who has been a season subscriber in the LA theater scene for over ten years, this was particularly hysterical to me--how much truth there was.
But, trust me, you don't have to be a theater goer or a Shakespeare enthusiast to enjoy this program. But you do have to enjoy smart, sophisticated entertainment with top notch performances. I have shown this series to a couple of friends who would NEVER have sampled it on their own. They were surprised how identifiable it was and how funny!!!
Watch this--and if you haven't seen Season 1, what's stopping you? KGHarris, 9/06.

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"Absolutely addictive" -The New York Times "One of television’s best" -San Francisco Chronicle "Struts and frets . . . delightfully" -Time In its second season, the smash hit Canadian comedy about a struggling Shakespearean theatre troupe explores the conflicts of middle age and rebranding: Am I who I want to be-or not to be? Now ensconced as artistic director of the New Burbage theatre festival, Geoffrey (Paul Gross) must stage the cursed play Macbeth to fulfill the vision of his deceased predecessor Oliver (Stephen Ouimette). The actor cast in the lead (Geraint Wyn Davies) engages in a titanic clash of egos with Geoffrey, while Oliver weighs in confrontationally from the grave. The festival faces a financial crisis that forces its CEO (Mark McKinney) to engage in some risky business, while leading lady Ellen (Martha Burns) endures a life-altering tax audit. Adding to the mayhem is the return of the madcap guest director Darren Nichols (Don McKellar), who stages a post post-modern Romeo and Juliet after the original director breaks her neck. Could it be the curse of Macbeth? As seen on the Sundance Channel.

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King of Texas (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)If the immortal Bard could only have imagined the adaptations that his work would inspire! There have been numerous modernizations of Shakespeare's work. From WEST SIDE STORY to TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU. There have also been various different stagings for practically all of Shakespeare's stories. So why not a Western?
We get just that in KING OF TEXAS, King Lear set in post-Alamo Texas. The story adaptations flows marvelously with Patrick Stewart starring as John Lear, a Texas patriot turned cattle baron. As with the Shakespeare original, Lear here has built an empire, complete with the pride and ego that attend it. He determines to leave his massive ranch to his daughters, Susannah (Academy Award winner, Marcia Gay Harden), Rebecca (Lauren Holly) and Claudia (Julie Cox). In a show of pseudo-love, the two older daughters charm the aging Lear, get the ranch for themselves and set in motion a chain reaction of drama and tragedy that Old William would have heartily approved of.
Some wonderful twists in the story include the part of the fool from the original play becoming a faithful black servant, Rip, played wonderfully by David Alan Grier (JUMANJI, RETURN TO ME). Keeping with the timeframe involved, it's the only natural solution. His playful banter with John Lear is wonderful and warmly draws the audience in.
The movie's depiction of the tense interplay between the Republic of Texas and Mexico is also a terrific twist as, historically, these two opponents continued to spar with each other for decades following the events that led to Texas independence.
One minor disappointment for me was the resolution of the original relationship of the two brothers, Edmund and Edgar, replaced in the Western drama with Emmett (Matt Letscher) and Thomas (Liam Waite) Westover. Just as in the original play, the scheming and corrupt Emmett works to disinherit his brother, Thomas, the rightful heir. When their father, Henry (Roy Scheider) continues his allegiance to Claudia and goes to warn her of pending trouble, he is blinded (just as with Gloucester in the original play). But in the original play the faithful son returns incognito and plays his father's servant, working carefully back into his father's good graces while waiting for the chance to avenge himself on his brother. Still in disguise, he then confronts his brother in a classic Shakespearean standoff. For the sake of not giving the story away here, let's just say it doesn't happen quite that way in this version.
I also very much missed a corresponding character in KING OF TEXAS for King Lear's faithful friend and advisor, Kent.
But, as mentioned, these are very minor issues at the very worst.
This is a classic Western with all the drama of its roots in Shakespeare with the spectacular setting of Texan grandeur. Not one that you will want to miss.
THE HORSEMAN

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An aging cattle baron's plan to divide his vast spread among his three daughters ignites a sibling blood feud in this volatile Wild West retelling of Shakespeare's "King Lear."

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Hamlet (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)No one is a bigger Kenneth Brangah fan than I am, but this version of Hamlet (which aired on the Odyssey channel a year ago) far surpasses his grandiose attempt, and is simply the best I have seen, better than Oliver and Gibson and all those others (but still watch 'Discovering Hamlet' if you have a chance...great behind the scenes of a young Kenneth's stage version). But back to this film....it is a wonderful adaptation of the greatest play about modern man ever written, a good solid cutting which, unlike Kenneth's film version, keeps the story moving along and doesn't drag out every line which may have been necessary for the story to be told properly in Shakespeare's time, but isn't as neccessary for the film world of today. But the cutting still keeps everything important and wonderful about the play. Campbell Scott is PERFECT as Hamlet; the makers of this film did not try too hard to update it, but they certainly showed how even more relevant Hamlet is today as the complete and utter picture of modern man. The other actors are great; the actress who played Ophelia (a black woman--another great twist and angle to Ophelia and Hamlet's complex relationship)is brilliant in the scenes when she goes crazy...with the lewd and disturbing songs Shakespeare wrote, she really takes things to another level. The three most memorable scenes....the scene that Hamlet sees his father's ghost (the ghost comes out of the sand with some great special effects); a wonderful staging of the scene where Ophelia helps her father spy on Hamlet; and a stunning adaptation of Hamlet's famous monologue. Such a wonderful version. So worth the extra money if you really want to own a fantastic version of Hamlet. Especially great for teachers who want their English/drama classes how revolutionary Shakespeare really was. And hey! It was on the Odyssey channel so it's completely school appropriate...

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Truth, conscience and revenge collide in a life and death struggle in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Elegant dialogue transcends time itself as it rolls from the lips of a superb cast, touching the hearts and minds of our own lives today.

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