Playing Shakespeare

1984-07-29 | TV-G | en

Lisa Harrow Sinéad Cusack Patrick Stewart

Documentary

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Seasons & Episodes

EP1 The Two Traditions

Jul. 29,1984

Contrasting Shakespeare's elevated language with modern naturalistic speech.

EP2 Using the Verse

Aug. 05,1984

John Barton and company examine blank verse. Its strengths and particularities are discussed in great detail. Members of the cast try out various readings.

EP3 Language and Character

Aug. 12,1984

John Barton and the cast discuss how Shakespeare defines his character by the language they speak, and how the characters attempt to achieve their aims by means of what they say and how they say it.

EP4 Speeches and Soliloquies

Aug. 19,1984

John Barton and members of the RSC present a workshop on how Shakespeare used the soliloquy to directly connect the character with the audience.

EP5 Irony and Ambiguity

Aug. 26,1984

John Barton and the RSC actors consider the subtle shadings produced by irony, ambiguity and sarcasm, and how best to express them.

EP6 Passion and Coolness

Sep. 02,1984

Hamlet's advice to the players is the best-known acting instruction in theatrical history. John Barton and the RSC actors explore this essential mandate to be both natural and intellectual.

EP7 Rehearsing the Text

Sep. 09,1984

John Barton and the actors analyze a scene from Twelfth Night, identifying pointers towards character and staging.

EP8 Exploring a Character

Sep. 16,1984

We don't have an overview of this episode, please check back later.

EP9 Poetry and Hidden Poetry

Sep. 23,1984

The bard's unparalleled poetry is celebrated and examined in its glory.

Playing Shakespeare Trailers

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John Barton holds a master class in how to play Shakespeare, using members of the RSC doing scenes, sonnets, and commentary as prime examples.

Playing Shakespeare Audience Reviews

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

jcpo After a long spell of unavailability this series will be released commercially in the US. Release date is set for 6/2/2009. The publisher is Acorn Media Group, Athena line. Retail vendors are lining up on Amazon. The selling price is about $80 US. It will also be available from Netflix. A check on Amazon UK yielded no results, but it is reasonable to expect a worldwide release. This is an extraordinary instructional video. After its initial airing on the South Bank Show in the UK, which ended in 1984, the series was picked up by Films for the Humanities. Their intended American audience was high-end libraries who could afford the near-$1000 price for the eleven VHS tapes. One hopes that the sales provided a good revenue stream for the good folks at FFH and the artists at the RSC. Some pioneering American theater artists purchased sets as well, and their audiences were much the better for the performances they attended.

richlandwoman Incredibly informative and interesting. I especially liked the dueling Shylocks episode, in which Suchet and Stewart play the same scenes back to back and explain why they made their different choices. Also very interesting is the episode in which each actor does a brief speech from Troilus and Cressida, then gets direction from Barton and redoes it, usually for the better.You also learn a little about the actors as people. For instance, Patrick Stewart is a bit of a ham. Ben Kingsley is soft-spoken and quick to admit what he sees as faults in his acting style. Ian McKellen is rather teacherly, expounding at length whenever he's given the chance.Highly recommended!

Noel_Wood This is a definitive instructional video on the problems and approaches to playing Shakespeare; an invaluable tool for the student actor and an entertaining and enlightening guide for the lay person on the actor's craft.I wish there were more videos like this one, whereby techniques are demonstrated by actors who are experienced and actually good. I have seen countless other instructional videos on acting, from audition techniques to acting for the camera, where the so-called actors featured came across as amateur and self-conscious.Here, we have the privilege of watching seasoned film and stage actors, such as Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellan and David Suchet (among many others, and I apologize for omitting some fine actresses) show us how there are infinite ways of interpreting and acting Shakespeare's plays, as well as reminding us why they are such good actors.

pageiv My Reading and Acting Shakespeare teacher played snippets of this video to help convey that Shakespeare was more than the words on the page. The presentation, though old, is fun and extremely informative. I got a kick out of seeing Ian McKellen looking young and dapper with Patrick Steward looking like he just stepped off of the bridge of the Enterprise(to quote Mary Mcfly in Back to the Future "Didnt that man ever have hair?).To the point, I learned more watching this video than I have so far in class. All students of Shakespeare should see it.