Ye Olde Shakespeare Thread

[Rob McCow]

Oh do tell!

It's just 'Full Staff'. Honestly, he could have called half his comic characters 'Bigdick' and gotten away with it.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I suspected it must be as obvious as it sounded.

There's a brilliant scene in Henry VI Part 3 in which King Henry's son Edward, Prince of Wales is about to be murdered by his Yorkist enemies and calls them all names including referring to the hunchbacked Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) as "misshapen Dick"!

Anyway caught up on Henry IV Part 2 last night which was enjoyable but didn't like the slightly abrupt ending. They should've kept in the conversation between Prince John and the Lord chief Justice suggesting the possibility of war with France might be in the offing as that sets the scene perfectly for Henry V.

As anyone following my tweets this evening will have gathered I watched this live and despite a few critical comments I enjoyed it and the final scene was a nice pay off for a couple of the more questionable artistic decisions and rounded off the whole series nicely.
I only wish someone could've realised that Edward, Duke of York is one and the same historical character as the Duke of Aumerle who we saw kill Richard II three weeks ago and have got the excellent Tom Hughes back to play him instead he'd regenerated into Paterson Joseph.

[Rob McCow]

I like Patterson Joseph! Besides, the cast for Richard II was completely different anyway - it's more of a separate part of the cycle. To be honest I'm surprised that they had any of the same cast for Henry V.

Henry IV Part 2 was good, but the heartbreaking final moment between Hal and Falstaff wasn't realised quite as fully as it could have been. I think overall I prefered the 1980's BBC version!

The best moment was probably the 'chimes at midnight' scene between Falstaff and Masters Shallow and Silence. SRB did a great job of making Falstaff suddenly appear incredibly old and sad.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I think the Chimes of Midnight scene is usually the best moment in any production of Henry IV Part 2.
One thing the film managed quite well by re-ordering some of the scenes was to trick you into thinking Jeremy Irons was in more of the play than he actually was.
By contrast if you watch the DVD of the 2010 Globe production a whole hour of mostly Falstaff scenes passes by with a little bit of Prince Hal before the eponymous king actually appears.
The effect of moving the king's death scene to the throne room was good but I was sorry that we lost the reference to the king dying in the Jerusalem chamber at Westminster which is one of the few scenes in that play taken from actual history.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Have you two watched last Saturday's Henry V yet? I'm dying to know what you think of some of the more controversial artistic decisions taken by the director...

That said I've still got BBC Four/ RSC's Julius Caesar and SKy Arts/The Globe's Othello waiting on my sky box.

[SiHart]

We've not had a chance yet. Hopefully over the weekend.

[Rob McCow]

I studied Henry V at school, plus I've seen the Kenneth Brannaaahggghrraaa and BBC 1979 versions. The prospect that they've changed things and been controversial makes it all the more interesting.

But if Henry doesn't have his customary pudding-bowl haircut then I'll be outraged!

The real question for me is what happened to David Gwillim, who played Henry V in 1979. Surely he'd have moved on to greater things - but his listing on Wikipedia and IMDB is very slight. Perhaps he does a lot of theatre work?

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I studied Henry V at school, plus I've seen the Kenneth Brannaaahggghrraaa and BBC 1979 versions. The prospect that they've changed things and been controversial makes it all the more interesting.

But if Henry doesn't have his customary pudding-bowl haircut then I'll be outraged!

The real question for me is what happened to David Gwillim, who played Henry V in 1979. Surely he'd have moved on to greater things - but his listing on Wikipedia and IMDB is very slight. Perhaps he does a lot of theatre work?

Except the pudding bowl comes from a 16th century (many years) posthumous portrait. More recent research has suggested Henry may have had a beard.
They haven't changed that much to be fair but it's more a case of what they haven't included than what they have.

I always wondered what happened to David Gwillim too. I think I might have seen him in an ITV drama a few years back but otherwise one can only hope his career continued on stage.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Going to see Mark Rylance as Richard III at the Globe tonight!!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Mark Rylance played Richard totally differently to how it's ever done before. He really brought out the character's humour without resorting to the expected imitiation of the out and out villainy and high camp exemplified by Olivier. You couldn't help but root for him and I was certainly quite genuinely cheering him on when the whole audience got to shout out "God Save King Richard, England's Royal King!"

Other mentions should include John Lumic and Trigger himself, Mr Roger Lloyd Pack as the Duke of Buckingham and the three men playing ladies, Johnny Byrne was a little lacking in emotion at times as Lady Anne although the wooing scene was still a compelling watch as fell under Rylance's spell, James Garnon played Richard's mother the Dowager Duchess of York to great comic effect (before transforming to become the swashbuckling Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond for the final Act!) but huge plaudits must go to History Boys' star Samuel Barnett playing Queen Elizabeth who was especially good in his final scene in which Richard seeks to woo the Queen's daughter despite having recently murdered her sons.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

On a vaguely connected note anyone listening to Today on Radio 4 or watching this morning's Breakfast will have learned that archeologists believe they may have uncovered the site of the long-lost tomb of Richard III under a car park in Leicester...

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Going to the final performance by Jamie Parker as Henry V at the Globe tonight. The second time I will have seen this superb production which, for the most part, left the recent BBC Film in the shade.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Whilst I admit my last post was possibly a little harsh in my comment about the Hollow Crown version, the last performance of Henry V at the Globe was even better than I remembered it being in June and it was great to have the current artistic director of the Globe Dominic Drumgoole come on at the end to do some extra thanks to those who've worked so tirelessly behind the scenes to make the production such a success both on tour and at home.

Anyway tonight I'm seeing Hamlet which has been on tour for most of the summer and returns to the Globe for just a couple of nights. It'll be my first go at standing in the Yard for £5 a go but thankfully it's a shortened version!

If I enjoy the experience I'm toying with the idea of booking for the midnight matinee of As You Like It next Friday (7th) - The Swan restaurant adjoining the Globe serves breakfasts afterwards at about 3am!- if anyone's interested in joining me?

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

So as expected, despite it being colder than previous visits, Hamlet was superb last night. A very spartan production with only 8 cast members and lots of clever doubling up (or in some cases quadrupling and quintupling up). I don't know if I'm the only one who'd remember Michael Benz from the early 90s Children's ITV series "Mike & Angelo" but I will just say that his Hamlet showed that he'd been to RADA since then. Utterly captivating! I was so sad at the end (in the spirit of other posts today I won't post the 400 year old spoilers of what happens )

Apparently this touring production is heading to the US soon so no one has any excuse not to see it!


(Btw I've decided to knock AYLI on the head as I've got several other theatre trips coming up soon).

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

On a vaguely connected note anyone listening to Today on Radio 4 or watching this morning's Breakfast will have learned that archeologists believe they may have uncovered the site of the long-lost tomb of Richard III under a car park in Leicester...

Apparently there's a reasonable chance they've actually found his bones... (although anyone who has ever heard the Doctor Who play The Kingmaker will know they're actually someone else's bones )

Richard III dig: "Strong chance" bones belong to king

[Dirk Gently]

I forgot to mention, we went to see The Taming of the Shrew at the Globe on Friday.

This could just be my favourite Shakespeare play ever. It was really funny & really well played. It even had a Doctor Who actor in it...although you'd need your anorak to recognise him.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I wasn't going to bother with "The Taming" as I've already been to the Globe four times this summer and having been in a production of "Kiss Me Kate" a few years back I feel rather over that particular play but quite frankly I could do with cheering up a bit so if it's as good as you say I might try and get a yard ticket for next week...

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I thought it might be about time to resurrect this thread as the BBC have recently begun filming a second series of the history plays this time taking on my beloved Henry VI trilogy (being condensed into 2 films) and Richard III to bring us The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses. Casting includes Judi Dench, Sophie Okonedo, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Keeley Hawes and Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard