Shakespeare

[UptownHippie]

(08-02-2011 11:29 AM)Darrell Wrote:  Apparently, though, this version of Hamlet is weird. In the end, when he dies, he turns into Matt Smith.

[elfdream]

Well we know that "Ten Things I hate About You" is a modern version of "The Taming of the Shrew'. I used to watch that a lot but seeing Heath Ledger now makes me sad. In the end the female main character does not become more submissive as Kate did in the original. She just became a nicer person.

"My Own Private Idaho" is a modern re-telling of Henry V. Not a family friendly movie though.

I saw a re-telling of King Lear set on a Texas Ranch. Patrick Stewart played the lead. He also did a version of Othello where the cast was black and he was the only white guy.

[pastor's wife]

I saw an outdoor production of Midsummer Night's Dream where Puck was a large, overweight, bald guy in his mid-40s wearing a sort of sumo thingee around his waist - and that's it. It certainly added to the comedy.

Another summer the same company did a production of Tempest where Ariel was topless, sometimes draped in vines, sometimes not. I wondered if I should get up and leave (I was still a student at BJU), but I decided to stay. The company does an incredible job with the plays - their focus is the words not elaborate sets. They truly bring the bard to life, but not always in fundy-checkable ways.

And, yes, Shakespeare plays were my first introduction to bawdy humor.

[senda wales]

Almost all of the Shakespeare I encountered was in high school. I saw quite a few clips or parts of films and watched a few films in their entirety.

Macbeth:
-UC Davis production. They used the structuring and spacing of a set of buildings nicknamed the Deathstar to stage a nighttime outdoor show. Very creative and innovative. Very cool. I was quite happy to catch this on my way back from studying.


Romeo & Juliet:
-Zeffereli version - still far more charming than the 1996 rendition.
-Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet version. There's only one scene I remember from this version, and that was the fish tank scene, and I'll never forget it.




Hamlet and derivative works:
-Laurence Olivier version. Who could forget this version of Hamlet gazing forlornly over a cliff while pondering his existence?




-Richad Burton version - I may have watched clips of this one.

-Mel Gibson version. I agree with amyrose - that version was WAY creepy with the Freudian/Oedipal overtones!

-The David Tennant version looks really, really familiar.

-Kenneth Branagh version. 2-way mirror - who is watching who? Excellent.




-The Lion King. REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!




-Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. My 2 favorite absurdist and existentialist characters to ever discuss Newtonian physics:




King Lear:
-Korol Lir Soviet version. 'Cause the only thing better than King Lear is Soviet King Lear meets Doc Brown. And possibly this Soviet fool.




-I may have watched or seen clips of the Peter Brooks version and the Japanese Ran version.

Julius Caesar - I may have seen some of the 1953 version

I also saw Shakespeare in Love... does that count for anything?

[amyrose5]

There is a great production of Macbeth available on DVD starring Ian McKellan and Judi Dench. It was done long ago for British television, essentially, they filmed a Royal Shakespeare company production making appropriate changes for television. I used it with seniors. It would take them a bit to get into it because it is not a movie in the sense they are used to. But McKellan and Dench and the rest of the cast are brilliant and drew them in.

It is the best filmed version of Macbeth I have seen.

[Darrell]

Quote:a great production of Macbeth available on DVD starring Ian McKellan and Judi Dench.

I'll have to look for that one.

[Kate]

Ripley Castle does outdoor Shakespeare every summer in the formal gardens and the wood. My English friend insisted it was not to be missed. The night we went we had to wait out an unusal lighting and hailstorm. My friend said she had never witnessed such a storm. But it was the perfect opening for Macbeth! The hail lined the paths through the wood and caused fog to rise. The opening battle scene came at us through the woods and the fog in eerie light. We were escorted to various locations for the scenes carrying our folding camp chairs. The scene with the three witches was amazing. It was set in a large area under massive oaks that were probably there when the play was written. Real campfires, real wood smoke, real actors looking like real phantoms as they glided through the fog still rising from the ground. The outdoor venue done this way was cool. The storm was beyond their ability, of course, and we were damp and cold, but it made the whole experience unforgettable and probably will prove to be my best memory of my time living in England.