Playing Shakespeare
Playing Shakespeare
TV-G | 29 July 1984 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
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  • Reviews
    Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?
    Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
    mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
    Cem Lamb This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
    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.
    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.
    murphya If you love Shakespeare, or acting, or any of these great actors - or if you love all of these - the series is indescribeable. Actors taking speeches, working on them, improving them. Just great. Kingseley, Stewart, Howard, Dench, etc
    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.