always thinking about the production of hamlet i saw at the pop up globe a couple of years ago where everyone was costumed in typical shakespearean dress and the set was fairly minimal BUT! they gave polonius an iphone. it was like a running gag that his ringtone kept going off when hamlet or claudius were trying to speak and they would get more and more impatient with him every time. the cast had perfect comedic timing and it was such a perfect modernisation of typical shakespeare humour
but oh my God. the nervous laughter that rippled through the audience when his phone went off behind the tapestry. the heavy silence that followed, interrupted only by the incessant chime of polonius’ ringtone and a muffled “shit, shit!” while he tried to decline the call. it keeps ringing even after hamlet has already put his sword through him. hamlet picks it up in his bloody hands and ends the call, puts it back in polonius’ grasp before turning back to face gertrude.
hands down the best set up and pay-off of any addition to a shakespeare play i have ever witnessed
Ah here we go! Free full play for anyone who needs it, i watched it last week so i still had the link in my history heh :D enjoy!
God I love this version
This version also does something I very much like and haven’t seen in other adaptations; it implies that Benedick and Beatrice were into each other the whole time they’ve known each other, but were too busy bullying each other to talk about their feelings until they thought the other person was actually interested. Also it has David Tennant in drag and Catherine Tate in a suit.
Peter Hall’s 1981 production of the Oresteia at the National Theatre was televised by Channel 4 in 1983. You can watch it on YouTube. Here is a link to part one.
A fantastic documentary on the 2006 New York production of Mother Courage and her Children, translated by Tony Kushner and starring Meryl Streep. Available to watch in four parts on YouTube:
There’s some great information here on Brecht, his career, his family, and his politics, as well as the contemporary resonance/impact of Brecht for this modern creative team.
Drunk Enough to Say I Love You (2006) Caryl Churchill’s play about two lovers (the other played by Ty Burrell of Modern Family fame) one prepared to leave his wife and children for his new, special relationship, sit on a sofa, talking of foreign affairs. It’s a allegory about the special relationship between the US and the UK.
Nicholas De Jongh, from the Evening Standard said, “Stephen Dillane impressively plays diffident, charming Jack, as in Union Jack, who becomes sexually captivated by Ty Burrell’s riveting, hunky, fearful Sam, as in America’s Uncle Sam, who is half in love with torture too.”
Images from a famous 1972 Spanish production of Yerma, directed by Victor García, which toured to New York. The staging of this production impressed critics. Víctor García moved away from site-specific rural Spain and set the play in an unrealistic setting, as Clive Barnes explains:
There is nothing realistic about this Yerma. It is acted on a trampoline – a fantastic setting. It gives every movement a sort of ritual tread, but even more, the setting can move up to provide a cave, machines can gently tug it into the simulacrum of a woman’s breast, or at another time it can be lifted high to form a wall against which Dantesque figures grope and struggle. (Barnes 1972)
Barnes, Clive. 1972. ‘From Madrid, Lorca’s Yerma’, The New York Times, 19 October
Juliette Binoche on playing Strindberg’s Miss Julie in 2012 (a French production directed by Frédéric Fisbach that premiered in Avignon and toured to the Barbican in London).
@panagiota_p I had a lovely time with you today. Thank you for the #photoshoot and #interview. #shoot #cyprus #style #stylish #productions #face #jj #sexy #hot #boysboysboys #summer #cinematographer #menstyle5 #director #hotboy #hotmen #sexymen #sexyboy #handsome #photographer #sunglasses #talent #editorial
I saw the National Theatre’s incredible production of Twelfth Night today, and had to draw something from it. Here’s Malvolia (genderswapped Malvolio – she was amazing) trapped in a dark room by Toby and Maria… an extremely poignant scene.
The joy of Shakespeare is that even if you see the same play dozens of times, each production is its own, unique experience.
Having said that… there are certain bits of stage business that often crop up in numerous productions. One of my favorites is Malvolio’s revolve.
Just for fun, here are various examples of Malvolio’s revolve that have been captured on film. (If the gifs don’t work, check out my original post here.)
Alec Guinness in the 1970 ITV Saturday Night Theatre production does the classic dubious, self-conscious revolve, although Sir Toby and his gang are safely behind a hedge and don’t have to hide.
Nicholas Pennell in this 1986 filmed production at the Stratford Festival of Canada executes a confident and rarely-seen double revolve, forcing his peanut gallery to duck out of sight.
In this filmed version of the Renaissance Theatre Company’s 1988 production, Richard Briers executes a very slow , dubious revolve that is notable for being counter-clockwise. In my experience, most Malvolios revolve in a clockwise direction.
Finally, this Stratford Festival production milks the revolve for all it’s worth, with Tom Rooney’s Malvolio turning at just the right speed to miss Sir Andrew’s desperate dash across the stage.
Some productions choose to have Malvolio turn the letter around, rather than himself. Others either blow past the line without acknowledging its comedic gag potential, or cut it in its entirety. All are valid choices, but honestly… why look a gift gag in the mouth?
“In my experience, most Malvolios revolve in a clockwise direction” is my new favorite blind of Shakespeare analysis
It’s because the play is more frequently performed north of the equator - in the southern hemisphere, the rotation of the earth causes actors in general and Malvolii in particular to prefer revolving counter-clockwise. This is particularly true of actors who have ever portrayed Caius Marcius or Menenius Agrippa, for reasons that are not yet well understood, and as such is commonly known as the Coriolanus Effect.
