My Shakespeare by Greg Doran - Parts 16 to 18

 

Part 16   Anthony and Cleopatra

-2006: Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon; Novello Theatre, London. Filmed by the V&A

Greg starts with a trip to Egypt with Tony for inspiration. Three pages could be called "Searching for Cleopatra". He tells us "the language of this play is more lush, more heady with sensuality than any other Shakespeare play". And it all depends on the title roles as they have two thirds of all the lines. So here we have Patrick Stewart and Harriet Walter. Top casting. Patrick was especially good at creating lots of laughs, and Harriet was especially good in the last act.

We hear a lot about Mark Antony, for example a longish piece on how he botches his own suicide. I liked the passage about the snake and why a real one had to be substituted for a false. Michael Billington in his review calls Antony "Shakespeare's most demanding role" and that Patrick was "the best Antony since Michael Redgrave half a century ago.

19th August 2010 at The Royal hakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon

Post of 20th August 2010

Part 17   Merry Wives - The Musical

-2006: The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon

Michael Boyd had proposed a Complete Works Festival for 2006. Greg comes up with the idea of a musical version of The Merry Wives of Windsor. He tells us "it's a romp, Shakespeare's sitcom, or as someone once said "it is the I Love Lucy of the Shakespeare canon". We have Falstaff, Bardolph and Pistol are deposited in Windsor, a long way from their normal residence of Eastcheap. 

Songs are required and here Greg is enjoying his role of a  back seat driver, giving more responsibility to musical director Bruce O'Neil along with the composer and choreographer. We hear how the couple who sing the love duet were actually marvelous. And Alec McGowan found he could sing. As did Judy Dench. Top marks for Brendan O'Hea as Pistol, a cross between Russell Brand and Jack Sparrow. 

However, disaster strikes when Des Barrit who was playing Falstaff is injured and the search is on for a lst minute replacement. Who can start immediately! They are so lucky that Simon Callow is free, is perfect and already knows some of the lines. But the critics were not impressed, but what do they know. The production was sold out with standing ovations every night.

17th November 2010 at Milton Keynes Theatre

Post of  18th November 2010

Part 18   Coriolanus

-2007: Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon; Eisenhower Theatre, Kennedy Center, Washington, DC; Theatre Royal, Newcastle; Teatro Albeniz, Madrid, Spain"

An invitation to the British Library involved listening to extracts from their recordings of every production at Stratford. Greg is particularly impressed with Sir Laurence Olivier's performance of Coriolanus in 1959 directed by Peter Hall with dame Edith Evans as Volumnia. We are now at the very end of the Complete Works Festival and Greg is directing Coriolanus before the Royal Shakespeare Theatre closes for a transformation. With Will Houston (Coriolanus) and Janet Suzman (Volumnia) they are described as perfect casting. And Timothy West as Menenius Agrippa. We hear a lot about the set and how they are able to open up the stage to the very back wall, only because it's the last play in the theatre. 

Greg goes into some detail about the different political factions in the play and how he must not prefer one to another. For example: the tribunes. "Was there ever a more self-serving, cowardly, vicious, pusillanimous pain in all literature". He talks about the casting of Janet Suzman and how she is so good: "never a loss for words. She has just delivered a fifty line appeal to her son, surely one of the longest speeches in Shakespeare. 

Greh explains how "it would be very hard to ignore the theme of homoeroticism". Aufidius and Coriolanus declare how much they love their wives, but "how much more they worship each other". "They even dream of one another". Lastly, we hear about the "terrifying bloodbath" at the end. The reviews were great, especially those for Will. Even compared with Larry. There is also a nice postscript about the tour and meeting the "acclaimed actress and director Zoe Caldwell in Washington". She had never played Volumnia because watching Edith Evans in the part, it could never be equaled.  

28th September 2017 The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon

Post of 29th September 2017

Frankenstein at the Rex Berkhamsted

 

As the poster suggests, there was no general release for Guillermo del Torro's  Frankenstein. I was lucky that the Rex in Berkhamsted had acquired this Netflix film. I did mention in my review of November's Sight and Sound Magazine that it was a shame I wouldn't be able to see it. Revisiting the magazine, it was great to see all those splendid stills from the film. The movie is an adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel, (see below). The dialogue (by del Toro) was just almost OK, but why doesn't he have help? But it's the visuals for which he is quite rightly famed. The sets, costumes, production design and cinematography are all Oscar worthy. From the first scenes of the boat stuck in the arctic ice to the isolated castle where experiments take place, I'm glad I was able to see in on a biggish screen. The story mimics the book as it is set in three parts, the Captain, Victor and the Creature. There is one segment in the latter's story that seemed unnecessary, but then we would have missed David Bradley's blind man, this actor has never been better.

I was unsure about the casting. Oscar Isaac puts heart and soul into Victor, but maybe something more subtle was needed. And Jacob Elordi has a thankless task as the Creature. Even Mia Goth was miscast as Elizabeth, and that also goes for  Christoph Waltz as Heinrich and others. Critic Eileen Jones says it's a "big bloated mess" but it isn't. In that nine page section in Sight and Sound, the director called it a "melodrama rather than a horror". He has obviously forgotten the wolves! Jonathon Romney tells us "the film is authentically rooted in the structure of Shelley's novel, beginning and ending her story amid the ice flows of the far north. But the director tells him "most of the dialogue is not from the book" which might have been a mistake. Jamie Graham in the Sunday Times full page review mostly includes an interview with the director without ever concluding whether or not he liked the film. Strange.

Snow in November

 

We have to go back to 2010 for the last time we had snow in November (my post of the 30th), and then it was the last day of the month. Today it was quite heavy for half an hour and then tailed off. So not much of a covering. And by mid morning it had mostly disappeared.

Bugonia, The Choral and Now You See Me, Now You Don't

 

Well that was weird. It all started to feel that way when the screen size opened in it's 1:50:1 aspect ratio. More of a square box so that took some getting used to. The film seemed to me more of a black comedy than a horror. Director Yorgos Lanthimos and writer Will Tracy have remade the Korean movie Save the Green Planet. In Bugonia, Teddy Gatz played by Jesse Plemons is convinced that the corporate queen Michelle Fuller, played by Emma Stone, is actually an alien. When she is captured and held prisoner, it's hard to be convinced when Teddy is just full of conspiracy theories. Especially when we discover that Michelle's company was responsible for experimenting on his ill mother.  

This first half of the film is actually hard work. As someone said "it's a very very long run up to the finale". Where it goes completely bonkers. Sight and Sound magazine had a double page review by Travis Jeppeson where he says it "adheres dangerously close to the cliches of horror schlock without quite managing to subvert them". Hmm, not sure. But "the depth brought by the performances" is spot on but is "everyone gets what they deserve" not going too far? 

Mark Kermode found the film "profoundly odd" and "hard to warm to it", but "it picks up speed" in a race to the conclusion. I thought it was a very black satire. 

The Choral could not be anymore different. Alan Bennet and Nicholas Hytner are reunited after their previous successes of The History Boys and The Lady in the Van. We are in a small town in the north of England (obviously) at the start of the first world war. The young men are beginning to be called up. They go off to a fanfare from a brass band, unlike the somber partings later. The older men still want to put on a concert. Roger Allam and Mark Addy (supported by vicar Alun Armstrong) are stuck for a choir master and as a last resort turn to Dr Guthrie. A superb performance by Ralph Fiennes. I also liked Robert Emms as the quiet pianist. 

We see a lot of the young men not quite old enough to be called up, but help swell the numbers. Tom Shone in the Sunday Times was spot on when he said "the script spends too much time with pursuing the romantic subplots of his teenage choristers". There is a very late cameo from Simon Russell Beale as Elgar. It's his "The Dream of Gerontius" that will be performed, against all the odds. Tom Shone ends his review with the director having "frittered away his drama in pleasing vignettes".

I thought Now You See Me, Now You Don't was badly let down by an awful script. Director Ruben Fleisher (Zombieland (good), Unchartered (OK) and Venom (not for me) does his best to make it a fast production. And he does have a pleasing cast in this, the third in the series. All the characters from those earlier two movies are back, including a smaller role for Lizzie Caplan (Cloverfield). Morgan Freeman pops up but we never know if he survives or not. I'm not sure who had the idea of casting Rosamond Pike as the villain with a strange South African accent. She has come a long way from seeing her in Hitchcock Blonde at The Royal Court in 2003. I will not trouble this review with the plot/story as already it's forgotten. But it does have that attractive cast, some expensive sets, costumes and hardware. Shame about script. That's what you get when five writers are involved. I thought I had only seen the original film, but realise I did see the second with Daniel Radcliffe as the villain. What is it about Hollywood casting Brits in these roles. 

Classic Movies on Sky Arts - Series 4 Episode 4 - The Story of Highlander

 

I must have seen Highlander but none of it was familiar. And that would have been in 1986, so that is thirty nine years ago!  Ian Nathan introduces as usual calling the film a "strange and rousing fantasy epic". It was called "a true cult classic" and how the film goes "back and forth in time". Ian and Stephen Armstrong discuss what makes a "true cult classic" and the latter adds that it's "never ever become mainstream"? The story is all about being an immortal. It's Christopher Lambert who plays Conor MacLeod with Sean Connery as his mentor Juan Sanchez Villalobos. The latter was, apparently, only hired for seven days of filming. He bet the director he would not be able to do it, but lost.

The film was called "an early VHS sensation", although Neil Norman reminds us that when first released, the movie was "very badly reviewed". Including him. (I have to mention here (which the team only glossed over) the soundtrack with songs by Queen. I have the CD called A Kind of Magic that I played so many times in those days). It's Stephen who tells us about the concept starting with the highlands of 16th century Scotland. There are a number of immortals who are gradually hunted down by The Kurgan, one of their own. That's it. That's the plot. 

Apparently inspiration for the film first came from Ridley Scott's The Duelists starring Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel. Gregory Widen wrote the first script and was also taken with the armour and swords in the Tower of London. A journey to the Highlands of Scotland and the the whole concept came together. Adding in a love story in New York was the final piece in the jigsaw. 

Thorn EMI were the producers and it was they who brought in Peter Bellwood and Larry Ferguson to make the script "more palatable" from Widen's dark and dangerous story. They hired Russell Mulcahy as director and we hear about his background in music videos. Christina Newsom thought it was more about the imagery than the story. Stephen tells us that this is his favourite Sean Connery role. He is "so charming". Wd hear about The Kurgan played with relish by Clancy Brown. Christina said he was "a cartoonish picture of evil". The location in the highlands was the remains of Eilean Donan Castle.

Neil Norman liked how the director used opposite eras, the highlands for the 16th century and modern day New York. He contrasts the huge open vistas of Scotland with the claustrophobic urban scenes of New York. Ian Nathan tells us about the swordfights and the rigorous training by the former Olympic fencer Bob Anderson. He has huge experience in choreographing these in films. Stephen Armstrong thought he was the "greatest" in his field. 

Ian Nathan thinks the "heart of the story is about immortality". Christina adds it's about "the sadness of outliving someone" shown towards the end of the film. Stephen adds it's the "perfect Friday night VHS movie". He and Ian talk about how, because of VHS, it became a cult success after disappointing at the cinema. Anyone could hire it from the video shop, or to own it and watch it time and again. The team discuss the sequels that none of them liked. They were nonsense and a disaster. Neil loved the ending when he is no longer immortal. Stephen thought it was "mad" and a one off, with Ian concluding it was "timeless".

The Garden in November

 

There are some nice autumn colours in the garden including above the two large pots of Hostas at the front. Below is the dwarf crab apple, the maypole crab and the silver birch.

There are even flowers starting on the wallflowers below. 

The campanula has more blue flowers.

And the odd rose in flower. 

The bedding border has been cleared of the Dahlias, and already some bulbs are beginning to appear. In November?

It was yesterday, the 14th November that I cleared most of the leaves from the lawn, nearly filling the garden waste bin in the process. It was a combination of a leaf blower and a garden rake. The few that were left were taken by the mower when I cut the grass. Maybe the last cut this year?

Next to the wildflower border in the picture below, I cleared all the Asters that have been poor for the last couple of years. The soil seemed quite good so next to the dwarf wall I planted some Dianthus that I split from the plant that used to be in the large pot that collapsed. 

And then some bits from the Geranium that struggles in the poor soil of the long border. I left a large area to make sure the Asters do not reappear before finding some new plants in the Spring. 

All change in the wildflower border

 

This was part of the wildflower border after I dug up a lot of the disappointing Asters. More came out this week to leave a brand new area for planting. 

One of the large pots with Dianthus in the side patio had disintegrated so out they came and are now planted alongside the dwarf wall.

There was also room for some more Geraniums. The one in the long border that was not happy there provided a number of smaller pieces for the area in the middle. We shall see how this develops in the spring.