The Hollow Crown

[TWD]

I'm afraid I disagree, but that's fine, it would be dull if we all thought the same way.
I don't expect my drama (from Shakespeare to Saving Private Ryan) to tell me anything very much about history. I expect it to tell me about what it is to be a human being. Similarly I don't criticise documentaries for not having enough soliloquies.
By following these rules I find myself shouting less at the telly than I used to

[Plynkes]

When I saw Dickie II in the theatre in Birmingham years ago we had Bullet Baxter from Grange Hill in it and the cast were all dressed like they had turned up expecting to put on an adaptation of "The Prisoner of Zenda."

I'm quite happy with "Vaguely Medieval." It's a novelty for me. 


Romeo and Juliet in the grounds of Ludlow Castle takes some beating, though. With Mr. Rumbold from Are You Being Served and Mandy Rice Davies (not, I hasten to add, in the title roles).

[Steve F]

When I saw Dickie II in the theatre in Birmingham years ago we had Bullet Baxter from Grange Hill in it and the cast were all dressed like they had turned up expecting to put on an adaptation of "The Prisoner of Zenda."

Richard could have done with a convenient double.  Other than St Sebastian, of course.

[Captain Blood]

I'm afraid I disagree, but that's fine, it would be dull if we all thought the same way.

We agree on something then 

It's scary to note from the accompanying documentary, though, how much of the cracked and croaking sound of Irons's voice was entirely natural and not performance.

That is the sound of roll-ups getting their revenge...

[Paul]

How good is the shakespeare in them..I mean, how cut down is it?

[JollyBob]

How good is the shakespeare in them..I mean, how cut down is it?

As far as I recall from reading and seeing the plays at school, there isn't that much cut out. Its still a solid two hours, which is enough to get all the important bits across, and there must be some parts you can edit down with the use of location and a big cast. I mean, you don't have to anounce "How now, here comes Gloucester, well appointed with his banners" or something if you can actually see the guy at the head of a column of horse.

I'm not as much of a buff as some of the other guys are, but I have also acted in a fair few productions and am very well pleased that the flow and sense of the pieces is coming accross very well. Perhaps there are a couple of directorial choices that I don't necessarily agree with, but as Richard said, they are all valid interpretations and it doesn't lose anything in my eyes because of them.

The only thing that really spoiled it in any way for me was the amount of mumbling during soliloquys. Introspective does not mean unintelligible! I'd expect to lose a few words on stage since they are delivered quietly so the other characters are not aware of the internal thought process, but on film? Not really necessary.

I had the same problem with the Al Pacino version of The Merchant of Venice. Also starring Jeremy Irons on a throne - is it in his contract these days?    

[Paul]

 Also starring Jeremy Irons on a throne - is it in his contract these days?    

Thanks Bob 
He does seem to like sitting down a lot recently..the pope in the borgias is another one that comes to mind.

[Captain Blood]

And his role in Kingdom of Heaven... He spent a lot of that sitting on various thronelike seats...

The man is a natural sprawler 

[janner]

Fingers crossed that Danske Radio buys thing one 

[Atheling]

I'm afraid I disagree, but that's fine, it would be dull if we all thought the same way.
I don't expect my drama (from Shakespeare to Saving Private Ryan) to tell me anything very much about history. I expect it to tell me about what it is to be a human being. Similarly I don't criticise documentaries for not having enough soliloquies.
By following these rules I find myself shouting less at the telly than I used to

Here! Here! Tom. You're absolutely right.

"Die all! Die all!"

Darrell.

[Big Martin]

I've, unfortunately, been missing them due to other commitments. Having done Richard II as part of my OU course, I'd have liked to have seen that one at least.

Might have to wait for the DVDs.

[Atheling]

I've, unfortunately, been missing them due to other commitments. Having done Richard II as part of my OU course, I'd have liked to have seen that one at least.

Might have to wait for the DVDs.

I really hope the BBC does put the The Hollow Crown series ontyo DVD but I kind of have my doubts.... they don't have much stuff in their shop re: Shakespeare and haven't done so for years. The BBC USA shop is a different matter  .

Here's to hoping that i'm very wrong 

Darrell.

[Steve F]

"The Hollow Crown" DVDs are due out on 1 October:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hollow-Crown-TV-Mini-DVD/dp/B007P3Q95K/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1342699288&sr=1-1

In the meantime, there's the BBC iPlayer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00s90hz/episodes/player

There's a fair bit of BBC Shakespeare on DVD, though I couldn't tell you whether it is in the BBC shop or not.
All 34 BBC Shakespeare productions from the late 1970s/early 1980s:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/BBC-Shakespeare-Collection-Box-Set/dp/B000B6F8V4/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1342699335&sr=1-1

Also available individually.
1978 version of Richard II: http://www.amazon.co.uk/BBC-Shakespeare-Richard-1978-DVD/dp/B000TJKRNC/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1342700525&sr=1-1
1979 version of Henry IV part 1: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Henry-Part-One-Shakespeare-Collection/dp/B000TXOKIG/ref=pd_bxgy_d_h__img_b
1979 version of Henry IV part 2: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Henry-Part-Two-Shakespeare-Collection/dp/B000TXQAV6/ref=pd_bxgy_d_h__img_b
1979 version of Henry V: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Henry-V-BBC-Shakespeare-Collection/dp/B000TJJ1LQ/ref=pd_sim_d_h__5

2009 BBC film of the 2008 RSC Hamlet:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hamlet-DVD-David-Tennant/dp/B002PXHRFQ/ref=pd_cp_d_h__0

Not actually a BBC production of Macbeth, but best known from its BBC4 showing:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Macbeth-DVD-Patrick-Stewart/dp/B004NB75BE/ref=pd_sim_d_h__5

I haven't checked for CDs.

Amazon didn't have the Shakespeare Uncovered series of documentaries listed for release, though.

Not all British TV productions are by the BBC of course: for example, Kenneth Branagh's production of Twelfth Night was made for Channel 4, while Laurence Olivier played King Lear, and Ian McKellern Macbeth, for ITV - these, and other, productions are available on DVD, but I can't think of any versions of Richard II or the Henry IV plays

Away from TV, look out for Orson Welles' great film The Chimes at Midnight, which stitches together the Falstaff bits from the history plays (plus some material from The Merry Wives of Windsor):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Falstaff-Midnight-Definitive-Restored-Version/dp/B007H7OQW2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1342700043&sr=8-3

Just for completeness, Olivier's 1944 version of Henry V:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Henry-V-DVD-Laurence-Olivier/dp/B00004CZVK/ref=pd_cp_d_h__2
and Branagh's 1989 version:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Henry-V-DVD-Kenneth-Branagh/dp/B00005AMEC/ref=pd_bxgy_d_h__img_b

[Paul]

Cracking amount of info..cheers Steve The pre-release price looks quite good.

[Steve F]

So, Henry V.

I would never have believed that it would be possible to cut so much from a play and still have it move so slowly.  All those long pauses, all that static staging.

And while we lost the entrapment of the traitors at Southampton, Captains Gower and MacMorris, the King's "what have kings that privates have not too, save ceremony?" soliloquy, the grandiloquent competition among the French nobility, and, most bizarrely, the French attack on the boys and luggage (leaving Henry's order to kill the prisoners motivated solely by the death of York, with whom he has been exchanging dewey-eyed glances throughout), somehow the production still found time for the entirety of Princess Katharine's English lesson, all 37 hours of it.  Or did it just seem that long?

Add some of the most ineptly staged battle scenes I have ever encountered, and a flat video and sound editing style that left even seasoned performers like Anton Lesser and Richard Griffiths seeming dull, and you could safely say that I was more than a little disappointed.