bardolatry

American Theater Wing, founder of the Tony Awards, has posted an audio interview with Patrick Stewart, who is currently playing Macbeth on Broadway…put money in my purse!

For those of you who, like me, alack, cannot afford the plane & theater tickets, the link to the interview, at least, is here.

Tags: Macbeth, Patrick Stewart

Ever since I began writing The Mystery of Things, I’ve had a fascination for Shakespeare’s villains in general and Iago in particular. It’s the “why?” question, as Dan Donohue, one of our favorite actors, points out in a lively and revealing interview on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival website called “Playing Iago.”

My favorite quote, besides “You’ll never get it right,” is this:: “The character Iago is a better actor than I am.” Still, I think we can expect some pretty damned decent acting when Dan’s run as the greatest villain in English literature begins on the OSF Elizabethan stage in June…we can’t wait!

The interview is 27 minutes long. Click on the Othello link here.

Tags: Dan Donohue, Debra Murphy, Iago, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare, The Mystery of Things

Paul Scofield, one of the greatest actors of the twentieth century, has passed away at 86.

Known as a quiet, reclusive man, Scofield rarely gave interviews and refused a knighthood in the 1960s. His acting spoke for him. His Oscar-winning performance as Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons is a family favorite, a rich and heartbreaking portrait of a saint that convinces without ever being sentimental. He oozed cultured menace as Burt Lancaster’s Nazi nemesis in John Frankenheimer’s The Train. The weight of the world found expression in his hangdog face and weary gestures as the melancholic French King in Branagh’s Henry V. He added warmth and gravitas to the role of Mark van Doren in Quiz Show, earning another Oscar nod. I watched him recently as the Ghost in Zeffirelli’s Hamlet (better known, I’m guessing, as Mel Gibson’s Hamlet). He is the highlight of the film — his grizzled face, low, mournful voice, and tortured eyes suggest an otherworldly, purgatorial ghost — a ghost who has truly harrowed hell. He was also towering as Lear in Peter Brook’s 1971 version. I wrote:

Simply put, Scofield is breathtaking. His craggy face and sandpaper growl of a voice effortlessly command the screen. Nobody can touch him when any part of the frame includes him in it. Brook’s most effective special effect is to just keep the camera locked on his time-worn monument of a face.

I hope that in Heaven he’ll be willing to repeat some of his greatest performances for the benefit of those unable to see them in this life: his Whiskey Priest in The Power and the Glory, Salieri in Amadeus, Uncle Vanya, Hamlet, Timon of Athens, Othello…basically anything he was ever in.

Goodnight, sweet prince, may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest…

Kenneth Branagh’s remake (complete overhaul, more like) of the 1974 classic Sleuth was released on Tuesday. It stars Michael Caine and Jude Law as competitors for the love of a woman who are trying to one-up each other in a dangerous battle of wits. The script is by Harold Pinter, who writes about masculine vanity and mind games about as well as anyone (this movie reminds me in some of ways of his early 60s classic, The Servant, starring James Fox and the brilliant Dirk Bogarde).

With Pinter holding the pen, the movie bears little resemblance to the original starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine, and critics had a grand ol’ time sharpening their knives on Branagh’s ‘prestige project.’ In point of fact, Sleuth 2.0 is not a ‘prestige’ picture, but rather a wicked, stylish little B-movie. As such, it delivers. Here’s my full review.

Go to our website for more information on the 2009 season or watch video of the announcement. If there is alternative programming, click on the NEXT box to forward to the announcement.