Shakespeare in Love directed by John Madden

© 2006 John Murphy
Bard-love received an unexpected shot-in-the-arm with the 1998 release of this buoyant, multi-Academy Award-winning imagining of the “making-of” Romeo and Juliet. The smart script by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard smoothly mixes Bard biography/mythology, Romeo and Juliet, and some Shax-worthy comedic high-jinks: mistaken identity, cross-dressing, and flights of verbal fancy, courtesy of [...]

New Bard-novel: The Final Act of Mr Shakespeare by Robert Winder

I’ve been chattering a bit about Bill Cain’s play, Equivocation, of late (here and here), and it turns out that a new novel has hyst been published dealing with similar themes; namely, how a fictionalized Bard might have handled an onerous commission with dangerous political overtones, and what his real opinions might have been on [...]

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) directed by Michael Hoffman

Starring Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, David Strathairn, Stanley Fucci, Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel, Christian Bale, Sam Rockwell, John Sessions, and Sophie Marceau
reviewed by Debra & John Murphy

Debra Murphy:
Michael Hoffman’s film depicts a universe freely inhabited by faeries and dwarves, satyrs and all sorts of benign if mischievous forest folk, who weave in and [...]

Much Ado About Nothing (1993) directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh

© 2004 John Murphy
Much Ado About Nothing was a minor sensation upon its release in 1993. By that time, Kenneth Branagh had come to be regarded as a cinematic Wunderkind, gene-splicing Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier. Flush from the success of heavy-hitters like Henry V and Dead Again, the tireless auteur released this sunny show, [...]

The Merchant of Venice (2004) directed by Michael Radford and starring Al Pacino

Like The Passion of the Christ released a year before, Michael Radford’s film of The Merchant of Venice is doomed to pre-viewing judgment. Is the play anti-Semitic? This question resurfaces anytime and anywhere the play is produced. Renowned lit critic Harold Bloom offered these memorable words, “One would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb [...]

To stage high concept, or not to stage high concept?

That is the question posed by NYC-based theatre critic David Cote in a blog article published by the Guardian UK entitled, “Most Stagings of Shakespeare Don’t Go Far Enough”.
Quoth Cote, after taking Wall Street Journal theatre critic Terry Teachout to task for “grousing” about concept staging in a Big Thing interview:
I also wince at conceptual [...]

Looking for Richard (1996) directed by and starring Al Pacino

In his directing debut, Al Pacino has given us one of the most accessible Shakespeare spinoffs ever for the screen. Smart, witty and energetic, Looking for Richard is a delight to watch, offering insight into Shakespeare and his iconic Richard III, and giving the viewer a behind-the-scenes look at how a production of the play [...]

Vidclips from Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost

First, here’s the trailer to Branagh’s LLL:
“When love speeks…” Branagh tap- and word-dances to the rhythm of iambic pentameter:

Vidclips from Titus (1999) directed by Julie Taymor

If ever there was a “you-re not in Kansas anymore” Shakespeare adaptation, it is Julie Taymor’s gorgeous and horrifically violent screen adaptation starring Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange and Alan Cumming. Here are some way cool bardclips therefrom:
First, here’s the trailer:
This is the amazing scene-setting opening, probably my favorite scene:
And, if you can stomach it, The [...]

Shakespeare in Love(1998) directed by Guy Madden

© 2006 John Murphy
Bard-love received an unexpected shot-in-the-arm with the 1998 release of this buoyant, multi-Academy Award-winning imagining of the “making-of” Romeo and Juliet. The smart script by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard smoothly mixes Bard biography/mythology, Romeo and Juliet, and some Shax-worthy comedic high-jinks: mistaken identity, cross-dressing, and flights of verbal fancy, courtesy of [...]

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