Shakespeare - DVDs

Most of those are worth watching.

I'd watch the Globe Theatre's Henry IV. Way better than the RSC one especially with Roger Allam giving the best Falstaff in the last decade.

There's so many great Globe Theatre productions to watch on the Globe Theatre. As You Like It, Much Ado with Charles Edwards and Eve Best, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew with Samantha Spiro, Antony and Cleopatra with Eve Best, Titus Andronicus (maybe not with a mince pie!)

I'd highly recommend the RSC's African Julius Caesar that is on DVD.

Otherwise there's their latest Hamlet, Othello. Their Love's Labour's Lost and Much Ado is a lovely Christmas duo. All available on Digital Theatre

Otherwise there's the Ian McKellen and Judi Dench Macbeth. The Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy

Yes I think the Branagh Hamlet is great too. Also his Henry V. The Olivier Henry V is interesting for many reasons and stands up quite well.

Good ones also not mentioned above:

Ralph Fiennes "Coriolanus"
Orson Welles "Chimes at Midnight" (version of Henry IV)
Derek Jarman "The Tempest" (not for everyone, this one)
Julie Taymor "Titus Andronicus" (first 5 minutes only)

I think there was a DVD of Trevor Nunn's "Merchant of Venice" which was a sensational stage production. There are lots more of less than top quality.

Going off-piste I will once again recommend "Vanya on 42nd Street" which is better than most stage productions of "Uncle Vanya" you'll see.

The best of that was Ben Whishaw as R-II directed by Rupert Goold. 

I have just bought the Hollow Crown off Amazon for £16 that is both Part 1&2, I could have paid £25 more to have it on Blu-ray, I know the history cycle can be a bit bloody, but I have no need to see it in that great detail, especially for £25 more.

Didn’t the BBC once film all the Shakespeare?

Interesting.

I wonder if the BBC should attempt to do this again, maybe in conjunction with th RSC or/and Globe.

Actually just donea search on this and my good friend wiki has came up trumps. And wow what a informative Wiki page, I have never seen such an informative Wiki entry. It is amazing reading the cast list and who was in the plays, some really big names however I am not sure if they were when this was shot? Maybe some big names playing the starring roles, who were big at the time. But it depend on your age, I am 47, so wasn’t even a teenager when these were made. Some of these could have been household names depending on the generation. 

Of course being a nerd I was all over this.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Television_Shakespeare

Here are view that catch the conscience of this poster.

Romeo and Juliet - John Gielgud, Chorus and Alan Rickman, Tybalt.

King Richard II - Derek Jacobi, King Richard and John Gieguld, John of Gaunt.

As You Like It - Helen Mirren, Rosalind and James Bolam, Touchstone.

Julius Caesar - None

Measure for Measure - Tim Pigott-Smith, Angelo and Alun Armstrong, Provost.

Henry VIII - Timothy West, Cardinal Wolsey. 

Henry IV/1 - Tim Pigott-Smith, Hotspur.

Henry IV/1 - Anthony Quayle, Falstaff.

Henry V - None

Twelfth Night - Felicity Kendal, Viola; Robert Lindsay, Fabian and Sinead Cusack, Olivia.

The Tempest - Nigel Hawthorne, Stephano and Andrew Sachs, Trinculo.

Hamlet - Derek Jacobi, Hamlet and Patrick Stewart, Claudius.

The Taming of the Shrew - John Cleese, Petrucio.

The Merchant of Venice - John Nettles, Bassiano; Warren Mitchell, Shylock; Susan Jameson, Nerissa and Kenneth Graham, Gratiano.

Alls Well That Ends Well - Robert Lindsay, First French Lord.

The Winter’s Tale - None.

Timon of Athens - Timon, Jonathan Pryce.

Anthony and Cleopatra - None

Othello - Bob Hoskins, Lago;  Penelope Wilton, Desdemona and Anthony Hopkins, Othello. ***That is top draw casting.***

Troilus and Cressida - None.

A Midsummer’s Night Dream - Robert Lindsay, Lysander; Phil Daniels, Puck and Helen Mirren, Titania.

King Lear - Ken Scott, Curan; Anton Lesser, Edgar & Penelope Wilton, Regan.

The Merry Wives of Windsor - Ben Kingsley, Frank Ford; Alan Bennett, Justice Shallow; Prunella Scales, Mistress Page and Richard Griffiths, Falstaff. 

Henry VI/1 - None

Henry VI/2 - None

Henry VI/3 - None

Richard III - Ron Cook, King Richard and Zoe Wanamaker, Lady Anne.

Cymbeline - Helen Mirren, Imogen and Robert Lindsay, Lachimo.

Macbeth - James Bolam, Porter.

The Comedy of Errors - Roger Daltry, Dromios.

Two Gentlemen of Verona - None

Coriolanus - None

King John - John Thaw,  Hubert de Burgh and Gordon Kaye, Lymoges.

Pericles - None

Much Ado About Nothing - Robert Lindsay, Benedict; Michael Elphick, Dogsberry; Clive Dunn, Verges and Gordon Kaye, First Watch.

Love’s Labour’s Lost - Maureen Lipman, Princess of France.

Titus Andronitus - None

Originally they filmed Much Ado with Penelope Keith and Michael York and Arthur Lowe as Dogberry which looks like great casting (in two of the roles anyway) but the result was so poor they junked it and re-filmed it with a new cast (as above) later on. I seem to recall that the ones directed by Jonathan Miller were the best (Taming of the Shrew ?). 

As Lynette said they’re not particularly good, but looks good on paper does not always translate well to stage and screen, despite some great casting. Shame it didn’t work out.

The Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet I looked up on Wiki, it got very positive reviews. It cost $18m to make, so with distribution, would have cost double that, it only made $5m in the box office. So one really for the arts.

Brilliant

Hamlet is my favourite Shakespeare’s play for no other reason for the reasons you touched on, it contains Shakespeare’s best soliloquies. The role of Hamlet is truly the gold plus standard in acting. I would hazard a guess to learn the lines for that mammoth role of Hamlet, would take months? Oddly all the best soliloquies are in act 1-3. 4&5 fall a lot flatter, but still very good.

By saying Andrew Scott are you talking about the awesome Almeida production? Cut version being like Benedict Cumberbatch Hamlet at the Barbican, coming in over 2hr 40.

Received the Hollow Crown DVD in the post today, along with 2 watering cab roses (that is a different story) but thank you Lynette. Looks like I need to get more port and mince pies.

I could do with one of those when watching. The more I watch the more I realise how low my understanding is, I must slowly be understanding a bit more one would hope but I think especially if i'm watching with subtitles where I tend to focus more on the words, I keep thinking what does that mean, or does it mean what I thought it meant. Which on the upside means I can keep watching for ever but it would be nice to know a bit more (my mind is like a sieve, I try and ram more in but the interesting things fall out and the dross remains).

Thinking now my familiarity with the political scenes is probably pretty poor then, my focus being pretty Hamlet orientated. Thank goodness for the board and other people's knowledge.

Almeida. Yes. Robert Icke pulled together bits from the various versions of the text but it was basically uncut.

Fortinbras. Right. Despite Lynette’s views to the contrary, one of the greatest coups de theatre of all time was at the end of the Michael Sheen Hamlet. It’s set in a mental hospital, it’s clear the story is all playing out in Hamlet’s mind based on his memories and the people there. At the end he’s killed, Fortinbras is there in battle dress, masked, taking over, just before the lights dim he takes his mask off - it’s Hamlet - he’s creating another story.

Young Vic. You were led in through the backstage area, through a door at the back of the theatre, which was set up as a mental hospital - inmates exercising, medication schedules pinned on the walls, then into the main auditorium set up as the hospital sports hall, harsh white neon strip lighting, very institutional feel, Hamlet a patient there, the story playing out in his mind, identifying the director of the hospital as Claudius, one of the doctors as Polonius, one of his fellow patients as Ophelia and so on. It was the standard text but completely subverted. Ian Rickson directed it.