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Post by David J on May 30, 2016 20:25:56 GMT
Okay...the Demetrius falling for Lysander moment was an interesting, but brief, departure
Otherwise this is a pretty rushed adaptation
Also the actors are competing with the overly loud music.
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Post by David J on May 30, 2016 20:52:56 GMT
JESUS the humour in the Pyramus and Thisbe sequence has been sucked out. They're taking the Athenian scenes SO seriously.
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Post by Boob on May 30, 2016 21:05:14 GMT
And what the hell was with the ending? I thought this was pretty awful and made me yearn for some of the sophistication and clarity of the Hollow Crown.
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Post by David J on May 30, 2016 21:07:58 GMT
Yeah, the Athenian's should be panicking by the paranormal activity the fairies were creating
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Post by n1david on May 30, 2016 22:10:52 GMT
I was amused by an exchange between Matt Lucas and a Twitter follower earlier this week - Matt was asked "what is the play about?" and his response was "Help" - I have a feeling RTD might have had the same response.
I couldn't get on with this at all, despite wanting to enjoy it - it was all just too Dr Who CGI/huge set piece drama.
To be honest I've never loved Dream as a play, I saw the Grandage production last year and didn't like that either, but I felt it was more coherent than this mess. The words are completely lost in the effects and music so it just becomes a collection of superficialities. Maybe I need to watch it again.
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Post by peggs on May 30, 2016 22:44:53 GMT
Well I've watched a whole 7 minutes (will revisit but must sleep) but so far it does indeed appear to be a doctor who episode with rather a lot of scenery chewing and very loud music.
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Post by oxfordsimon on May 31, 2016 1:11:19 GMT
Well I spotted at least 3 recycled sets from past Dr Who episodes!
I couldn't quite see the point to it all. It didn't work as a well-produced piece of Shakespeare (there was no real coherence to any of the ideas) and it was too overblown to work as an piece of entertainment for a Bank Holiday audience.
I can imagine GCSE drama students writing it about it - but as an interpretation of Shakespeare's play, it wasn't even close to being satisfying.
The cut of the script could well have left those who haven't seen the play as many times as I have very confused. I have no problems with some of the innovations (such as the fascist state - which at least makes sense of the concept of death for transgressing the rules) or the idea that love is not restricted to conventional couplings. But none of it felt part of a whole. The final reveal about Hippolyta was certainly not justified by the text.
The effects were overdone - as was the music. The magic is as much in the language as in the elements demanding of the language and we robbed of that by a score that dominated.
It wasn't romantic enough, it wasn't funny enough and it wasn't really magical enough.
It was a Dr Who Christmas Special with no Tardis. A wasted opportunity - and one that probably will put more people off Shakespeare.
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Post by d'James on May 31, 2016 1:16:31 GMT
I deliberately didn't watch this because I just don't like Russell T. Davies. I'd be interested to hear people's opinions who did watch about what he says here: www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a795952/russell-t-davies-lesbian-kiss-midsummer-nights-dream/I'm not really interested in the gay debate, but rather, how much liberty one can and should take with the original work? I can't really think of what hasn't been done to Shakespeare? Gender reversal? Race reversal? Modernising the words? All done. How far can you go and still call it by the same name? |
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Post by DuchessConstance on May 31, 2016 1:31:25 GMT
David Tennant was originally hired to direct (or it was a project he and Davies developed together) but he had to drop out. But still acted as some sort of unofficial advisor. I wonder what his influence was and whether it would have been different if he hadn't dropped out.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2016 9:10:41 GMT
Well I've watched a whole 7 minutes (will revisit but must sleep) but so far it does indeed appear to be a doctor who episode with rather a lot of scenery chewing and very loud music. Yes, but what we really want to know is what your mum had to say about it. |
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Post by peggs on May 31, 2016 11:37:47 GMT
Well I've watched a whole 7 minutes (will revisit but must sleep) but so far it does indeed appear to be a doctor who episode with rather a lot of scenery chewing and very loud music. Yes, but what we really want to know is what your mum had to say about it. She would be horrified that she had made it as far as 'The internet'. I'm afraid she didn't watch this, I think I saw her glance at a headline pre showing in the tv guide which said something about swapping genders and kissings and hastily turn the page. In fairness I don't think the play is probably a good match for her and she generally doesn't like things to be modernised (part of the anti Benedict Cumberbatch's nose is probably linked to him having the audacity to be in a modern Sherlock Holmes) so this would never be a hit. |
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Post by peggs on May 31, 2016 12:32:27 GMT
Yes, but what we really want to know is what your mum had to say about it. She would be horrified that she had made it as far as 'The internet'. I'm afraid she didn't watch this, I think I saw her glance at a headline pre showing in the tv guide which said something about swapping genders and kissings and hastily turn the page. In fairness I don't think the play is probably a good match for her and she generally doesn't like things to be modernised (part of the anti Benedict Cumberbatch's nose is probably linked to him having the audacity to be in a modern Sherlock Holmes) so this would never be a hit. I have recalled that actually my mum has seen this before, my niece's primary school did it some years back, we all sat in a field and hoped it wouldn't rain as 5-11 years olds unfolded this fairy fest. It was surprisingly good in that they didn't seem to have cut it and everyone remembered their rather a lot of lines and bellowed them out in-between what i remember of rather a lot of modern pop music dancing. I confess I sat and tried to remember just how long the play was, we made it to the interval and upon discovering that it was the interval and not in fact the end my mother scarped, so that is probably her put off for life. Much to my disappointment bouncing around as a 5 year old fairy 9I think) has yet to inspire a love of plays in my niece. |
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Post by lynette on May 31, 2016 16:44:56 GMT
I don't know why people think MND is ok for introducing young kids to Shakespeare. It is all about sex. Primary school children can 'get' Shakespeare but I would suggest Macbeth as a better intro, good old murder and gore. Grips em from the start.
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Post by peggs on May 31, 2016 20:04:40 GMT
I don't know why people think MND is ok for introducing young kids to Shakespeare. It is all about sex. Primary school children can 'get' Shakespeare but I would suggest Macbeth as a better intro, good old murder and gore. Grips em from the start. I wonder if it's the fairies, people think fairies that works for children and don't pay any attention to what said fairies are getting up to and all that lusting. It was the fairies that put me off it when we did it at school and all that talk of love, somehow the sex seemed to have been glossed over or we might have all been a bit more interested. |
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Post by kathryn on May 31, 2016 20:58:53 GMT
Of course you can produce kid-friendly productions by making a play about 'love' in the rather abstract form that children recognise from Disney films, but you'd lose all the humour and recognisable humanity from it.
It's really not for children.
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Post by peggs on May 31, 2016 21:41:37 GMT
Wow I thought that was really quite awful having now watched the whole, thank goodness RTD has said he doesn't want to do more, I don't care about gender swapping but I do care that I thought it plain bad. The language got completely lost for me and it seemed more about special effects and trying to be 'now' and relevant rather than just another intrepretation. Can safely answer that my mother would have hated it, well actually she'd have turned it off and had an early night.
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Post by David J on May 31, 2016 22:11:01 GMT
I've watched Midsummer as a kid and didn't recognise the sexual undertones. It was just a fairy story to me.
It's like those pantomimes that are filled with sexual innuendos. Children and adults are going to laugh for entirely different reasons.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2016 22:40:56 GMT
Of course you can produce kid-friendly productions by making a play about 'love' in the rather abstract form that children recognise from Disney films, but you'd lose all the humour and recognisable humanity from it. It's really not for children. Yes, I don't think I could bear to trip along to the Swan this fall to see The Rover, which the RSC says is about "love", now that I've seen and relished Rob Hayes and Ned Bennett's version, at RWCMD last week, which was rather more about sex, lust and gang-rape. |
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Post by crabtree on Jun 1, 2016 22:55:05 GMT
Crikey, this was overblown......enough with the zapping orange light and ridiculous effects and shots of trees and that insistant music. Full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
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Post by interiris on Jun 3, 2016 9:00:40 GMT
JESUS the humour in the Pyramus and Thisbe sequence has been sucked out. They're taking the Athenian scenes SO seriously. |
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Post by interiris on Jun 3, 2016 9:23:34 GMT
JESUS the humour in the Pyramus and Thisbe sequence has been sucked out. They're taking the Athenian scenes SO seriously. I loved it as did my younger visitors-yes the music was loud and it felt a bit rushed but the humour and innovative visuals were lively and Maxine Peake was mesmerising.Uplifting and entertaining. Far better than the Hollow Crown which nearly lost me in the first episode only to find the Richard 111 section was worse with the tricksy camera work that drew your attention from the actors, a Shakespearean text which had been butchered by the complete loss of the iambic pentameter in an effort to make it more accessible and a very mixed bag of acting.I liked Lupita Nyong'o even if she was bit overwrought at times. Benedict Cumberbatch was a mixture some excellant reflective moments and pantomine acting. The overall pacing did not help much.So i will gladly watch A midsummers Dream again but have already deleted the Hollow, |
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Post by interiris on Jun 3, 2016 9:45:58 GMT
re Pyramus and Thisbby having played it twice myself I thought it was a pretty funny as did those with me who had not seen it before,Bottom was a joy in his scenes and seeing few actors from Dr Who like Benard Cribbons was treat;
interiris Avatar
Jun 3, 2016 10:00:40 GMT 1 interiris said:
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Post by loureviews on Jun 3, 2016 10:19:06 GMT
I thought it was awful. No humour, pointless changes, noisy music, a terrible Helena and no concept of what the play is about.
Maxine Peake was good but there wasn't much else to be positive about.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 7, 2016 7:27:33 GMT
I lasted 15 minutes
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2016 7:57:25 GMT
You beat me, Someone in a tree! I lasted about 30 minutes. I wanted to like it - I'm a huge admirer of RTD as a writer - but it was just dreadful.
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