Great performance

I sure wish this were available on dvd. Just great performances from Diana Rigg, Dame Judi, and Helen Mirren. Just imagine the best performance of MND and relax if you can hunt down a used copy of this because you just found it.

[Tuesday, November 06, 2007]

A Midsummer not to be missed...

There are funny, and unfortunately, ignorant reviews about how this production should be passed over due to the crappy sound, not so good make-up, or late 60's style. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but those reviews are only touching the superficial elements. This "Midsummer Nights Dream" is definitely of that time/period, but Peter Hall's direction of the actors is what really shines through. Then, Judi Dench, Ian Holm, Diana Rigg, Helen Mirren, etc., etc. I haven't yet named a name that isn't recognized in as a "star" (as one reviewer mentioned that there were no "stars" in the film). Granted this was made before most of cast were doing huge budget gigs, but each one has made incredible names for themselves over the years. Not to mention that they were all pretty much household names in the theatre of the UK back when they made this film. Just the mention of "No Stars" in that one review cracked me up. I mean, even if you don't know anyone else in this film...you at least HAVE to know who Judi Dench is by now. Otherwise, man, have you been living in a CAVE for the past 9 years!!?? Or Helen Mirren...really! (That's speaking Hollywood wise...on a more worldly scale Judi Dench has been a veritable artistic tsunami since the 60's, and Helen Mirren comes in at a close clip after that.)
To conclude, this 1968, made for film, RSC production has BRILLIANT verse speaking (Shakespeare is most amazing in the hands of these geniuses)! The film quality is dated, yes, and the sound is rough, yes, but willingly passing up Shakespeare's "Midsummer..." with all of these GENIUS artists would almost be a crime. Pay no attention to mis-guided and ill-informed reviews...please, don't sacrifice your pleasure for incredible verse speaking, theatre, poetry, and brilliant artistry over a ridiculously ignorant review.

[Friday, July 20, 2007]

Ever Notice How Some Couples Look Alike?

In this late 1960s production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", we are presented with Shakespeare for the Hippie Generation, complete with barely-clothed flower-infantren fairies in bad paint, courtesy of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
However, it is an overall thorough and winning production of the Bard's comedy, and what is striking is not only how well the two young female leads fit Shakespeare's description of them, but also, how the couples are each other's physical counterparts in so many ways. Barbara Jefford and Derek Godfrey lend dignity and elegance to the loving noble couple, Hippolyta and Theseus. Interstingly, they are both blue-eyed brunettes. One truly gets a sense of their happiness together. But a short while later, they are compelled, as rulers, to address the issue of young, fair, petite, Hermia (a young, sweet-voiced Helen Mirren, who has only improved with age), who is being forced to marry a man she does not love, with the alternatives of joining the Ancient Greek equivalent of a convent, or execution.
But the equally fair Lysander(David Warner), the man she does love, is planning to elope with her. As she anticipates a new life with her beloved, she consults her best friend, Helena (Diana Rigg), who is as tall, dark-haired, and large-boned as Demetrius (Michael Jayston)whom she loves, but who spurns her.
In the meantime, trouble in the fairy world will soon result in the wreaking of havoc among the mortals. The fairy prankster, Puck (aptly, eagerly, and impishly played by Ian Holm--a role that seems tailor-made for him) is recruited to squeeze a love potion for his master, Oberon, King of the Fairies(a solemn Ian Richardson)to divert his Queen Titania (a convivial and precise Judi Dench, whose green coloring vividly compliments her blue eyes,even if the make-up does wash off at one point)just long enough for him to snatch a disputed young Indian boy from his wife's protection.
Elsewhere, a humble group of tradesmen are preparing to put on a play for a wedding couple. The most prominent of these is the weaver, Bottom (a country-bumpkinish Paul Rogers), whose life will become very interesting when he crosses paths with Titania and her court in the woods. Clive Swift, who would later be known for his role on "Keeping Up Appearances", plays Snug.
As the four young mortals meet in the woods--Hermia to elope with Lysander, and the pathetic and prideless Helena to chase the comically exasperated Demetrius--Puck's knavishness gets a little out of hand, and relationships change from positive to negative and back again before night is over.
It is interesting to see the young actors so mod-clothed and muddied considering that this was released in the U.S. just months before Woodstock.
Of course, all does go well in the end, and everyone is matched with their correct partners (which at least in this production, as was mentioned before,is largely based on coloring). Amends are restored,and fairies give their benediction before they bid adieu.

[Thursday, September 14, 2006]

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