Michael Billington:
There are many ways of approaching Shakespeare’s youthful tragedy: Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh take the scenic route in this new production. We are plunged into a vividly imagined 1950s Italy of dark-suited men, petticoated women, bicycling friars, patriarchal oppression and frantic partying. You feel Fellini is due any moment to film it with a movie camera and, even if the result has its oddities, the production certainly has a pulsating energy.Read More »
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In Per Kirkeby’s set with a blue backdrop beside a woodland lake Lene Adler Petersen pronounces Ophelia’s madness monologue from Hamlet, but she is constantly interrupted by the sound of two wooden blocks and has to start again: “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance …” The words thereby rapidly lose their meaning and our interest turns to the specific sounds emerging from Adler Petersen’s lips and the choreographed ways she touches her face. The film starts and ends classically with a zoom in from an establishing shot and a zoom out onto a concluding tableau in which Ophelia throws herself into the lake, but in between the film is experimental, with two cameras on tracks abiding by a carefully conceived but highly impenetrable system. The frame thus changes apparently according to signals from Leth, and occasionally the camera seems to track right off the set into the sylvan wilderness. At its premiere at the Carlton it was shown before Roman Polanski’s Dance of the vampires.Read More »
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Chokichi Kuwahata was once a leading actor, but he is ravaged by dementia and old age now. His daughter and the men in her life go against his wishes and place him in a retirement home. He slips away one day and meets another offspring from a different union. Will this lead to his improvement or deterioration? What does it all have to do with Shakespeare?Read More »
One of the greatest and best known Nekrosius productions.
Hamletas marked the beginning of Nekrosius’s studio, Meno Fortas, which is dedicated to performance and actor training and earned Nekrosius the 1998 St. Kristoforas for highest theatrical achievement in Europe.Read More »
Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.Read More »
Synopsis and user review from the Imdb:
Falling asleep on the job, he dreams of various Shakespearean characters coming to life from the pages of giant books and singing and dancing in celebration of their “goin’ Hollywood.” The characters appearing include Romeo, Juliet, Juliet’s Nurse, Puck, Peter Quince, Hamlet, Old Hamlet’s Ghost, Falstaff, Antony, Cleopatra, and Macbeth. Shakespeare appears toward the end of the film to object, but he is quickly convinced by his characters to join a big song and dance routine. Includes passing references to a number of familiar Shakespearean scenes including Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy, Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene, Hamlet with Yorick’s skull, and Enobarbus’ speech on Cleopatra’s barge.Read More »
King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear’s loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.Read More »
In this powerful short film, the renowned William Shakespeare play is stripped down to the bare essentials, consisting of two lengthy shots.Read More »
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, finds out that his uncle Claudius killed his father to obtain the throne, and plans revenge.Read More »