Coming Attraction

By ClassicBecky

Reading the plays of Shakespeare in high school has caused many a teenager to fall into a deep coma. But these plays were never meant to be just read, but to be experienced on the stage, and in our era, on film.  The difference between reading a play and seeing it is astounding.  Many people are unfamiliar with Shakespeare, or intimidated by the language, and have never given the movies a chance.  We're not talking about Romeo and Juliet or Midsummer Night's Dream here.  Oh no, nothing so light or romantic.

If you like bloody battles, lustful seduction, raging jealousy, witches and dire prophecies, dashing kings and villainy, you will like King Richard III, King Henry V, Macbeth and Othello..  I have always thought that school children would find a great interest in his plays if they were only taught not the romances or comedies, but rather the tragedies and the exciting stories of the English kings.  In my article to be posted later this week, I will review a sampling of the movies made from these types of plays. The different versions reflect the cultural stamp and controversy of each era in which the films were released, and will intrigue you and maybe even provoke interest in seeing them if you have not already done so.

I will be reviewing my favorites in pairs, each movie from a different movie era:  Laurence Olivier's and Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, Ian McKellan's and Olivier's Richard III, Roman Polanski's and Orson Welles' Macbeth, and Lawrence Fishburne's and Olivier's Othello.

Watch for my article to be posted later this week, called "Shakespeare On Film - You Don't Know What You're Missing!"