In a previous thread about film versions of Macbeth, I mentioned that probably my Shakespearean film was Orson Welles’ The Chimes at Midnight, which is a beautiful adaption of both parts of Henry IV. The discussion made me think more widely about favourite Shakespeare plays and productions on screen or stage.
I think the Henry IV plays would be my all time favourites. They’re both funny and sad, and full of memorable characters. And, particularly in the second part, very moving about growing old and looking back on what we’ve done in our lives.
My school was very strong on studying the Bard, and, unlike many, reading the plays for O Level and A level was inspiring rather than off putting.
Following closely behind would be Hamlet, Richard II and Macbeth. I admire rather than love King Lear – I can appreciate it’s power, but it really is so very depressing!
So what are your favourite plays, and the most memorable productions that you’ve seen? Some of mine to follow.
More Shakespeare
The first time I saw a performance of Henry IV was on a school trip to the RSC in London in the mid-70s. I cannot remember who was Falstaff, but the great Alan Howard was Hal. Probably the best Falstaff I’ve seen was the late Anthony Sher in an RSC live on screen production from a few years ago.
Of course, he was even more memorable as Richard III which was just stunning.
Other performances which stick in the mind are David Tennant as Richard II – also his Hamlet. But the better Hamlet was Andrew Scott in a TV screening of a live performance. Although I mentioned my ambivalence about King Lear, Simon Russell Beale was brilliant in his version.
Midsummer Night’s Dream is very dependant on the production, but I do remember enjoying the Peter Hall film – though it’s a very long time since I’ve seen it. One to revisit!
I was in a couple of those. I’m lucky enough to have achieved a childhood ambition of working at the RSC, which remains a highlight of my career. I first saw SRB there in Richard III, having hotfooted it from watching Bowie at the Phoenix Festival and I’ve seen the vast majority of his major Shakespearean roles since. He’s a master of the verse and such a sensitive, intelligent performer.
Sher was brilliant, though I was too young for his firebrand years and by the time I worked with him his approach, whilst effective, seemed underwhelming in rehearsal. DT was clinical, whip smart and so precise. An actor in command of text and clear eyed in his intent. He made me love a play (R2) which I’d never really paid much attention to but which I now regard as top tier.
Timothy West remains the best Lear I’ve seen, Whishaw the best Hamlet (though the production was flawed his youth and vulnerability were spot on for the title role).
I’m sad to never have seen Gambon (my hero) in a major Shakespeare role. Again, too young for his Lear (with Sher as the Fool) and I never made it to his Falstaff, which I heard was intermittently brilliant but that the cracks were starting to show.
Thus far I’ve acted professionally in productions of 14 of his plays. My intention is to do the lot. I’d better get a move on…
Saw West’s son Sam do Hamlet in Stratford 20 or so years ago. He was good
Wow Muswell! Amazing to have worked with those actors! Tips hat….
Cool. Starting to think the AW should have a Shakespehearean chapter.
So shaken all over are we.
Not the current/recent Branagh version of King Lear. Not good
Heard that.
Many many moons ago (on what could have been but wasnt the GLW and I’s first date) saw our Ken’s production of Lear with an astonishingly good fool played by Emma Thompson, and Richard Briers as Lear. So was really tempted by this.
But reviews have been poor, and the ticket prices were high so….
Whereas I’ve read some very good reviews of Tennant’s Macbeth at the Donmar.
Was that Branagh/Briers Lear in Reading? The Midsummer Nights Dream on the same tour was glorious – the mechanicals, with Branagh as a Peter Quince directing them like a testy von Stroheim with jodhpurs and a megaphone was the funniest I have ever seen.
Hamlet for me, every time. “To be or not to be” is famous for a reason: it’s the most profound and poetic speech in English literature. I’ve seen so many screen versions (only amateur versions live, alas) and am hard pushed to name a favourite. I defend Mel Gibson’s portrayal. Nicely manic. I defend Michael Almereyda’s 2000 version with Ethan Hawke. Some interesting ideas. I didn’t like Branagh’s film or portrayal. Too cold. It’s between Stott, Cumberbatch and Tennant for my favourite. I think Stott probably edges it.
Favourite Shakespeare film? In order of preference: Richard III with Ian McKellen, Romeo + Juliet with De Caprio and Danes, Coriolanus with and by Ralph Fiennes.
@justtim, you may have missed a play written by Chiz of this here online community called Waiting For Hamlet. I rate it very highly, especially if you’re into Shakespeare/Hamlet related works.
Thanks – will check that out!
Aww thank you Gary, mwah mwah
Seconded for Chiz’s Waiting for Hamlet
Used to be a regular at the RSC season in Newcastle, and go whenever they can be bothered to come to Bradford.
The Tempest is my favourite, and seen some outstanding versions – one in Newcastle (looks like Prospero was David Calder) and in Manchester with Pete Postlethwaite.
Can’t help but think of Coriolanus when thinking of current Tory politicians…
Sorry a great Comedy of Errors in Newcastle which started off all grim, Stazi style greyness, and then changed into uproarious panto. As it should.
Just seen a good Julius Caesar in Bradford.
On film I like Joss Whedon’s Much Ado about Nothing done by essentially the Buffy house at his house (yes, he is problematic these days but the film is lovely. Or maybe i just have a thing for Amy Acker?)
My tip is to read the text first (lots of free versions online) and not worry about catching every word.
An up for Amy Acker, as it were…
The first one I ever saw live (on a school trip to Stratford – don’t think there were any famous names in the cast) was Macbeth, which is still my favourite play. Witches, murders a-plenty, ghosts, madness, battles – it’s like every folk song rolled into one. Terrific stuff.
My fave Shakespeare film has to be Branagh’s take on Hamlet – it’s the full, 4-hour text and it’s spellbinding throughout. Even if he did nothing else in his life (and I’ve got a lot of time for him, both as an actor and director), he deserves to be honoured for that alone.
The best live version I’ve seen was Othello in New York’s Central Park in the early 90s. The late Raul Julia as the lead, and Christopher Walken as Iago. Yes, Chris-to-pher WALK-en as Ia-GO. I know his unique delivery/diction has become a bit of a meme, but that night he really, really did the Bard justice. It was riveting from beginning to end, and you could have heard a pin drop at the crucial points. Just fantastic.
Thanks for all the comments so far. I’m not quite sure what I think of Kenneth Branagh as a Shakespearean actor. His best performance is probably Henry V which I saw at Stratford as well as on film. Much more ambiguous a character than Olivier’s version.
And I enjoyed his film of Much Ado About Nothing – talking of which, David Tennant and Catherine Tate were brilliant on stage with that. I wanted to like his film of Hamlet, particularly as it was the full length version, but his portrayal doesn’t stick in the mind as much as some of the others that have been mentioned. Thanks for the reminder of Benedict Cumberbatch which I had forgotten about!
I think light comedy is his forte, not sure he is a strong enough actor for the big serious roles
As mentioned on another (and in some ways better) thread, check out his National Theatre Live performance of Macbeth on YouTube. (Not amazing, but I’d defy anyone to say it’s not worth watching.)
Branagh’s acting is not great but he is a phenomenal director – the overall quality of his productions is outstanding, even allowing for the fact that he attracts incredible casts (once he stopped endlessly casting Emma Thompson in everything)
There was a gag about that, when they were married
Thompson comes home, Branagh calls out, “I’m in the kitchen.”
Thompson “Can I be in it too?”
I think she’s great, much better actor than he is. They broke up in 1995 so I doubt he has been casting her in everything or anything (?) since. The King Lear production I saw contained unknowns in all the other roles (deliberately), reading reviews afterwards there was some sort of consensus that he shouldn’t act AND direct the plays. Do one or the other.
He acted good as Iago in Othello (with Sir Laurence Fishburne in blackface). That was a decentish film, as I recall. And I vaguely remember liking “O” which was like a modern update of Othello with Josh Harnett or someone like that.
And I’ve just remembered he was very good in The Winter’s Tale which as live screening a few years ago – was it his own theatre company?
As you can probably tell, I’m quite a fan of the Swan of Avon. I’ve seen five productions of Hamlet, and they’ve all been good – and flawed – in their own ways.
I really like Rory Kinnear as an actor, but I didn’t feel he was quite right for the role. Maxine Peake was good. Jonathan Slinger for the RSC was my favourite, as he played Hamlet as a relatively unsympathetic character; it’s unusual when a Hamlet can still surprise you. Slinger had a powerful stage presence that’s never fully translated into film or TV – I’m sure the last time I saw him on the box, he was in a cereal commercial.
In my O Level English year, we were taken to see the Northcott Theatre Company at Exeter University, two years before I subsequently went there to study; they were doing Julius Caesar. My first ever live Willy The Shake. Typewriters for Anthony’s death list. Schmeissers for the henchmen. Togas and a big fat blood-bag full of real guts for the wince-inducing assassination. Totally mesmerising.
I saw Hamlet at the National Theatre with Daniel Day Lewis who was staggering in the role – too staggering it seems, as he quit mid-performance a few weeks later. Apparently it brought back his own ghosts with his father.
I like Henry IV pt. 1 which even survived doing it for A level. I like most Shaky though. I saw a particularly stomach churning “Titus Andronicus” at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton with a profoundly deaf case which was stunning. I needed a stiff drink after.
As far as films go I’m mixed on the modern dress thing. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes not. One of my favourites is the Ian McKellen Richard III which does a great job of placing the murdering SOB in a Fascist 30s setting.
I’ve seen then all play the Dane, darling. Daniel D-L and his internal ghost, Simon RB’s perplexed Prince, Stephen Dillane getting his knob out, David T doing his sad baby face, Sir Ian at age 81 swallowing the soliloquies like each was his final gasp. But that Andrew Scott production at The Pinter is the one. He was extraordinary.
I have some history with Shaky as I’ve ripped him off for personal gain a few times. I even have a co-credit with him coming up this summer, because he wrote nearly all the lines and whether it’s out of copyright or not I felt he deserved his name on the poster.
As a veteran of numerous Hamlets, both professional and amateur, Cumberbatch’s much hyped effort remains the nadir at present. An abomination – you’d have enjoyed it.
I’d love to meet someone who saw Peter O’Toole’s Macbeth… reputedly the Dylan-at-Live-Aid of Stratford.
Hamlet in French (at Warwick), with opera style surtitles, was very long indeed.
To be or….*shrugs* bof……
Seen quite a lot of Shakespeare down the years, because he was quite good at writing and I can’t resist a Hamlet.
Happiest memory is a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream seen last Summer in Griffith Park, staged by the Independent Shakespeare Company. Small cast and fairly humble staging, but absolutely brought to life with so much zest and energy as to make you feel it had been written yesterday.
Kids both absolutely rapt. My youngest watched the second half sat up a tree. In the interval the full cast came out and performed pop songs live, playing instruments, serving as backing dancers, etc. Later described by my eldest as one of the best days of her life. Good times.
I’ve seen some very heavy and very noble productions, but it’s nice when occasionally it isn’t all taken too seriously and you get the sense the performers both love the material and enjoy what they’re doing. You can certainly find all shades in the work.
Yes, The Duke’s Theatre Company do something similar – they tour outdoor venues, mainly parks/woodland, with a cast of about 6 playing multiple roles. They’re all talented actors, but they aren’t afraid to interact with the audience. Probably helps that they stick to the comedies, in this regard! I’ve really enjoyed their shows.
This is probably the place to ask what you think of “Upstart Crow”. We’re big fans.
I like it. I say this as someone who doesn’t have much time for David Mitchell and who gave up on Ben Elton in the 90s. It actually uses quite a lot of contemporary detail rather than just taking the piss (although it does that as well). The way it handled Hamnet was particularly good.
Another vote here for its companion piece, All Is True.
We saw this in 2017, Mat Fraser as Richard III.
https://www.thereviewshub.com/richard-iii-hull-truck-theatre/
Very accurate review. Fraser has disabilities caused by thalidomide – which gave the opening speech incredible power. “Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time” and all that. (Cheated of feature by dissembling Grunenthal, more like..)
The climactic battles involved a shitload of drumming and, when we saw it, they threw open the rear doors behind the stage and – this being a matinee – sunlight flooded in. As with a lot of HT productions it relied on big central performances and a few simple effects. Much as they did at the Rose and the Globe.
Oddly, as you mention Matt Fraser and drumming in one post, he actually is avery good drummer, and was in a band for some time ahead of becoming an actor. He plays this up very well, as part of his role in Loudermilk, the comedy I mentioned in the last monthly round up.
If you had a million Shakespeares in a room with a typewriter, could they write the words of monkeys?
Only if you feed ’em peanuts.
Hey hey we’re the Shakespeares
I’ve only seen two Shakespeare plays in the theatre (plenty more filmed versions), both in the 80s and both directed by Ingmar Bergman; King Lear and Hamlet.
Both at Dramaten in Stockholm.
Loved both, Hamlet’s ending unfortunately had an unnecessary and stupid modern addition that I didn’t enjoy, and a rather silly way of showing the ghost of Hamlet’s dad in the beginning of the play, but everything in between those two scenes was brilliant.
Peter Stormare, now Hollywood’s favourite over-the-top bit-part actor, was great as Hamlet, believe it or not. And bar those bookend mis-steps, the production was ace, lots of unforgettable scenes and a better act two than act one, which is rare.
King Lear had no big mis-steps, and great acting (even by actors I’m not a huge fan of), but I don’t remember it as well as I remember that Hamlet, no individual scenes sticking out in my mind. Just a general memory of being moved and gripped by it. Jarl Kulle was Lear, Lena Olin played Cordelia.
I started reading Shakespeare’s plays when I was around ten years old – for some reason I loved the unloved play that is Cymbeline the most back then! If I could only pick one today…probably Richard III, but that could also be because it’s the one I’ve read again not too long ago. There are lots of plays I ought to re-read as I barely remember anything about them.
I did actually consider that as a reading project in 2024, since I’m trying to have a “low-buy year” for books (and everything else) – but I’ve come up with another big project for the year, and two huge reading projects is too much work.
It’s a little known fact that as a young man, William Shakespeare was an assistant to the head zookeeper at the London Zoo, one of the oldest zoos in existence. His mentor was named Percy, and it was Percy’s dream to house Australian Koala Bears at the London Zoo. So he contracted with a ship to go around the Horn of Africa and fetch a mating pair of Koalas. When they arrived after a long and arduous sea voyage, they were thin and emaciated. Percy was horrified and asked the Australian man who fetched them why they looked so sickly. The man explained that all they ate were eucalyptus leaves, and the ship’s supply had run out two weeks prior. Percy sent the man back to Australia immediately to fetch some eucalyptus saplings so the Koalas would have sustenance at the zoo. A few weeks later, word reached Percy that the ship had been nearly sunk it a terrible storm near the Cape of Good Hope. The Koalas were starving and near death, so when the ship docked, Percy instructed young William to go to the ship and fetch the eucalyptus tree saplings, hoping they hadn’t been broken and battered in the storm. Will did so and returned to Percy and the Koalas, announcing, “Fear not! The Koala trees of Percy are not sprained!”
Bravo!
“You are the audience, I am the author. I outrank you”
Twenty year tradition of going to the RSC Barbican Season. Same procedure every year. Early supper in Soho, couple of beers then off to theatre. Lights dim, play begins. After a few minutes, whisper to wife “Which language is this?”
Five minutes later “This is fabulous, that boy sure could write.”
Ever since being taken on a school trip at the age of 15 to see The Merchant of Venice, I’ve been hooked. I’ve seen every play now bar around half a dozen and I hope to complete the list in however many years I have left. That could be a challenge though; it seems to me that the opportunity to see any of the plays beyond the big 5 or 6 is considerably diminished these days. Regional theatres rarely go beyond Macbeth, Midsummer Nights Dream or Romeo and Juliet now.
Favourites would include:
Hamlet. Most memorable I have ever seen was Jonathan Pryce at the Royal Court in London; closely followed by a more recent RSC production with Paapa Essiedu who I have seen twice on stage now – he’s a fantastic actor.
Twelfth Night. My favourite comedy – never fails. Favourite production was probably an RSC production in the early 80s with the late great John Woodvine as Malvolio.. Its place in my affections has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that Viola was played by a young Cheri Lunghi, striding round the stage in thigh length leather boots, oh no.
I wouldn’t say Richard III was a favourite play, but it has produced in the lead role two of the most memorable performances I have ever seen – Anthony Sher and Ian McKellen.
King Lear. Seen Anthony Hopkins and Brian Cox, which is a high bar for anyone else to leap. One of the best of the rest was Pete Postlethwaite, who I saw in the role at Liverpool Everyman late in his life. He was also wonderful in The Tempest at the Royal Exchange, as mentioned above by @paulwright. Many years earlier, when i was about 17, I saw him as Coriolanus, again at the Everyman, and I don”t think I have ever seen a more terrifying visceral and compelling performance of anything by anyone. If anything definitively converted me to Shakespeare that performance (in a production which also featured a young Julie Walters) was it.
I studied Midsummer Nights Dream for O level and that still remains my favourite Shakespeare play – probably due to the fact that I know it so well and that it’s “light/ easily accessible”. That said, I do really enjoy a good film / production of Macbeth.
Seen productions of Midsummer Nights Dream many times – from Branagh/Briers to local productions. I’ve always thought the best productions of this are the “in the park” type – it suits the outdoor evening setting (with a nice bottle of wine etc etc). Seen a couple of versions in the park here in Singapore – originally in 2007 which was superb (it may not have been the best acting ], but the setting / ambience were just right) and then again last year (with a very “modernist” setting).
Other notable productions that come to mind (can’t remember most!) were Ian Mckellen in King Lear, Kevin Spacey in Richard III and Roland Gift in the Hull Trucks Romeo & Juliet (that must have been early 90s).
Film wise, I do really have a soft spot from Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing.
I think of all the plays I’ve seen, MND is my least favourite. Its all faerie stuff. Like unicorns, dragons and shit. As I recall.
My brother was the lighting designer for that Hull Truck R&J and won an award for it!
We saw it at the Edinburgh festival. I can’t rememberthe lighting design, but I’m sure it was most excellent.
What I do remember is Roland Gift in red Dr Martens and that, as we were on the front row, he was stood right next to us for parts of the play – one of my friends was seriously star struck as he was still very much a FYC at the time and she was a fan.
I’m honoured to be amongst so many other Shakespeare lovers! What a treat this thread has been.
Being slightly more downbeat, can I just throw in that I’m really not a fan of Romeo and Juliet? I know it has some beautiful verses, but I just have no patience with those ‘star crossed lovers’!
On a brighter note, any fans of the Sonnets?
The sonnets?
Erm, well … #130 is a good ‘un.
Thumbs-up for #18, too.
And I suppose that old chestnut # 116 has got to be in the running.
#4 is the popular choice, but #1 runs it close.
#2 and #3? Score draw … depending on mood
Good choices, both! Thanks.
New film version of Ian McKellen’s Hamlet looks very interesting:
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/feb/12/ian-mckellen-film-new-hamlet-stage-sean-mathias