Would anybody like a thread to chat about Shakespeare?

I saw Tamsin Greig as Malvolia. She was amazing, as she always is.

OOH! Glad that I've found this thread.

I've seen Macbeth many times, in fact it was an A level text, but this performance was incredible mif.co.uk/previous-festivals/mif13/macbeth/

It's still available as it was direct-streamed. I honestly think that Kenneth Branagh was born to play Macbeth. And Alex Kingston (River Song) outplayed him. It was an amazing production. I don't think I will ever go and see the play again now.

I might give the King Lear that was on TV last night a go.

Studied Twelfth Night for A Level, and I really loved it. Even studying it for two years didn't put me off. It really helped that the rest of my class were so enthusiastic as well. As a result of loving it so much, I do still see productions of it. Out of interest, did anyone see the National Theatre Twelfth Night production last year, with Tamsin Greig as Malvolia? I was sceptical before seeing it, but I absolutely loved it!

Yes Andrew Scott's affected screeching was annoying and he garbled a lot of his lines but Edmund (John Macmillan) was very watchable.

The second half was stronger I thought - but I know Lear really well (it has the BEST lines, imo, and not really savoured last night ) and if I hadn't I reckon I would have been very confused.

Andrew Scott just irritated me and the ending didn't make the strange power vacuum clear. Edmund's soliloquies (in fact all the soliloquies) were understated. The three sisters were great once let loose, as was Cornwall.

The trailer looked alarming, as if AH was playing Lear as Elderly Hannibal Lecter in iambic pentamer -- was that the case?

I enjoyed it last night. Good cast and the pacing was good too.

What did people think of King Lear last night on BBC2? I generally don't like Anthony Hopkins's acting, but I love everyone else in the cast.

I've seen a fair few Shakespeare productions, but don't get a chance to go to the theatre as much these days unfortunately.

We saw SRB in The Tempest last year, but I think I preferred his Ariel (from 20 years ago, I remember that to have been stunning). I saw McKellen as Lear 10 (?) years ago - I think that was the one with the onstage rain, and he got starkers too... And Antony Sher as Lear last year, he was amazing.

I'm really looking forward to Lear tonight on the Beeb, I love Richard Eyre's direction.

Oh I love Macbeth too - also The Merchant of Venice. Shylock is such a complex and interesting character.

And this is potentially outing but I work at the RSC and often have to pinch myself when walking into work in the morning - love me a bit of Shakespeare!

I thought the RSC Eccleston/Cusack Macbeth was confused and a bit under-acted, by CE especially, who seemed to struggle with the verse, but it was close to the beginning of the run, so might have settled down...?

I think in general I’ve seen more very good Sh. at the NT and Globe than at the RSC. The NT Henry V with Adrian Leicester was great, and I saw a wonderful pair of Henry IVs with Roger Allam as Falstaff and Jamie Parker as Hal, both brilliant, at the Globe in 2010 — we were in the yard, and it was cold and very wet, but we were transfixed — and the NT Much Ado with Simon Russell Beale and Zoe Wanamaker was so good I went two consecutive nights. Was less keen on the Rylance all-male one at the Globe.

But my ultimate experience of Sh. was the RSC histories cycle at the Roundhouse which was mind-blowingly good.

Has anyone seen the new RSC Lear with Antony Sher? I was supposed to go this week, but had to cancel and was disgusted.

Joss Whedon did a version of Much Ado about Nothing (available on dvd for a few £s) with actors he worked with in his other shows (Angel, Firefly etc). We really enjoyed it.

Best live theatre performance was Twelfth Night with Derek Jacobi as Malvolio.
Also enjoyed the cinema screening of Romeo and Juliet with Lily James and Richard Madden. He wasn't great but she was good.

p.s. I have also seen the Andrew Scott Hamlet and thought it was very well done. Juliet Stevenson was the star for me.

Delighted to find this thread. I go to the theatre about once a month and Shakespeare features an awful lot.

Macbeth is my all time favourite and I have seen many versions, most recently Ann-Marie Duff and Rory Kinnear (who I saw as Iago and was magnificent) at The National - it wasn't the best I have seen and Kinnear was sick. I have tickets for Cusack/Eccleston in January when they will also do a talk afterwards. I am saving the remainder of a theatre token I have to see Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okenedo in Anthony and Cleopatra later in the year, really excited as I often stick to the plays I love and know. I also have stalls seats to see McKellen as Lear in August.

I took the DC to see Much Ado at the Globe earlier in the year, which was condensed to 90 mins and it was 7 year olds first time. We go to the Globe a lot as their family programme is fantastic.

Took the older two to RSC's Hamlet this year which I thought was great and saw just after Black Panther so was great to see two productions with large Black casts, it really worked well.

Othello has grown on me after seeing Adrian Lester years ago and Emma Rice's production at the Sam Wanamaker.

A little bit of me dies everytime I watch R&J, the last time being Lily James.

I have enjoyed the productions and film Macbeth. I am in two minds about King Lear on BBC 2 this evening, if only because the stage production I saw was with Pete Postlethwaite in the lead role (a privilege indeed for me), and the person who recommended it to me sadly died last year.

Dottie - No idea, sorry. I am a Luddite.

Lear is my favorite because of the original premise, complicated relationships and captivating language.

I will watch it on the BBC tomorrow and be lulled into a place of perfection. The story is complicated but the language is King. It's ok not to get the whole thing.

Some will read it for the story; others for the structure; the acting possibilities; the language; the setting; the history. It's perfect and anyone who says it's boring is as thick as Tewkesbury mustard.

Remus btw (apologies for hijacking thread briefly) I can post on this thread but when I try to add a post to the 50 book challenge I can preview but not post, any idea why?

I remember enjoying the film of Richard III with Ian McKellan, but I think my favourite was the version of The Tempest by Derek Jarman, if only because it was so off the wall, does anyone remember it? Had a wonderful ending with Elizabeth Welch singing 'Stormy Weather'?

I have seen quite a lot of Shakespeare. I recently saw Christopher Eccleston and Niamh Cusack in Macbeth at the RSC. I saw Julius Ceaser there last year. I have A Midsummer Nights Dream and The Two Gentlemen of Verona in the last twelve months or so. I saw Catherine Tate and David Tennant in Much Ado (I have seen this a few times previously). I saw Kim Catrell in Anthony and Cleopatra a few years ago. I’ve basically seen loads of Shakespeare. I’ve also seen the Duchess of Malfi. I love Stratford. I think I am a bit of a Shakespeare nut.

One of my favourites for many years was Winters Tale. I was more excited to book tickets to it last year at the Sam Wanamaker at the globe last year.

It was awful

I mean truly dire. Both the story, which I now realise absolutely stinks, and the production. Would have been laughable had I not been so bloody disappointed.

I love Henry IV 1&2. So funny.

Not funny at all but Othello is incredible. Saw a stunning one at a local theatre a few years back.

DH has never seen any version of Hamlet. What’s the best one? I remember the Branagh one being pretty good.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b57d0w