Anyone who enjoys Shakespeare

[EveryKneeShallBow]

… who has been your greatest actor, and in which role?

For me (I live in the middle of nowhere so I watch YouTube and NT Online)

Adrian Lester as Othello, with Rory Kinnear as Iago
Andrew Scott as Hamlet
Tamsin Greig as Malvolio

@Alltheprettyseahorses you would
probably enjoy Saoirse Ronan’s Lady Macbeth.
Definitely not RP

Kenneth Branagh's Iago opposite Laurence Fishburne's Othello.

I don't know loads about old Shaky, but I did like the Kenneth Branagh film of Hamlet much more than the Mel Gibson one, not necessarily because I considered Branagh the better actor, but I liked the fact that the Branagh version is the full text, whereas most other films and stage producions edit it down. What's the deal there? I mean OK, it's four hours long, but so what? It's Shakespeare! Isn't every line supposed to be nectar from the gods? I would be furious if I had written the play but everyone who produced it cut 25% from the script! If I had meant it to be any shorter I would have edited it myself. (Unless it is known that the only surviving manuscript of Hamlet is an unedited working draft, which was never intended to be the final version?) No, to Hades with these edits, I want the full thing, and at least Branagh provides that.

For those of you far from the theatre can I recommend NTLive. It shows recorded plays at cinemas everywhere on selected dates. I saw the amazing Julius Caesar on it and Romeo and Juliet is running at the moment ( Jessie Buckley and Josh O’Connor).

As well as cinemas it also shows at my village hall and I can see West End productions for £12. It’s not being there, but it’s a pretty good substitute.

Look at their website and look for local venues.

I saw Derek Jacobi as King Lear and that was amazing. I am also old enough to have seen Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith in Othello. I know blacking up isn’t approved of now but the performances were fantastic. Oh, and I saw a young Ian Holm as Henry V. We took our DC years ago to see Othello in the round at the Young Vic. The lead was played by Willard White (the opera singer) and he was very good. While he strangled Desdemona. The man opposite us in the front row keeled over and fell to the floor. I think he had had a heart attack. What a way to go!

@Rocknrollstar Was the Willard White production the one with Ian McKellan as Iago?

That was filmed and we watched it on video for A level.

A Hindi film called Omkara, based on Othello. Saif Ali Khan is the most excellent Iago.

Robert Lindsay as Hamlet at the Royal Exchange, Manchester years ago. There was a moment between him and Ophelia that was so moving, the anguish in his eyes. Never forgotten his performance.

I saw that production too - very very gory but very good.

Also saw Antony Sher as Richard III and Kenneth Branagh as Henry V.

It was all a long time ago!

Sorry. Yes. You're right. And I agree about Sean Bean. Everyone was so het up about Jim but in terms of sex appeal, High Quarshie wiped the floor with him.

Was that the one with Simon Russell Beale as Ariel? I saw that one and Ariel was so incredible I can't remember any of the rest of it.

He spat in Prospero's face when they parted and I think everyone in the theatre was stunned.

I hope the people referring to Macbeth as ‘the Scottish play’ have the excuse that they were sitting in a theatre as they were writing as otherwise this is pure pretension of the kind that puts people off Shakespeare. See also unironically referring to him as The Bard 🤢.

To answer OP’s question, many of my favourites have been mentioned. I would literally watch Rory Kinnear read the phone book and I’ve never seen a bad Shakespearean performance by David Tennant (his Benedick was fab even when playing opposite Catherine Tate, who I usually like, but who had a tin ear for the verse).

I don’t think anyone has mentioned Simon Russell Beale and Zoe Wanamaker as Beatrice and Benedick at the National. That was excellent.

May I highly recommend to all of the Shakespeare fans on this thread The Man Who Pays the Rent, the book of conversations with Judi Dench? Her insights into the characters, especially Lady Macbeth, are fascinating. I remember being shown the video of that incredible, tiny 70s production with JD and Ian McKellen at school. I would have loved to see it in person.

Oooh, so many of these have brought back memories.

1984, Stratford, Antony Sher as Richard III and Kenneth Brannagh as Henry V were my first two plays.

Started going to Stratford every year since then, I love it.

I saw Brian Cox as Titus and Pretuchio, both fabulous.

Yes to Hugh Quarshie in R and J with Sean Bean, be still my beating heart 💓

At the Royal Exchange I saw the Janet McTeer As You Like It which someone else has mentioned, it was amazing. We also saw Andrew Garfield as Romeo there which I only found out years later when I was going through old programmes.

Also saw a production of Othello there with Patterson Joseph and Andy Serkis.

David Morrisey as Macbeth in Liverpool, our elbows touched in the canteen afterwards. I claim that as marriage in some cultures 🤣

We saw the Ralph Fiennes Macbeth, either he had a bad back or was getting muddled with Richard III 🤔. That was my third time of seeing him on stage, I'm not bothering again. I loved Indira Varma though.

I have 3 still to see then I've completed the cannon.

@Kayemm I’d love to know - which three do you need to complete the canon?

Oooh @Kayemm jyst three more! Impressive. I tend to see the same ones on repeat lol, very few of the histories tho I also lived Tennant as Richard II.

Agree @ThanksItHasPockets there’s no issue with writing Macbeth unless you are in a theatre. Pretension has no place in Shakespeare.

I'm excited to have tickets for Midsummer Night Dreeam with Matthew from Ghosts as Bottom in Feb

Yes agree I want to know too @Kayemm

@NetballHoop - not quite sure how the can ‘follow the text with no variation’ when there is no single text. The texts used are a conflation of the Quarto and Folio editions and will vary by edition.

David Morrisey as Macbeth in Liverpool

He was very good - I saw it twice, the whole production was right up my street.

Also remember Kim Cattrall in Anthony & Cleopatra around the same era. The production didn't stay with me really but she had a luminosity on stage that I've never seen the like of before or since.

Well said.

Great thread! Standouts for me - Nick Hytner’s Tempest with John Wood as Prospero - late 80s sometime. Simon Russell Beale as Lear, McKellen as Macbeth and Rory Kinnear is the best Iago I have ever seen.

Recently watched David Tennant's Hamlet from a prompt on BBC iPlayer - that's become my current favourite - recommend if you haven't seen it.

Yes that’s the one. I had a postcard of David Troughton emerging from a barrel on my wall for years! Might even still have it somewhere.

@ThanksItHasPockets Thank you for this recommendation. I’ve ordered it to take on holiday next week.

I saw a young Ian McKellen playing Richard 111. He was spectacular!

Judy Dench as Prospero