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List Price: $79.99 | | Label: Athena
Salesrank: 4999
Released: June 2, 2009 |
| Our Price: $49.60 |
| Used Price: $59.80 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Genre: Documentary
Rating: NR
Release Date: 2-JUN-2009
Media Type: DVD
Description of Playing Shakespeare:
The Royal Shakespeare Company founder John Barton holds a master class featuring…
JUDI DENCH
IAN MCKELLEN
PATRICK STEWART
BEN KINGSLEY
DAVID SUCHET
Sit in on nine intensive acting workshops conducted by the legendary John Barton of the Royal Shakespeare Company. How does this world-renowned troupe make classic plays accessible to modern audiences, without compromising the text’s integrity? How do actors search Shakespeare’s verse for hidden clues to their characters’ motivations? How do they balance intellect and passion to make theatre’s most famous soliloquies seem fresh?
The answers come from Barton and 21 of Britain’s finest actors, including Oscar® winners Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love, Iris), Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Schindler’s List), and Peggy Ashcroft (A Passage to India), Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings, Gods and Monsters), Patrick Stewart (X-Men, Star Trek: The Next Generation), and David Suchet (Agatha Christie’s Poirot).
Also starring Sinéad Cusack, Susan Fleetwood, Sheila Hancock, Alan Howard, Donald Sinden, Michael Williams, and more.
(SDH subtitles)
BONUS FEATURES
- 20-page viewer’s guide includes key points, discussion questions, avenues for further learning, a history of the RSC, and "Vocabulary of Verse and Stage."
- Actor biographies and RSC stage credits
- Exclusive web extras
Cofounder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, John Barton directed productions there for over 40 years. In 2001, he received the Sam Wanamaker Award from Shakespeare’s Globe for his pioneering contributions to Shakespearean performance.
View an Excerpt from the Guide Included with Playing Shakespeare
Playing Shakespeare |
Playing Shakespeare Reviews:
Too Bad.. 
2009-11-28 - Too bad that this version doesn't include the whole of the original.
I nearly wore the VHS version out, watching (and learning) over and over, so I was overjoyed to see it released (finally) on DVD. How disappointing to find huge (and worthwhile) portions missing, such as a discussion with Ian McKellen about the "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech.
As a professional actor, I found it to be a remarkably inexpensive master class. It's still worth the money, but it would be so much better if it were complete.
an edited version of a great series
2009-11-05 - This wonderful series would deserve ten stars if it were presented in its entirety. In these newly issued DVDs, significant parts of John Barton's comments, and also parts of the actors' performances and dialogues, have been edited out. However, if you order the book Playing Shakespeare (Performance Books)along with the DVDs, you will have the complete transcript to supplement the missing parts. Highly recommended!
Playing Shakespeare 
2009-10-12 - Fascinating look at the process of acting and directing Shakespeare.
Barton, the Royal Shakespeare Company Director and emcee of these programs talks a lot of nonsense about a balanced approach which he does not really mean. He knows how the plays should be acted and he tells the actors and the viewers clearly how. His knowledge of how Shakespeare was giving instructions to the actors is impressive.
Bravo!
2009-10-11 - What a noble piece of work is John Barton's PLAYING SHAKESPEARE.
To all the encomiums posted here I say ditto and Amen.
Serious Playing
2009-10-05 - "Playing Shakespeare" is a set of four DVDs in which John Barton and members of the Royal Shakespeare Company investigate the problems and opportunities of contemporary Shakespearean acting. It features the young Judi Dench, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, plus plenty of other worthies less well known to Americans and should suggest to any actor a variety of interpretive approaches to the characters, verse and world-view of William Shakespeare. But it isn't just for actors. The way speeches and scenes are played, rethought, adjusted and played again is immensely entertaining and helps viewers understand that great Shakespearean acting consists of a number of highly specific choices. How should the first line---just the first line---of "The Merchant of Venice" be spoken, and what should it tell audiences about the character who utters it and his attitude toward himself and his companions? Hear the alternatives played out and come to understand what a wealth of training these Shakespearean specialists bring to the moment of performance. Barton introduces a number of topics, but it always comes down to mining the text for its unique and often hidden riches and ironies (sometimes hidden poetry), rather than merely imposing a generalized tone. The result will make you a better audience not just for Shakespeare but for any text-dominated theater. And sometimes the performances (even in street clothes with no settings) are better than anything yet released on DVD.
