Continuing our new series on movies based on the plays of Shakespeare, we return to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Whilst West Side Story is the most renown, there have been several other adaptions of the play. Today we feature two very different retellings of the story. Romeo Must Die is a 2000 American […]
Bard Movies 1
Today, we begin a new series which follows on from the recent ‘Bard Words’ collection. ‘Bard Movies’ will not be looking at screen adaptions of Shakespeare plays, rather the intention is to highlight movies which can trace their storylines (however indirectly) back to the Bard. For our first offering we turn to the ever popular […]
Bard Words – Honourable Mentions 5
Our final honourable mention is a collection of sketches based on Shakespeare and his plays. The bard has provided a rich vein of comedy for those who wish to create parody or use his play plays for their inspiriation. After this series concludes we shall be embarking on a sequal entitled ‘Bard Movies’ which will […]
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Slings & Arrows is a Canadian television series set at the fictional New Burbage Festival, a Shakespearean festival similar to the real-world Stratford Festival. It stars Paul Gross, Stephen Ouimette and Martha Burns. Rachel McAdams appeared in the first season. The darkly comic series first aired on Canada’s Movie Central channels in 2003, and received […]
Bard Words – Honourable Mentions 3
“Upstart Crow” is a sitcom based on the life of William Shakespeare. Written by Ben Elton, it premiered in May 2016 on BBC 2 as part of the commemorations of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Its title quotes “an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers”, a critique of Shakespeare by his rival Robert Greene […]
Bard Words – Honourable Mentions 2
The Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) is an American touring acting troupe that performs fast-paced, seemingly improvisational condensations of different topics. The company’s style has been described as “New Vaudeville,” combining both physical and verbal humour, as well as highbrow and lowbrow. The company was founded in 1981 by Daniel Singer, who wrote a 25-minute, four-actor […]
Bard Words – Honourable Mentions 1
Horrible Histories is a British children’s live-action historical and musical sketch comedy television series, based on the bestselling book series of the same name by Terry Deary. The show was produced for CBBC by Lion Television with Citrus Television and ran from 2009 to 2014 for five series of thirteen half-hour episodes, with additional one-off […]
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“Now my charms are all o’erthrown” (The Tempest) Ariel tells Prospero that the day has reached its “sixth hour” (6 p.m.), when Ariel is allowed to stop working. Prospero acknowledges Ariel’s request and asks how the king and his followers are faring. Ariel tells him that they are currently imprisoned, as Prospero ordered, in a […]
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‘If We Shadows Have Offended’ (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) is the opening line of Puck’s closing speech from ‘The Dream’. In summary, the speech sees Puck (also known as Robin Goodfellow) seeking forgiveness from the audience if the fairies (including Puck himself) have ‘offended’ any of the audience with their antics. In other words: ‘If […]
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“Our revels now are ended” (The Tempest) The Tempest is one of Shakespeare’s most enchanting and enchanted plays: a fantasy or ‘romance’ featuring a magician, the ‘monstrous’ offspring of a wicked witch, fairies, a lavish masque, drunken conspirators, young lovers, and much else. It is one of Shakespeare’s late plays that he wrote alone. In […]