Theatre of Blood is a 1973 British horror comedy film directed by Douglas Hickox, and starring Vincent Price as vengeful actor Edward Lionheart and Diana Rigg as his daughter Edwina. After being humiliated by members of the Theatre Critics Guild at an awards ceremony, Shakespearean actor Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart is seen committing suicide by diving into the Thames from a great height. He survives and is rescued by a group of vagrants. Two years later, beginning on the Ides of March, Lionheart sets out to exact vengeance against the critics who failed to acclaim his genius, killing them one by one in ways very similar to murder scenes in the season of Shakespeare’s plays that he last performed. Before each murder, Lionheart recites the critic’s damning review of his performance in the role.
The first critic, George Maxwell, is repeatedly stabbed by a mob of murderous homeless people, suggested by the murder of Caesar in Julius Caesar. The second, Hector Snipe, is impaled with a spear, and his body is dragged away to appear at Maxwell’s funeral tied to a horse’s tail, replicating the murder of Hector in Troilus and Cressida. The third, Horace Sprout, is decapitated while sleeping, as is Cloton in Cymbeline. The fourth critic, Trevor Dickman, has his heart cut out by Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, the play being rewritten so that Antonio is forced to repay his debt with a pound of flesh. The fifth, Oliver Larding, is drowned in a barrel of wine, as is the Duke of Clarence in Richard III.
For the next play, Romeo and Juliet, Lionheart lures the critic Peregrine Devlin to a fencing gymnasium, where he reenacts the sword fight from the play. He badly wounds Devlin but chooses not to kill him at this juncture. The sixth critic, Solomon Psaltery, an obsessively jealous man, murders his wife, believing her to be unfaithful, as portrayed in Othello. Although Psaltery survives, his actions lead to his imprisonment, and he will likely die in prison. The seventh critic, Miss Chloe Moon, the only female victim, is electrocuted to replicate the burning of Joan of Arc in Henry VI. Part 1. The eighth critic, flamboyant gourmand Meredith Merridew, is force-fed pies made from the flesh of his two toy poodles until he chokes to death, replicating the demise of Queen Tamora in Titus Andronicus.
It is revealed early in the film that Lionheart is being aided by his adoring daughter Edwina. Eventually, she is arrested as the prime suspect in the murders, forcing Lionheart to reveal himself to Devlin. Lionheart tells Devlin to give him the award or be killed. Devlin refuses, and Lionheart plans to put out his eyes with red-hot daggers, as happens to Gloucester in King Lear. However, his contraption gets stuck just as the police arrive to save Devlin. Lionheart sets fire to the theatre. In the confusion, one of the vagrants kills Edwina by striking her on the head with the award statuette, unwittingly casting her in the role of Cordelia, Lear’s youngest daughter. Lionheart retreats, carrying her body to the roof and delivering Lear’s final monologue before the roof caves in, sending him to his death. Devlin, a critic even in the face of death, then gives Lionheart’s performance a positive if mixed review.
Shakespeare Wallah is a 1965 Merchant Ivory Production film. The story and screenplay are by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, about a travelling family theatre troupe of English actors in India, who perform Shakespeare plays in towns across India, amidst a dwindling demand for their work and the rise of Bollywood. Madhur Jaffrey won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 15th Berlin Internationall Film Festival for her performance. The music was composed by Satyajit Ray.
Loosely based on the real-life actor-manager Geoffrey Kendal’s family and his travelling “Shakespeareana Company”, which earned him the Indian sobriquet “Shakespearewallah”, the film follows the story of nomadic British actors as they perform Shakespeare plays in towns in post colonial India. In this story, Tony Buckingham and his wife Carla.
