What your favorite Shakespearean performances? I really enjoy BBC Radio productions. What are your definitive versions? Of any Shakespearean play?
I'm unfamiliar with radio productions and I dislike modern staging and performances.
My list:
Magee as Lear.
Heston as Antony.
Lapotaire as Cleopatra.
Burton as Petruchio and Taylor as Katharina.
Branagh as Hamlet (no error there).
Zefferelli's casting is almost always correct.
I've never seen a good rendering of Midsummer Night's Dream.
Initially I had no patience for Patrick Magee in the role of Lear, and hated Charlton Heston in the role of Antony... I thought Heston lacked dignity and clout, and couldn't fathom the credibility he was accorded... but really that was the point.
Branagh's Hamlet initially seemed too modern, too comfortable, and too clownish, too much like Bart Simpson as Hamlet...but I think he really nailed it. It's too light, but his acting does convey someone who is deeply meditative, who manages to graft a notion onto others.
Pacino as Shylock was quite good, but the rest of the actors were seemingly cast for their non-descript nature in order to make Pacino seem more like the lead of the play.
The direction also didn't grab me, there are tantalizing views, but there is no smooth form of camera movement through the landscape or architecture, it's shot almost like a cop drama with people just getting in each other's faces, so it doesn't actually convey the highly formal nature of the setting.
>>7819526
Ideally, it would be composed of highly static master shots until Pacino comes on screen, in which case it would have to switch to a hand-held camera style.
I remember finding the use of SHOT - REVERSE SHOT very jarring there, and a hand-held style would mitigate it.
