Shakespeare in Popular Culture: 20 Best Reimaginings of the
Bard
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm
April 23 is the anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth
and death dates and he and his works are still as well-known today as when he
first stepped onto the Globe Theater. I have compiled a list of the best
representations of Shakespeare and his plays.
Like my previous list for “20 Favorite Poets and Lyricists”,
I have decided to do things a little differently. Instead of limiting myself to
only books and short stories, I included visual representations including
movies, tv episodes, musicals, and comedy sketches. When possible, I embedded
videos, but some because of the poor quality
and rights issues of Youtube, will not be shown.
The selections have to feature Shakespearean plays and
characters or Shakespeare himself in a prominent role to qualify. They also
have to reinterpret the material in one way or another, in some cases even
updating the setting to modern day with modern dialogue.
However, no straight interpretations of the Bard’s plays are
permitted because they are deserving of their own list. There is one exception
to that rule, and that is because the version is from Mystery Science Theater 3000 where characters make comments
throughout the film. If you have a favorite on this list or know of one that I
have missed, please let me know in the comments below or on my Facebook page.
I should let you know: HERE BE SPOILERS!!
I should let you know: HERE BE SPOILERS!!
20. Shakespeare in
Love (1998)
Film; Director: John Madden, Screenplay: Marc Norman and Tom
Stoppard, Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth,
Ben Affleck, Judi Dench, Simon Callow, Martin Clunes, Rupert Everett
Connections to Shakespeare: Shakespeare himself, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night
This romantic period piece starring Joseph Fiennes and
Gwyneth Paltrow has received many criticisms over the years on whether the
movie and Paltrow deserved their Oscars for Best Picture and Best Actress.
(Many felt that Saving Private Ryan
deserved the Best Picture and Cate Blanchett deserved Best Actress for her role
as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth.)
But what can’t be denied is that Shakespeare
in Love presents a very
beautiful, funny, and imagining of who inspired Shakespeare’s works.
In the movie, Shakespeare (Fiennes) is a struggling
playwright laboring through his latest work Romeo
and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter when he falls in love with Viola (Paltrow)
a young wealthy woman posing as a boy actor. The movie is
filled with clever inside references about Shakespeare’s life and work such as
his rivalry with fellow playwright, Christopher Marlowe (Rupert Everett), including
in one memorable scene a possible motive for Marlowe’s mysterious death in a
tavern brawl.
While Viola ends up being a muse for Shakespeare to write
the famous Romeo and Juliet, her fate
at the end of the film when she sails to America becomes another inspiration.
Queen Elizabeth (Judi Dench) tells Shakespeare to write
something cheerful “for Twelfth Night.”
19. Kiss Me Kate (1948)
Theatre Musical; Music and Lyrics: Cole Porter, Book: Samuel
and Bella Spewack, Original Production- Director: John C. Wilson, Choreography:
Hanya Holm, Cast: Alfred Drake, Patricia Morrison, Lisa Kirk, Harold Lang,
Charles Wood, Harry Clark
Connection to Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew
For his Tony winning 1948 musical adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew, Cole Porter and
Samuel and Bella Spewack took Shakespeare’s concept of a “play-within-a-play”
and ran with it. Instead of doing a straight musical adaptation of
Shakespeare’s tale of feuding lovers, Porter and the Spewacks made the story
about a group of actors performing the roles in Shrew while dealing with their own difficult love affairs.
The troubled marriage between the show’s
director/producer/star, Fred Graham and his ex-wife/leading lady, Lili Vanessi
is mirrored in Shakespeare’s characters, Petruchio and Katherine. The actors’
behavior constantly overlaps with their Taming
of the Shrew characters giving the musical two brilliant clever stories
both on-stage and off.
Porter’s music also provides witty commentary such as
“Another Openin’ Another Show” which discusses the problems of being part of an
acting troupe and the memorably hilarious “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” in which
two mobsters convince Graham that all he needs to woo women is to memorize a
few of the Bard’s lines. (“Just declaim
a few lines from Othella/And they
think you’re one hell of a fella/If your blonde won’t respond when you flatter
‘er/Tell her what Tony told Cleopaterer/If she complains that your clothes she
is mussing/What are clothes? Much Ado
About Nussing…”)
18. “Hamlet Trailer” Last Action Hero (1993)
Film; Director: John McTiernan,
Screenplay: Shane Black, David Arnott, William Goldman (uncredited), Based on a
story by Shane Black, Adam Leff; Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O’Brien,
Joan Plowright, Don LaFontaine ( voice uncredited)
Connection to Shakespeare: Hamlet (well sort of…)
For anyone who ever wanted Hamlet
to stop talking and just kill Claudius, this scene is for you. In The Last Action Hero, a send-up of action films, movie buff, Danny
Madigan
(Austin O’Brien) daydreams in
class while his teacher (Joan Plowright) shows the Sir Laurence Olivier film
version of Hamlet. Based on his
teacher’s insistence that many consider Hamlet “the first action hero,” Danny
imagines Hamlet being played by his favorite actor: Arnold Schwarzenegger in
the style of Danny’s favorite character, Jack Slater, the titular last action
hero of the movie.
This scene will make any
Shakespeare lover or action film buff laugh even if they see it many times.
Though brief, it is filled with numerous references such as the fact that Plowright,
who plays Danny’s teacher, was the widow of Olivier who directed and starred in
the film version of Hamlet she shows
in class.
The trailer is littered with great
bits such as when Schwarzenegger/Hamlet contemplates “To be or not to be” while
lighting a cigar. Instead of continuing with the monologue, the Future Former
Governator simply says “Not to be” while Elsinore explodes behind him.
The icing on this Shakespearean
parody cake is the voice-over narration provided by the late Don LaFontaine (AKA
“The Movie Trailer Guy”). He gives Danny’s trailer/daydream tag lines like
“There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark and Hamlet is taking out the
trash!” and “No one’s going to tell this sweet prince good-night!”
17. “Shakespearean Therapy,” Studio C (2013)
TV Comedy Sketch; Director: Michael
Hunter, Jared Shores, Matt Meese, et al;
Teleplay: Adam Berg, Whitney Call,
Mallory Everton et al. Cast: Whitney Call, Mallory Everton, Matt Meese
Connection to Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet
Studio
C is a hilarious sketch comedy TV series from Brigham Young University in Utah. Because of the university background of the principal writers and
cast members, the show is filled with references to geek pop culture, literary
works, and historic figures. Naturally, these Merry Mormons would tackle the
Bard of Avon.
In this sketch a love-lorn Juliet
(Mallory Everton) seeks help from her therapist (Whitney Call) for her romantic
troubles. Everton and Call play off each other rather well as Everton’s Juliet quotes
the play’s plot in Shakespearean dialogue to a bemused Call as the therapist.
Call’s character speaks for many
people who have questioned Romeo and Juliet’s rash behavior wondering how
Juliet could be willing to run off with a man she only met three days prior and
who had killed her kinsman. At one point the therapist inquires, “Doest thou hear
thyself?” When Juliet decides to take sleeping potion to be reunited with the
banished Romeo (who seems “to be a player-and not the one on stage” to the
therapist), the therapist “thinks this plan has many holes.”
The sketch has a terrific punchline
as the exasperated therapist believes that the departed Juliet is her strangest
patient yet. Then Prince Hamlet (Matt Meese) walks in. And speaking of Hamlet
seeking therapy……
16. “Hamlet/Bogus Psychiatrists” Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1974)
TV Comedy Sketch; Director:
Ian McNaughton, Teleplay: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, et al, Cast:
Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Carol Cleaveland, Connie
Booth
Connection to Shakespeare: Hamlet
Apparently Shakespearean characters
seeking therapy is comic gold, because Monty
Python’s Flying Circus featured Hamlet
on the psychiatrist’s couch as well. This sketch parodies Hamlet’s constant
portrayal as an indecisive talker as the Melancholy Dane (Terry Jones) is bored
with that and everyone quoting “To be or not to be” at him. He tells the
psychiatrist that he wants to “be a private dick” for “Fame, money, glamor, and
sex.”
The Python sketch not only pokes
fun at Hamlet but at psychiatry as well as a line of therapists (played by
Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin) want Hamlet to confess whether
his problem is sexual in nature. They each try to convince Hamlet that they are
the real psychiatrist and the other two are “bogus psychiatrists.” (Idle's character claims it’s a “lesson in disorientation.” ) To prove his psychiatric
credentials, Palin’s character even goes so far as to bring his diploma from
the University of Oxford, his card from the British Psychiatric Association, a
letter from another psychiatrist, his Psychiatrist Club tie and matching
cufflinks, a copy of Psychiatry Today
magazine, and a letter from his mother asking how the psychiatry is going.
Each psychiatrist wants to hear
about Hamlet’s sexual problems with a girl on (his) bed “got her stretched out
and her legs on the mantelpiece,” and leave as the other psychiatrist and a
nurse (Carole Cleaveland) throw them out. The running gag continues into the
episode as a computer and Ophelia (Connie Booth) get in on the joke asking
Hamlet about the girl with her feet on the mantelpiece.
15, Kill Shakespeare (2010-2014)
12 Issue Graphic novel; Writers:
Anthony Del Col, Connor McCreery, Artists: Andy Belanger, Ian Herring, Kagan
McLeod, Publisher: IDW Publishing
Connection to Shakespeare:
Various particularly Shakespeare
himself, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Henry
V, Othello, Richard III, Macbeth, A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, and others.
The graphic novel series, Kill Shakespeare is to Shakespeare’s
plays what Fables is to fairy tales
or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
is to 19th century literature: a multi-crossover of Shakespeare’s
best and worst characters that take on each other in an epic adventure.
The graphic novel series
is beautifully illustrated and brilliantly written as Hamlet is hired by
Richard III to kill William Shakespeare and steal his quill. Along the way
Hamlet encounters Falstaff, Juliet, Othello, and Puck who make him question his
allegiance to Richard.
The characters’ encounters
lead to some interesting reinterpretations from the plays and allows them to
interact with each other freely changing their fate from the plays. In this
story, Juliet survives her suicide attempt in Verona and is exiled. While
leading a Resistance against Richard III, she and Hamlet fall in love sharing
mutual tragedies: for Juliet, Romeo’s death and for Hamlet, his accidental
killing of Polonius. Richard III’s strongest aide is none other than Lady Macbeth,
who also is involved in a conspiracy with Othello’s
Iago, who switches allegiances keeping his allies, enemies, and the readers
guessing.
The series is also filled with cameos and
references to Shakespeare’s other works. At one point the Resistance encounters
Titus Andronicus’ Tamora, and Midsummer’s Lysander. Falstaff’s Merry Wives of Windsor co-horts,
Mistress Page and Mistress Ford run a brothel and are eagerly awaiting their
favorite client: Falstaff. At one point a group of Players perform The Murder of Gonzango which is achingly
familiar to Hamlet.
.
14. The Lion King (1994)
Animated Film; Directors:
Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff, Screenplay: Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda
Woolverton, Cast: Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Nathan Lane,
Ernie Sabella, Moira Kelly, Madge Sinclair, Rowan Atkinson, Robert Guillaume,
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Nikki Calame, Whoppi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings
Connection to Shakespeare:
Hamlet
For many children, this
was their first taste of Shakespeare. Disney’s 32nd Animated Feature
is a portrayal of Hamlet set in the
African Pride Lands with an-all animal cast. It is a wonderful film with
gorgeous animation of the African environment and tuneful music provided by
composer, Elton John and lyricist, Tim Rice.
The film tells the story
of Simba (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), a young lion cub who is destined to succeed
his father as king of the lion pride. His greedy uncle, Scar (Jeremy Irons) has
other ideas: He kills his brother and Simba’s father, Mufasa (James Earl
Jones), then exiles Simba. While in the jungle, Simba (Matthew Broderick)
befriends Timon, a wily meerkat (Nathan Lane), and Pumbaa, a dim warthog (Ernie
Sabella), who teach him about “Hakuna matata” (a Swahili term that means “no
worries.”). Simba lives a peaceful existence with his friends until his
childhood lioness friend, Nala (Moira Kelly), and Mufasa’s ghost remind Simba
that he has a duty to perform and that he has to take his place “in the circle
of life.”
Besides being a memorable
movie on its own right, The Lion King’s
Shakespearean influences are clearly evident. In his self-imposed exile, Simba
is about as grief-stricken and questioning as his Shakespearean counterpart
while Scar’s lust for power to murder his brother especially in his Villain
Song “Be Prepared,” would make King Claudius blush. Shakespearean themes are
prominent throughout such as when disorder threatens the political order (The
murder of Mufasa) it also brings chaos in the social order (the arrival of hyenas to
the Pride Lands), and the natural order (drought and the departure of food and
water).
13. “The Play’s The Thing”
Boy Meets World (1993)
TV Series Episode;
Director: David Trainer, Teleplay: Ed Decter & John J. Strauss,
Cast: Ben Savage, William Daniels, Rider
Strong, Lee Norris, Will Friedle, Betsy Randall, William Russ, Lily Nicksay,
and Danielle Fishel
Connection to Shakespeare:
Hamlet
This episode of the ‘90s
sitcom demonstrates the difficulties of presenting Shakespeare to a group of
sixth graders. Mr. George Feeny (William Daniels) tells his class to perform
scenes from Hamlet. He selects the
show’s protagonist, Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) to play Hamlet because like Cory
“(Hamlet) gets on a lot of people’s nerves, makes one stupid mistake after
another, and for five acts never shuts up.” When Cory wants to change the
script to be more action-oriented and walks off in protest towards the traditional
Renaissance wardrobe, Feeny gives the role of Hamlet to class nerd Stuart
Minkus (Lee Norris).
The series is a
long-favorite among Children of the ‘90s and beyond and this episode is a good
example why. It is filled with hilarious bits such as when Minkus weighs
different possibilities to the character such as quoting Hamlet’s lines in an
American Southern accent because he read “that the Elizabethan English accent
was similar to the contemporary southern accent.” (“Great it’s Ernest Goes to Denmark,” Cory quips.)
The best scene however is
after Cory suggests performing a “Steven Segal soliloquy.”
Daniels goes into an
effective and dramatic version of Hamlet’s Father’s monologue complete with dim
lights and spooky music. “Of course I’m no Steven Segal,” Feeny cheekily says afterwards.
12. “Hamlet,” Mystery Science Theater 30000 (1999)
TV Series Episode; MST3K Credits Director: Michael J.
Nelson, Teleplay: Bill Corbett, Bridget Jones, Kevin Murphy et al, Cast:
Michael J. Nelson, Mary Jo Pehl, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett
Hamlet Credits Director: Franz Peter Wirth, Screenplay: William
Shakespeare,
Cast: Maximilian Schell, Hans
Canineberg, Wanda Rotha, Dunja Movar
John Banner (voice
uncredited), Ricardo Montalban(voice uncredited)
Connection to Shakespeare:
Hamlet
Even the classics deserve
to be riffed once in a while. The cult comedy series in which Mike Nelson
(Michael J. Nelson), an average human man and two robots, Tom Servo and Crow T.
Robot (Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett) make comments at bad movies takes on a 1960 TV version of Hamlet made for German
television.
Many MST3K fans consider
this one of the weakest episodes of the series because they feel the movie is
too plodding, slow, and intellectual for the Mystery Science Theater treatment. However, it is a very witty and
humorous take on Shakespeare’s classic. Many of the riffs that Nelson and the
robots make are based on comments many have made over the years about Hamlet’s
character and the play.
When Hamlet (Maximillian
Schell) says the immortal line “To be or not to be,” Mike counters with “the
verbal equivalent of Dum-Dum-Da-Da-Dum” (Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony). Mike
helpfully summarizes the famous monologue as “so I’m a chicken for not stabbing
myself, that’s all you needed to say!” Many times the trio yell for Hamlet to
“Sum up!” or wonder “is there a word in the English language that he hasn’t
said?”
The host segments during
the episode are pretty clever as well. In one, the robots impersonate the ghost of Mike's father (who's very much alive). In another Tom and Crow reveal various
alternate versions of Hamlet such as
using percussion instruments to represent the characters. Another is “Alas Poor
Who?” in which Mike encourages the robots to recognize careerly dead
celebrities by their bones (a take on the “alas poor Yorick” soliloquy). The
best segment is the final one in which the robots present a Hamlet action
figure which doesn’t do very much but has the world’s longest pull cord.
Meanwhile, an irate Fortinbras (Murphy) is furious that once again he has been
cut out of the film version, parodying the many times when filmmakers cut out
his subplot for time. (This time though the fault lies with the MST3K team, who
cut the Fortinbras subplot from the German production to fit the series’ 90
minute time frame.)
11. The Shakespeare Stealer Series (The Shakespeare Stealer, Shakespeare’s Scribe, and Shakespeare’s Spy) (1998-2003)
YA book series; Author:
Gary J. Blackwood, Publisher: E. P. Dutton
Connection to Shakespeare:
Various including Shakespeare himself, Hamlet,
All’s Well That Ends Well, and Pericles: Prince of Tyre et al
This is an excellent book
series about the lives of Shakespeare and his fellow players in the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men. In the first book, The
Shakespeare Stealer, Widge, a young orphan is hired as a scribe for a
sinister character, Simon Falconer. Noting the boy’s ability to copy words rather
quickly, Falconer orders young Widge to transcribe and steal a copy of
Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Widge ingratiates
himself onto the Players and accepts
being a part of them and
finding a family that he never had.
The books present a very fascinating
insider’s look at the Players’ world. Many details are dwelt on such as young
boys, like Widge, are recruited to play the female roles. Many fascinating
tid-bits are sprinkled throughout the series such as the scripts that only
exist
in parts for each actor to avoid theft (which
presents a problem for Widge) and the expensive beautiful costumes that cost
more than an average player’s salary.
Blackwood also wrote Shakespeare
and his Players rather well. Shakespeare is written as a loving fatherly head
of the group, but sometimes insecure in his talents, constantly questioning his
works. The other Players are memorable as well such as Richard Burbage, the
highly talented but emotionally cold lead actor, Ned Shakespeare, Will’s
charming and immature younger brother, and Robert Armin, a comic actor who
takes a fatherly interest in Widge.
10. Shakespearean Whodunnits: Murders
and Mysteries Based on Shakespeare’s Plays (2000)
Book Anthology; Editor:
Mike Ashley, Publisher: Barnes & Noble
Connection to Shakespeare:
Various including Shakespeare himself, Richard
III, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry V et al
I mentioned this anthology
before in my review of “Other Sides of the Stories: Favorite Alternate Points
of View,” and the short story “Macbeth:
Toil and Trouble” but it gets a second
mention in this list because of how the authors frame the works of Shakespeare
over the concepts of murder mysteries.
Like many anthologies, the
stories run the gamut in quality. They include the very bizarre “Richard III: The Shadow That Dies” by
Mary Reed & Eric Mayer and “Cymbeline:
Imogen” by Paul Barnett in which characters receive unusual assistance to commit
crimes.
Like in Shakespeare’s
plays, the supernatural comes into focus in many stories intending to interfere
with the characters’ lives beyond the final act. In “A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
A Midsummer Eclipse” by Stephen Baxter, Puck is invited to solve the murder of Lysander
at the behest of Queen Hippolyta. Using his abilities of shape shifting and
verbal by-play, the wily sprite not only solves the murder but discovers a
closer connection between himself and the human world which Shakespeare did not
dream.
The short stories allow
the writers and the characters to address issues that were lacking in the
original plays. For example the moving, “Henry
V: The Death of Falstaff” by Darrell Schweitzer provides some long-awaited
closure in the friendship between Falstaff and Prince Hal AKA Henry V.
Shakespeare himself takes
center stage in the final two stories, particularly the clever “The
Collaborators” by Rosemary Aitken in which two family members of Anne Boleyn,
the mother of Queen Elizabeth, detect similarities between Shakespeare’s body
of work and the death of their relation. This story presents interesting and
symbolic parallels between Shakespeare’s fantasy world and the real political
world of Renaissance England.
9. Othello (2001)
TV Movie; Director:
Geoffrey Sax, Teleplay: Andrew Davies, William Shakespeare, Cast: Eammon
Walker, Christopher Ecclestone, Keeley Hawes, Richard Coyle, Rachael Stirling,
Joss Ackland, Bill Paterson, Christopher Fox, Allen Cutts, Patrick Meyers
Connection to Shakespeare:
Othello
Many prefer the high
school drama, O but, for me, the
ultimate modern version of Shakespeare’s Othello
is this version made for British television and aired on Masterpiece Theatre. It is a winning variation of Shakespeare’s
play that uncomfortably reminds us that the themes Shakespeare wrote about like
racism, domestic violence, scandal, and infidelity are all too real today.
In an attempt to promote
racial solidarity amongst London minorities and the police force, the Home
Secretary and Prime Minister choose John Othello (Eammon Walker) to be the next
police Commissioner over the former Commissioner’s second-in-command, Ben Jago
(Christopher Ecclestone). Jago vows to ruin Othello’s career on the police
force by interfering with cases and Othello’s marriage to the wealthy and
white, Dessie Barbant (Keeley Hawes) by implying that she is having an affair
with Michael Cass, their colleague (Richard Coyle).
The script follows
Shakespeare’s original play with a vengeance including all of the highlights
such as Jago’s verbal manipulations of Othello (including Othello’s various
claims that Jago is “the only friend (he) can trust.”). However, it uses modern
technology to move the plot forward. Jago anonymously posts messages on a
Neo-Nazi website to bash Othello’s promotion and his marriage to Dessie and
also to create a stalker incident in which Dessie will need bodyguard
protection from (and lots of alone time with) Cass. The modern version of the
circumstantial evidence to reveal Dessie and Cass’ alleged affair involves
Jago’s lying about DNA tests. The modern setting gives a wider avenue for
Shakespeare’s themes to be explored and more tools at Jago’s disposal against
Othello.
The performances are
excellent particularly Ecclestone’s Jago. When he breaks the fourth wall, Jago reveals
his real motives for ruining Othello’s life wasn’t about race or politics, but
love “simple as that” (giving a possible motive for Iago’s “motiveless
malignancy.”)
8. Something Rotten: A Thursday Next Novel (2004)
Novel; Author:
Jasper Fforde, Publisher: Viking Press
Connection to Shakespeare:
Hamlet
Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series is filled with
Shakespearean references. In the first book, The Eyre Affair, Thursday Next and her then-boyfriend, Landen
Park-Laine go to a performance of Richard
III that seems more like the Rocky Horror Picture Show. In the books, Lost in A Good Book and the Well of
Lost Plots, Shakespearean characters like Falstaff inhabit Fforde’s Book
World and interact with Next and various other literary characters such as
Lewis Carroll’s The Red Queen, Charles Dickens’ Miss Havisham, and Harriet Beecher
Stowe’s Simon Legree. But by far the volume in the series with the most
Shakespearean allusions is Something
Rotten, the fourth book in the series.
When Thursday decides to
leave the insane Book World to return to her home in Swindon and to find her
missing husband, Landen, she takes Hamlet with her. The princes’ motives for
leaving his book are over concerns that he was being misrepresented as “a
ditherer.” Thursday narrates, “Hamlet
would worry about having nothing to worry about and since he was the
indisputable star of the Shakespeare canon and had lost the Most Troubled
Romantic Lead to Heathcliff once again at this year’s BookWorld awards, the
Council of Genres thought they should do something to appease him.”
Like the rest of the
series, Something Rotten is a buffet for bookworms and is
filled with clever allusions and references. While in the real world (or the
Outland as the fictional characters refer to our world), Hamlet reads and
observes various versions of his story. He confesses to being a big fan of Mel
Gibson (“Horatio is played by Danny Glover yes?”) and weighs which ones portray
him as more of a man of action. Meanwhile back in BookWorld, Hamlet’s
colleagues, still furious that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern had their own play,
want to rewrite the story to reflect their own bias. (Polonius’ version is
called “The Tragedy of the Very Witty and
Not Remotely Boring Polonius, Father of the Noble Laertes, Who Avenges His Fair
Sister, Ophelia Driven Mad the Callous, Murderous, and Outrageously
Disrespectful Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”)
Above all Something Rotten, like the rest of the Thursday Next series pays tribute to
interaction between the creator and the reader of a work. This is particularly
important in the dialogue between Hamlet and Thursday in which Thursday remarks
that every character the reader reads is an amalgam of people they’ve met,
read, or seen before. “Because every reader’s experiences are different, each
book is unique for each reader,” she said and says that the reason why people
like Hamlet is “because to each their
own Hamlet.”
7. “Judith Shakespeare” A Room of One’s Own (1929)
Essay; Author: Virginia
Woolf, Publisher: Forum Magazine
Connection to Shakespeare:
Shakespeare himself
In her series of lectures
at Newnham and Girton Colleges, Virginia Woolf stated “that a woman must have
money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” She wondered if women
were free to produce works the quality of Shakespeare’s and addressed the
limitations women faced such as societal responsibilities or restrictions
towards education.
To illustrate her example,
Woolf created a fictional sister of Shakespeare’s, Judith. In Woolf’s
narration, Judith Shakespeare was as equally talented as her brother and had
developed a gift of language. But because she was female, Judith was denied the
same opportunities to go to school and to develop her craft for writing. “She
was as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world as he was. But she
was not sent to school,” Woolf said. Judith is often chastised by her parents
for reading books when she should be at home doing the mending. Judith is then betrothed
and objects by running away to join a theatre company but is rejected because
of her sex. While Shakespeare becomes a legend, Judith is abandoned by a lover,
becomes pregnant which makes a life of writing impossible, and kills herself in
despair, becoming unrecognized.
In her fictional
portrayal, Woolf illustrated how difficult it was for many female artists and
authors to be accepted and encouraged and why so few were well-known by the
time Woolf was being educated. Woolf explained why it was important to
encourage women to explore creative talents so the next generation of Judith
Shakespeares would not go unnoticed.
The concept and theme of
Shakespeare’s imaginary sister has itself achieved popular and academic culture
recognition. In her book Well-Behaved
Women Seldom Make History, historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich compares the
fictional Judith Shakespeare with the real-life Renaissance female artists like
Artemisia Gentileschi to show that some of the lucky ones achieved recognition.
The title “Shakespeare’s Sister” has been used for various means such as a song
by The Smiths and (minus the second “e” in Shakespeare) the pop/rock duo of
Siobhan Fahey and Marcella Detroit.
Incidentally, Shakespeare
did have a sister named Joan and a daughter named Judith, but there is no
evidence that either had his gift of language and neither of them killed
themselves. In fact they married and had many children before dying of natural
causes.
6. “Once Upon A Time” The Prisoner (1968)
TV Series Episode; Director: Patrick McGoohan, Teleplay: Patrick
McGoohan, Cast: Patrick McGoohan, Leo McKern, Angelo Muscat, Peter Swanwick,
John Cazabon
Connection to Shakespeare:
As You Like It
Patrick McGoohan’s 1960’s
TV series, The Prisoner is one of the
most unique series ever. The protagonist (McGoohan), known only as Number Six,
is sent to a Village where various leaders, called Number Two, try means of
breaking him using different methods like mind control, hallucinogenic drugs,
rigged elections, and rote education. The Numbers Two wants to know why Six
resigned his job as a secret agent and Six wants to know who is controlling the
Village (who is the Number One pulling the strings). In its 14 episodes, The Prisoner is filled with allusions,
symbolism, and references so it's no surprise that the penultimate episode,
“Once Upon A Time” is a tribute to one of Shakespeare’s most famous monologues:
“The Sevan Ages of Man” (AKA “All the world is a stage…”) from As You Like It.
Number Two (Leo McKern)
uses the seven ages in a series of psychotherapy/role playing to learn Six’s
secrets. In this bizarre technique, called “Degree Absolute,” the two are
locked in one room for one week and replay various scenarios throughout Six’s
life.
In each scenario, Two
takes the form of an authority figure such as Six’s father, headmaster, judge, or
employer and questions Six taking the form of himself as a small child,
schoolboy, reckless driver, and employee. All are used for the intention of
learning
why Six resigned. This
episode gives great visuals to the famous monologue such as McGoohan literally
becoming the “whining schoolboy with his satchel/And shining morning face,
creeping like snail/unwillingly to school.”
The interrogation
techniques becomes more dramatic as Two becomes a military jailer to Six’s
prisoner of war. The two men exchange a battle of wits that gets more frantic
as Two collapses from the strain while quoting the final age: "second
childishness and mere oblivion/Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans
everything.” He later concedes victory to Six and collapses from exhaustion
while a screechy voice counts down and yells “Die, Six die!”
Six’s “reward” for surviving
“Degree Absolute” is the arrival of a smug Supervisor (Peter Swanwick) who asks
Six what he wants. Six’s answer is a short “Number One.”
“I’ll take you to him,”
the Supervisor replies leading The
Prisoner to its memorable and ambiguous finale, “Fall Out.”
5. “The Bard” The Twilight Zone (1963)
TV Series Episode;
Director: David Butler, Teleplay: Rod Serling
Cast: Rod Serling, Jack
Weston, John Williams, Burt Reynolds, Henry Lascoe, John McGiver, Howard
McNear, Judy Strangis, Marge Redmond, Doro Merande, William Lanteau, Clegg
Hoyt, Paul Dobov, John Newton, Diane Sayer, Jason Wingreen
Connection to Shakespeare:
Shakespeare himself
This episode is one of the
funniest ones in Twilight Zones’ repertoire.
A hack screenwriter, Julius K. Moomer (Jack Weston) needs to find a good script.
Moomer finds a book of black magic and uses it to summon William Shakespeare
(John Williams) from the dead to write a screenplay for television with Moomer
writing additional dialogue.
The episode is memorably
hilarious as Shakespeare peppers his dialogue with quotes from his own plays,
complete with trumpet fanfare. Williams’ portrayal of the playwright is also
clever and sarcastic particularly in his scenes with Weston’s bombastic Moomer.
When Moomer begs Shakespeare to continue writing with him insisting that he will
be a household name again, the famous playwright dryly counters, “With all due
modesty, Mr. Moomer the name ‘William Shakespeare’ has survived the test of
time without the assistance of Julius K. Moomer.”
Aside from the
Shakespearean references, the episode is also a not-too-subtle jab at television
based on Serling’s own issues writing for the medium. When Shakespeare attends
a rehearsal of his script, he is furious at the changes that the sponsor wants
to make, such as deleting a suicide, omitting much of the dialogue, and
limiting
the script to an hour. (In
reference to Zone’s fourth season
episodes moving from 30 minutes to a 60 minutes time slot much to Serling’s chagrin.)
Serling’s script also tore
into Method actors in the
character of Rocky Rhodes, humorously played by Burt Reynolds, an obvious
parody of Marlon Brando complete with previous experience starring in Tennessee
Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, mumbling speech, and constant
asking what his motivation is.
Furious, at the changes
and the attitudes of the sponsors, Moomer, and Rhodes, Shakespeare punches
Rhodes and walks off declaring “to you Julius Moomer….lots a’ luck!” Undaunted,
Moomer receives a request to write a screenplay on American History and once
again uses the book of black magic, this time to call on Robert E. Lee, Ulysses
S. Grant, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone, Pocahontas,
Benjamin Franklin, and Theodore Roosevelt.
4. West Side Story (1960)
Theatre/Film Musical; Director:
Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins, Music and Lyrics: Leonard Bernstein and Stephen
Sondheim, Book: Arthur Laruents
Cast: Natalie Wood,
Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn,
Connection to Shakespeare:
Romeo and Juliet
While Romeo and Juliet has never been a favorite Shakespeare play of
mine, this classic Leonard Bernstein-Stephen
Sondheim musical based on Shakespeare’s play of star crossed lovers is one of
the best. The musical transplants the play to 1950’s New York in which Romeo is
replaced by Tony (Richard Beymer), a former leader of the Jets, a street gang
of second-generation European immigrants and Juliet is replaced by Maria
(Natalie Wood), the sister of the leader of the Sharks, a gang of Puerto Rican
immigrants.
West Side Story copies many of Shakespeare’s motifs and builds on
them. By portraying the feuding Montague and Capulet families as rival street
gangs, the musical gives the play more immediate connotations that touch on
bigger issues such as racism, immigration, street violence, and the problems
and ambitions of the American Dream.
Many of the scenes and
characters from the play are mirrored in the musical such as the events of the
musical beginning with two minor members of the Jets getting beaten echoing how
the events of Shakespeare’s play begin with two Montague servants getting
beaten. The comical scene in which Romeo and his friends harass Juliet’s Nurse
becomes darker and more sinister when the Jets attempt to rape Maria’s
sister-in-law, Anita (Rita Moreno) who declares that if any of the Jets were
bleeding, she would spit on them.
The balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet becomes instead a song
on a fire escape in which Tony and Maria declare their love in the stirring
duet, “Tonight.” Instead of a real wedding, the two lovers stage a mock wedding
with mannequins in the song, “One Hand, One Heart” which starts out playful as
Tony and Maria pretend the mannequins are their parents, friends, and family
members. The scene becomes serious when the two lovers contemplate their love
and the violence and hatred around them which leads to an unhappy conclusion
for all involved.
TV Series; Director: Paul
Seed, Teleplay: Andrew Davies, Michael Dobbs
Cast: Ian Richardson,
Diane Fletcher, Susannah Harker, David Lyon, Miles Anderson, Alphonsia
Emmanuel, Malcolm Tierny, Nicholas Selby, Damien Thomas, Colin Jeavons, William
Chubb, Michael Kitchen, Kitty Aldridge, Nicholas Farrell, Rowena King, Jack
Fortune, Bernice Stegers, Erika Hoffman, Nick Brimble, Isla Blair, Paul
Freeman, Nickolas Grace, Yolanda Vazquez
Connection to Shakespeare: Richard III, Macbeth
Instead of Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, go with the original. The American House of Cards pales in comparison to the original UK version based
on Michael Dobbs’ novel, starring Ian Richardson as Prime Minister Francis Urquhart
and was inspired by Shakespeare’s Richard
III and Macbeth.
When Urquhart,
Parliament’s Chief Whip, is passed over for a key position, he schemes to take
the place of the current Prime Minister Hal Collingridge (David Lyon). Urquhart
then uses a scandal involving Collingridge’s alcoholic brother and some stock
shares as well as Urquhart’s affair with a bright but unstable journalist, Mattie
Storin (Susannah Harker) to force Collingridge’s removal.
As shown with his modern
adaptation of Othello, screenwriter
Andrew Davies knows how to move Shakespeare to modern day and he does it
brilliantly. In the three episodes of the series, Urquhart gets rid of
political rivals, the King of England (Michael Kitchen),
and various former lovers
and colleagues that stand in his way. Urquhart uses scandals, wiretapping,
computer files, blackmail and murder to achieve his means. He addresses the
sinister rumors to his character by using the catchphrase that has taken on a
life of its own in British politics: “You may think that if you like, I can’t
possibly comment.”
Urquhart is assisted in
his ambitions by his scheming wife, Elizabeth (Diane Fletcher), who creates
gossip, sets her husband up with different lovers, and arranges assassinations
just as surely as her husband does. It is sort of like what would have happened
if Richard III and Lady Macbeth combined their forces to fight their common
enemies.
In a clever touch worthy
of Shakespeare himself, Davies allows Urquhart to break the fourth wall and address the audience proving
that the soliloquy is alive and well. During a confrontation with the
kind-hearted, King, Urquhart asks the viewer “I think it’s gloves off time at
the Palace don’t you?” These monologues not only allows Urquhart to draw the
viewer in to his confidence but makes them complicit even an ally in his schemes.
When he throws Storin off the Parliament roof to her death in the first series,
Urquhart dares the camera and the viewer to judge him by repeating his
catchphrase sharply that we may think what we like, “(he) can’t possibly
comment.”
2. The Shakespearean Fantasy Series (Ill Met by Moonlight, All Night Awake, Any Man So Daring) (2001-2003)
Book Series; Author: Sarah
A. Hoyt, Publisher: Berkley Press
Connection to Shakespeare:
Shakespeare himself and various plays including A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest,
King Lear et al
Shakespeare and fairies make a
perfect union and no one explores that union better than fantasy author, Sarah
A. Hoyt in her Shakespearean Fantasy series beginning with Ill Met by Moonlight. In the first book
in the series, Shakespeare’s wife, Anne and daughter, Susannah are kidnapped by
the Fairy King, Sylvanus. The future playwright, then a petty schoolteacher, joins
forces with Prince Quicksilver, seeking vengeance against Sylvanus for the
murder of their parents and his dethroning.
The series is beautifully written
as Hoyt creates a lovely world that the fairies inhabit.
There are beautiful details to the
Fairy culture such as when noble fairies watch the behavior of mortals through
dew drops. The Faerie World is filled with unique characters such as The
Hunter, a creepy character of fairy legends which gains prominence in the final
book.
The characters are winning as
well, particularly Shakespeare, who is not yet the literary legend. Instead, he
is a self-doubting insecure character who is concerned about his talent and his
family. Quicksilver is also fascinating as he can transform from a male to a
female form (and seduces many like Shakespeare in those forms).
Above all, the books are filled
with references and allusions to Shakespeare’s works. After his parents’ deaths,
Quicksilver is accused of wearing black and moping (like a certain melancholy
Dane). There is a character named Ariel, bearing more than a passing
resemblance to the character in The
Tempest. As a character is dying, he chants “A plague on both of your houses,”
a line that is later echoed in Romeo and
Juliet. In his female persona, Quicksilver gives a potential identity to
the unknown mysterious Dark Lady of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
1.”The Mirror”/“City of Stone” Gargoyles (1995)
TV Animated Series Episodes; Director:
(“The Mirror”) Frank Paur, (“City of Stone”) Michael Reaves, Teleplay: (“The
Mirror”) Lydia Marano, (“City of Stone”) Brynne Chandler-Reaves, Lydia Marano, Cast:
Keith David, Salli Richardson, Marina Sirtis, Jeff Bennett, Ed Asner, Thom
Adcox Hernandez, Bill Faggerbake, Frank Welker (both), Brent Spiner (“The
Mirror-“only), Jonathan Frakes, John Rhys-Davies, Kath Souci,
Neil Dickson, Emma Samms, Ed
Gilbert (“City of Stone”-only)
Connection to Shakespeare: A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Macbeth
There is a personal reason that I
chose this as Number One: While I read Romeo
and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and
Macbeth in high school, these episodes made me love Shakespeare’s works. I
adored “The Mirror” and a day after “City of Stone” aired, I borrowed a book on
Shakespeare’s plays from the library and instantly became hooked.
Anyone who grew up in the ‘90s
remembers this brilliantly written and amazingly animated Disney TV series
about gargoyles that turn to stone during the day and arise at night to protect
Manhattan’s residents from villains. The series was quite intelligent bringing
in characters from Shakespeare like Macbeth, Puck, and the Weird Sisters (the
latter two are members of “The Third Race, The Children of Oberon, fairies”
introduced in the series’ second season) into the mix giving the animated
series a literary dimension not seen in many other cartoons before or since. The
best episodes in the series, “The Mirror” and “City of Stone” develops the
regular Gargoyles characters but also
Shakespeare’s as well.
“The Mirror” is one of the
funniest and the best episode of the series. After being defeated many times by
the protagonists, Demona (Marina Sirtis) one of the show’s primary antagonists
uses a magic mirror to summon Puck (Brent Spiner) and binds him in iron to obey
her commands. She commands Puck to get rid of Elisa Maza (Salli
Richardson), the Gargoyles’ human
friend and potential love interest for lead gargoyle, Goliath (Keith David).
Puck turns Elisa into a gargoyle which Demona (who hasn’t seen the results of
Puck’s transformation) tells him to do the same to the rest of Manhattan. When
she sees an island filled with humans-transformed-into-gargoyles, an incensed
Demona demands that he turn the gargoyles back into humans, which he does-to
Goliath and his clan.
This episode is filled Shakespearean
comedy concepts of mistaken identity and confusion, such as when they are under
a spell Elisa and the Gargoyles believe that they have always been a gargoyle
or human. There is also the idea of transformation that is so paramount in
Shakespeare’s comedies. A scene that illustrates this is when
when the bemused Gargoyles first
see the island filled with gargoyles wearing clothes, shopping, and riding
subways (including a trio of pretty female gargoyles giving the younger clan
members the eye). “It’s kind of weird, neat but weird,” says Lexington (Thomas
Adcox-Hernandez). Of course the episode pays tribute to Shakespeare’s romances
in a scene in which Goliath looks at Elisa’s gargoyle form and says that “(he)
never noticed how beautiful (she) was.” “You mean I was ugly before?” Elisa
teases.
Above all, the scene stealer in
the episode is Spiner’s Puck who is clearly having a good time throughout
playing on Demona, Elisa, and the Gargoyles. In the end, he emerges the victor,
as he gives Demona a parting shot that changes her throughout the rest of the
series.
If “The Mirror” is a winning
tribute to Shakespeare’s comedies then the four-part story arc, “City of Stone”
is a memorable tribute to Shakespeare’s tragedies using Macbeth
(John Rhys-Davies) as a
centerpiece. Demona is once again planning on using magic to attack the
humanity of Manhattan, this time by turning them into stone at night by
chanting a spell on television. The Gargoyles are determined to stop her,
teaming up with multimillionaire/antagonist, David Xanatos (Jonathan Frakes).
Meanwhile Macbeth and The Weird Sisters (eerily played by Kath Souci) are observing
the situation with their own private agendas.
While the modern story is solid and
suspenseful, the highlight is the flashback storyline which details the
backstory between Demona and Macbeth. The show’s writer's reference
Shakespeare’s portrayal of the
Scottish king by surrounding the storyline with the magic, fatalism, and
sinister aspects of the play, such as when The Weird Sisters (here fairies
instead of human witches), prophesize that both Macbeth and his cousin, Duncan
will become kings and fathers of kings.
The writers also acknowledge the
historic Macbeth, by revealing the king as a wise and just ruler and Lady
Macbeth as a loving wife who are undone by the brutish Lord Gilcomgaine and the
scheming Duncan whom Macbeth wants to seek revenge against for murdering his
father and attempting to murder him.
Demona also is involved in the life of Macbeth
by aiding Macbeth in attacking his enemies for her own benefits waging war
against humanity for the betrayal and murder of her clan-a betrayal that she
helped arrange. The two become further linked in a pact with the Weird Sisters that
makes them immortal until one destroys the other. In writing the backstory of
Demona and Macbeth as figures who seek vengeance and justice ultimately
bringing about their own ends, the writers of Gargoyles play on one of Shakespeare’s tragic themes of characters
that bring destruction to themselves by their own behavior and choices.
Honorable Mention: Master Hal and The Boys by Athol Fugard, A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard, "Ill Met By Moonlight"/"The Gathering", Gargoyles, Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Romeo's Ex: Rosaline's Story by Lisa Fiedler, I, Iago by Nicole Galland, "Taming of The Shrew," Moonlighting, "St. Crispin's Day"/"Romeo's Troubles," Studio C, and 10 Things I Hate About You
No comments:
Post a Comment