This product is edited for classroom use. Six episodes combine history, biography, iconic performances, new analysis and the personal passion of its celebrated hosts - Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Irons, Derek Jacobi, Trevor Nunn, Joely Richardson and David Tennant - to tell the story behind the stories of Shakespeare's greatest plays.
Shakespeare Uncovered: The Stories Behind the Bard's Greatest Plays
This product has been edited for content
This product includes Public Performance Rights
Behind every Shakespeare play is a story. Shakespeare Uncovered portrays the Bard as an impresario who, four centuries ago, defined show business in his day - drawing on historical sources, stealing and adapting ideas, bringing back popular characters, writing prequels, and developing dramatic ideas from the politics of the day.
In each episode, a major Shakespearean actor or director explores and reveals the extraordinary world and works of William Shakespeare and the still-potent impact they have today. The presenters have spent their lives with Shakespeare's work and relate not only to the stories of the plays themselves, but also how they came to be written, how they have been performed, and how they have survived over 400 years.
Includes Six Films…
Hamlet - An acclaimed Hamlet himself in the RSC's recent hit production (and another recent GREAT PERFORMANCES production), David Tennant meets with fellow Hamlets, including superstar Jude Law, comparing notes on the titanic challenge of playing the most iconic of all roles. He also tries, alongside Simon Russell Beale and Ben Whishaw, to master the meaning of the play and the reason why it is considered the greatest of Shakespeare's works.
Macbeth - Ethan Hawke invites viewers to join him in his quest to play Shakespeare's murderous Thane of Cawdor by uncovering the true story that served as inspiration, immersing himself in some of the most memorable and innovative productions and discovering Shakespeare's extraordinary insights into the criminal mind.
Richard II - Derek Jacobi returns to a role he played 30 years ago, coaches actors at the Globe in aspects of the play, reveals why it could have cost Shakespeare his life - and shares some of the extraordinary modern political parallels within the play that still resonate as dictators are deposed. Also featured are notable excerpts from the upcoming GREAT PERFORMANCES film adaptation starring Ben Whishaw and Patrick Stewart.
The Comedies: Twelfth Night and As You Like It - Joely Richardson investigates (with her mother Vanessa Redgrave) the legacy of these two brilliant cross-dressing comedies and the great comic and romantic heroines created by Shakespeare in two perennially popular plays.
The Histories Henry IV and Henry V - Jeremy Irons (who stars as Henry IV in the upcoming new GREAT PERFORMANCES film adaptation) uncovers the enduring appeal of Shakespeare's ""history plays,"" from the facts of English history to the father-son drama that Shakespeare created. He discloses what Shakespeare's sources were - and how he distorted them. He invites the viewer behind the scenes at the filming of some of the most important sequences in the new GREAT PERFORMANCES adaptations of both plays, starring Irons, with Tom Hiddleston as Prince Hal.
The Tempest - Trevor Nunn, the legendary director who has directed 30 of Shakespeare's 37 plays and is determined to complete them all before he retires, takes viewers through the magical and mysterious world created in Shakespeare's last complete play. He considers The Tempest Shakespeare's farewell from the stage and relates the play to the playwright's family life. Among the enthusiastic students of the play who contribute ideas about the role of Prospero is the Archbishop of Canterbury, along with Helen Mirren and director Julie Taymor, who collaborated on the most recent film adaptation - with Mirren playing a female Prospera.
Rating - TV-PG, Macbeth TV-14
This program contains mature content. Viewer discretion is advised.
Production Year: 2013
Number of Discs: 2
Length: 360 minutes
Subtitled: Y
Subtitle Languages: English (SDH)
Audio Format: Stereo
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 Widescreen
VIDEO USAGE RIGHTS
Why the AV version? Because it provides additional usage options for PBS videos. AV versions come with limited performance rights so they can be shown in classrooms, at PTA meetings, during after school programs, and transmitted on a closed-circuit system within a building or on a single campus. They also can be enjoyed in admission-free public screenings, which also makes them ideal for use by library patrons and businesses involved in community clubs and organizations.