William Shakespeare’s The Tempest was first performed at Whitehall Palace in London on November 1, 1611.
There have been many performances over the years, but apart from a 1960 Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, with Maurice Evans and Richard Burton, most were variations on the story. Even the 1960 performance was a shortened version of the play.
My favorite variation was the 1956 film Forbidden Planet.
Come to think of it, BBC did a thing with the Shakespeare plays, and I’m thinking they did a nearly complete version in the 1980s. I haven’t seen that one, so I’m sticking with the science fiction movie.
That BBC series was uneven. Some were very good – others not so much. They did some interesting casting. Trying to capture a wider and younger audience they brought in people you wouldn’t normally associate with Shakespeare.
John Cleese was excellent in the lead role of Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. Roger Daltrey was surprisingly good as the twin Dromios in The Comedy of Errors.
I saw those! You’re right about Cleese and Daltrey being great Shakespearean actors.
In Houston years ago, I saw Macbeth done as a coup in a modern nation. It was very strange. They killed off Malcolm and made Donalbain the underage new king with MacDuff as regent. The play ended with MacDuff displaying a facial expression that led one to believe Donalbain was not long for the world.
Likewise — in the 80s or 90s — in Stamford, CT — an all-black cast in army fatigues doing Macbeth as taking place in a banana republic. Wonder if it was the same touring troupe.
The greatness of Shakespeare is that you could have Teletubbies reading it, and the meanings, comedy, and drama would still shine through. His writing truly is universal. He wrote about emotions all can relate to.
Watching the first episode of Sons of Anarchy it was obvious they were doing a retelling of Hamlet. It would have been much better had they made they show a limited series – like maybe 10 episodes – and stuck closer to the original plot.
My favorite version of Hamlet.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCVc5TaPpe8&w=560&h=315%5D
Freaking hilarous!
Schwarzenegger could be the greatest comedian of our era.
“Get thee to a gunnery!”