Following hot on the heels of numbers 6-10 , here are my top five Shakespeare plays.
5. Twelfth Night – After warming up with Rosalind and Portia in As You Like It and The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare perfected the role of cross-dressing heroine in the shape of Viola. The pompous and sycophantic employee Malvolio has had such an impact in the workplace that you can now find one in every company from London to Hong Kong. Gareth in The Office might have been modelled on him.
4. Henry IV, Part I – While Part II has arguably the best scene in the whole of Shakespeare (more later), Part I is dominated by one of Shakespeare's greatest creations, Sir John Falstaff, a fat man with hidden depths, a comic character in the spiritual if not the physical mould ofDon Quixote . Although he had two plays named after him, Henry IV is a bit of a non-entity, the main regal role being played by his son Hal, who wins the day for Dad against Hotspur at Shrewsbury. In terms of Welsh-baiting, it’s all downhill for Shakespeare from his portrayal of the superstitious Cambrian Owen Glendower in this play to his cartoonish Fluellen in Henry V.
3. King Lear – Rather improbably, this was the first Shakespeare I was exposed to, aged ten at my prep school. I'm not sure I was quite ready for it then, but the simple idea that many lives can be affected by one stupid decision has never been better expounded. All those who have known the deceits, suspicions, shifting alliances and aridity of dysfunctional families will be heard mumbling "Been there, got the T-shirt" as they read of characters who sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
2 .Julius Caesar – It might be considered heretical to admit this, but I actually enjoyed reading this one. The title is a bit of a misnomer, as Caesar only appears in a few scenes – including the famous one in which he gets relieved of his dictatorship by among others the hero of the play, Marcus Brutus, "the noblest Roman of them all". Shakespeare’s great achievement in this play is to maintain the energy while building up the momentum towards the second climax of the play, the showdowns at Philippi. We can therefore forgive the Swan of Avon for little inaccuracies, such as telescoping the action in Thrace from 20 days to just two.
1. Hamlet – If you haven't checked out any of the film or television versions of Shakespeare's masterpiece, you should. Each one has something to recommend it. If you like your melodrama served with lashings of Larry, there's Olivier’s 1948 version that chopped out Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and added a contentious voiceover introduction. If you're looking for a Hamlet trip, try Tony Richardson's 1969 production with a very studied Nicol Williamson playing opposite Marianne Faithfull as an Ophelia so vapid that you are surprised she fell out of the willow tree rather than the other way round. Bonuses come in the shape of a pre-Upstairs, Downstairs Gordon Jackson as an elderly, bespectacled, Scottish Horatio and Anthony Hopkins as a lecherous Claudius. Rather a favourite of mine is Jonathan Miller's 1980 BBC version with Derek Jacobi, Patrick Stewart, Clare Bloom and, as Ophelia, the aptly named Lalla Ward, who sobs her way through her scenes like a Teletubby on lithium. The 1990s produced further films which I haven't yet seen helmed by Franco Zefferelli and Kenneth Branagh, the latter uncut, so you can read along with the characters if the spirit moves you. Make plenty of popcorn, though – the film lasts more than four hours.
Before I finish, there are a couple of special awards to present.
First, the Rear Window Award for most critically overrated Shakespearian work, named after the Hitchwork film which others love but I find a bore. (Terry Gilliam'sBrazil would fall into this category if it wasn't so bad.)
The Tempest – I reckon people are trying really hard to find one more of the bard's late works besides The Winter's Tale that is worth reading.
Second, the Manhattan Award for works that aren't bad but are overvalued in comparison with other pieces by the same artist. Besides the eponymous Woody Allen film, which isn't a patch on Annie Hall, one could cite Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, a pale shadow of his earlier Taxi Driver.
Othello – simply, one tragedy too far. Shakespeare had already done his anti anti-semitism play (The Merchant of Venice) and his pre-feminist drama (The Taming of the Shrew) and he was obviously under pressure to come up with an anti-racism tale. It shows. Iago's part on its own is almost as long as the whole of Macbeth.
5. Twelfth Night – After warming up with Rosalind and Portia in As You Like It and The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare perfected the role of cross-dressing heroine in the shape of Viola. The pompous and sycophantic employee Malvolio has had such an impact in the workplace that you can now find one in every company from London to Hong Kong. Gareth in The Office might have been modelled on him.
4. Henry IV, Part I – While Part II has arguably the best scene in the whole of Shakespeare (more later), Part I is dominated by one of Shakespeare's greatest creations, Sir John Falstaff, a fat man with hidden depths, a comic character in the spiritual if not the physical mould of
3. King Lear – Rather improbably, this was the first Shakespeare I was exposed to, aged ten at my prep school. I'm not sure I was quite ready for it then, but the simple idea that many lives can be affected by one stupid decision has never been better expounded. All those who have known the deceits, suspicions, shifting alliances and aridity of dysfunctional families will be heard mumbling "Been there, got the T-shirt" as they read of characters who sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
2 .Julius Caesar – It might be considered heretical to admit this, but I actually enjoyed reading this one. The title is a bit of a misnomer, as Caesar only appears in a few scenes – including the famous one in which he gets relieved of his dictatorship by among others the hero of the play, Marcus Brutus, "the noblest Roman of them all". Shakespeare’s great achievement in this play is to maintain the energy while building up the momentum towards the second climax of the play, the showdowns at Philippi. We can therefore forgive the Swan of Avon for little inaccuracies, such as telescoping the action in Thrace from 20 days to just two.
1. Hamlet – If you haven't checked out any of the film or television versions of Shakespeare's masterpiece, you should. Each one has something to recommend it. If you like your melodrama served with lashings of Larry, there's Olivier’s 1948 version that chopped out Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and added a contentious voiceover introduction. If you're looking for a Hamlet trip, try Tony Richardson's 1969 production with a very studied Nicol Williamson playing opposite Marianne Faithfull as an Ophelia so vapid that you are surprised she fell out of the willow tree rather than the other way round. Bonuses come in the shape of a pre-Upstairs, Downstairs Gordon Jackson as an elderly, bespectacled, Scottish Horatio and Anthony Hopkins as a lecherous Claudius. Rather a favourite of mine is Jonathan Miller's 1980 BBC version with Derek Jacobi, Patrick Stewart, Clare Bloom and, as Ophelia, the aptly named Lalla Ward, who sobs her way through her scenes like a Teletubby on lithium. The 1990s produced further films which I haven't yet seen helmed by Franco Zefferelli and Kenneth Branagh, the latter uncut, so you can read along with the characters if the spirit moves you. Make plenty of popcorn, though – the film lasts more than four hours.
Before I finish, there are a couple of special awards to present.
First, the Rear Window Award for most critically overrated Shakespearian work, named after the Hitchwork film which others love but I find a bore. (Terry Gilliam's
The Tempest – I reckon people are trying really hard to find one more of the bard's late works besides The Winter's Tale that is worth reading.
Second, the Manhattan Award for works that aren't bad but are overvalued in comparison with other pieces by the same artist. Besides the eponymous Woody Allen film, which isn't a patch on Annie Hall, one could cite Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, a pale shadow of his earlier Taxi Driver.
Othello – simply, one tragedy too far. Shakespeare had already done his anti anti-semitism play (The Merchant of Venice) and his pre-feminist drama (The Taming of the Shrew) and he was obviously under pressure to come up with an anti-racism tale. It shows. Iago's part on its own is almost as long as the whole of Macbeth.
2 comments:
Henry Vee was our favorite, since we got to watch the multi hour Kenneth Brannagh
movie version.
Amid the yapping there was biffo and beating the Frenchies, so all was good. Or you could catch up on sleep.
Julius Caesar indeed. Antony's description of the just departed Lepidus really cuts to the bone:
"This is a slight unmeritable man,
Meet to be sent on errands"
when Octavius defends Lepidus as "a tried and valiant soldier"
Antony responds:
" So is my horse, Octavius; and for that I do appoint him store of provender"
and
"A barren-spirited fellow; one that feeds/On abjects, orts and imitations,/Which, out of use and staled by other men,/Begin his fashion: do not talk of him,/But as a property."
There is lots more (Act 4, scene 1) but that gives one a sense how things stand.
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