your son-in-law is far more fair than black

[angevin2]

Last night I had a dream in which I was directing a really off-the-cuff low-budget student production of Othello in which for some reason I had been prevailed upon to do the title role. In all my Anglo-Saxon pastiness. It was really weird. And people kept interrupting the production because it was located in the middle of the student center, but

Comments

[angevin2]

Okay, four and a half is sort of a generous assessment. The half-point was for Chimes at Midnight, which has a screenplay drawn mostly from the Henry IVs but does have a bit of Henry V content at the end. (There's also one speech from Richard II -- the one that begins "Can no man tell me of my unthrift son?" -- and the credits say there's also a bit of Merry Wives in it, but I've never been able to spot it.)

For the record, the other Henry Vs in my collection are Branagh's, Olivier's, the BBC's, and the English Shakespeare Company's (all of which are excellent, except for the BBC's which is horrible). The audio recording is the one released by Naxos, with Sam West in the title role.

And yeah, I see your point -- I guess even bad Shakespeare is better than none at all. We also have the summer Shakespeare-in-the-park thing, which is generally pretty competent, and once in a while one of the universities will do something, although our theater department almost never does any Shakespeare, largely because of the shortage of men. (Piffle, I say! Non-traditional casting is great!) And then Chicago is only five hours away, and they have a splendid Shakespeare company, although I rarely have the time or the money...

[erstwhiletexan]

Piffle, I say! Non-traditional casting is great!

It so is. I must admit that I have always dreamed of being cast as Warwick the Kingmaker in the Henry VIs. :D

My favorite Henry V is Branaugh's, but only because I really love the soundtrack. Is it just me, or was Henry V wearing a leeeetle too much eyeliner?

[angevin2]

Eh, not as much as Olivier's Henry was wearing. ;) But I love Branagh's HV. Watching it in high school was one of my formative Shakespeare moments.

I must admit that I have always dreamed of being cast as Warwick the Kingmaker in the Henry VIs.

You should join Dangerously Slow Productions! We'll get to the Henry VIs eventually. ;) (Though not for a while; we're just starting on production for 1 Henry IV.)