The idle pleasures of these days
Now this sounds like a truly intriguing Shakespeare bio pic: Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh as Anne and Will Shakespeare, set after his return to Stratford, script by Ben Elton. There's just one bit in the article which made me go huh, and it's not that Kenneth Branagh is 26 years younger than Judi Dench; Peter O'Toole was 23 years younger than Katherine Hepburn when he played Henry to her Eleanor in The Lion in Winter (and in both cases, Shakespeares and Plantaganenets, the female half of the couple actually was older (though to a far lesser extent than the actors). Not to mention that it's still refreshing if instead of pairing up a famous male actor with an actress decades younger as his love interest, the reverse happens , for a qualified meaning of "love interest" since we're talking estranged husband and wife in this case. BTW, I'm thrilled that the article talks about "their grief at the death of their only son, Hamnet", their, because in most fictional takes on Shakespeare, minus Oxfordian heresies, this is treated as his grief only.
Anyway, Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh in what sounds like an Albee-esque take on the Shakespeares: yes, please.
...and of course I'm always delighted to see Ian McKellen, but here's where I went "huh?", because: Ian McKellen co-stars as the Earl of Southampton, to whom Shakespeare dedicated his two narrative poems, and who has frequently been identified as the “Fair Youth” of his sonnets.
Okay. As opposed to the Anne-Will/Dench-Branagh age gap, this is actually a problem, because in 1613, when this story supposedly takes place, , Southhampton was 40 years old. Sexy Sir Ian undoubtedly still is, but 40 he's not, and Mr. W.H. being younger than Shakespeare is kind of an issue in the sonnets. Maybe the Guardian got the part Ian McKellen is playing wrong, thought I, searched for another source, but no, BBC America also names him as Southampton. Okay then, say I. Maybe all that high living plus the stint in the Tower due to the Essex Rebellion aged up Southhampton really fast.
(The other issue is a personal one, as in I never liked Henry Wriothesley all that much - like his chum Essex, he comes across as a none too bright entitled ass relying on his looks and charm to get away with stuff and always am glad if in Shakespeare bio pics one of the alternate candidates is picked for Mr. W.H. of sonnet fame, but that's neither here nor there.)
The BBC America artile also says Shakespeare needs to “mend the broken relationships with his wife and daughters,” while confronting “his own failings as husband and father" which means the movie won't go into the Anthony Burgess "Anne undoubtedly became a Puritan in her old age and never understood him anyway" direction. (Good.) "Daughters" hopefully means we'll get both Susanna and Judith; previous fictionalisations I'm familiar with picked one or the other to focus on, but not both.
Crazy conspiracy theory: maybe McKellen plays a Christopher Marlowe who faked his early death and is looking up Shakespeare in Stratford, and the Southhampton talk is just a cunning mislead on the part of Ben "Blackadder" Elton, the scriptwriter?
This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1313374.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Anyway, Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh in what sounds like an Albee-esque take on the Shakespeares: yes, please.
...and of course I'm always delighted to see Ian McKellen, but here's where I went "huh?", because: Ian McKellen co-stars as the Earl of Southampton, to whom Shakespeare dedicated his two narrative poems, and who has frequently been identified as the “Fair Youth” of his sonnets.
Okay. As opposed to the Anne-Will/Dench-Branagh age gap, this is actually a problem, because in 1613, when this story supposedly takes place, , Southhampton was 40 years old. Sexy Sir Ian undoubtedly still is, but 40 he's not, and Mr. W.H. being younger than Shakespeare is kind of an issue in the sonnets. Maybe the Guardian got the part Ian McKellen is playing wrong, thought I, searched for another source, but no, BBC America also names him as Southampton. Okay then, say I. Maybe all that high living plus the stint in the Tower due to the Essex Rebellion aged up Southhampton really fast.
(The other issue is a personal one, as in I never liked Henry Wriothesley all that much - like his chum Essex, he comes across as a none too bright entitled ass relying on his looks and charm to get away with stuff and always am glad if in Shakespeare bio pics one of the alternate candidates is picked for Mr. W.H. of sonnet fame, but that's neither here nor there.)
The BBC America artile also says Shakespeare needs to “mend the broken relationships with his wife and daughters,” while confronting “his own failings as husband and father" which means the movie won't go into the Anthony Burgess "Anne undoubtedly became a Puritan in her old age and never understood him anyway" direction. (Good.) "Daughters" hopefully means we'll get both Susanna and Judith; previous fictionalisations I'm familiar with picked one or the other to focus on, but not both.
Crazy conspiracy theory: maybe McKellen plays a Christopher Marlowe who faked his early death and is looking up Shakespeare in Stratford, and the Southhampton talk is just a cunning mislead on the part of Ben "Blackadder" Elton, the scriptwriter?
This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1313374.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.