BBC Shakespeare: The Comedies (The Taming of the Shrew / The Tempest / A Midsummer Night's Dream / The Merchant of Venice / As You Like It )
William Shakespeare loved to laugh. One need look no further than to explore his gift for dramatic humor in his great comedic plays. The BBC Shakespeare Comedy Gift Box gives us five of the best of Shakespeare's plays performed by great actors and the best British directors. The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, & As You Like It - five hilarious comedies that are as witty today as they were 400 years ago at the Globe Theatre. The actors include: Helen Mirren, Richard Pasco, John Cleese, Michael Hordern, Warren Mitchell, Gemma Jones and many more. The list goes on.....the laughter runs deep. DVD brings out the luster of the periods sets and the audio crisply delivers the voices of the past. English subtitles have been added to give the viewer the luxury of reviewing the crisp dialogue (when needed).
Member Reviews
Basic Shakespeare - Lina
I rented this BBC Shakespeare version of "The Taming of the Shrew" because I confused it with "Shakespeare Retold"(2005), also produced by the BBC, which I had heard highly recommended. To clear things up, the two versions are entirely different. (I wish that Zip would come up with better titles to distinguish the two!) BBC Shakespeare is basically a filmed stage play - no attempt at realism, just straightforward Shakespeare.
The plays may have been put on DVD in 2004, but from what I could tell, "The Taming of the Shrew" was originally filmed in the 1980s. I was surprised to see John Cleese (of "Monty Python" and "Fawlty Towers" fame) doing a decent job in the role of Petruccio, and a couple of other British TV comedy actors from that period in other roles. TTotS has always been my least favorite Shakespeare play, but if you want to see the actual play, not a variation of it, this is as good a version as any.
Member Reviews
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Basic Shakespeare - Lina
I rented this BBC Shakespeare version of "The Taming of the Shrew" because I confused it with "Shakespeare Retold"(2005), also produced by the BBC, which I had heard highly recommended. To clear things up, the two versions are entirely different. (I wish ...