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Language
Swedish
Description
In 1982, Ingmar Bergman bid farewell to cinema - a painful departure for those who admired his films, but not nearly as difficult for the director himself. "It was far harder giving up theater," Bergman admits in this retrospective look at his long, boundary-pushing stage career. Early collaborator Erland Josephson and Swedish documentarian Marie Nyrerod discuss with Bergman his many triumphs and challenges: how he became, at age 26, Sweden's youngest...
Language
English
Description
This program looks at the theatres of Herodus Atticus, Epidauros, Corinth (where Arion is said to have taught the dithyramb), and many others to explain the design of the ancient theater, the synthesis of art forms that was ancient Greek drama, the origins of tragedy, the audience in classical times, the comparative roles of writer/director and actors, and the use of the surrounding landscape in many plays.
Language
English
Description
The American Repertory Theater is one the most respected and innovative dramatic institutions in the United States. Through the prism of the A.R.T., this program explores the organizational and creative challenges facing today's theater community and describes the flexibility and resilience arts groups must have to survive in today's cultural climate. F. Murray Abraham, Debra Winger, and numerous other renowned performers-along with groundbreaking...
Language
English
Description
'The Tempest', not only Shakespeare’s final play, also his shortest, unfolds before the audience in real time. This video explores a range of dramatic techniques employed, including its structure based around the three unities, exposition, Caliban’s surprising use of verse, soliloquy, Prospero’s frequent asides – even early versions of special effects. An outstanding resource for middle to senior level students of English and Literature.
Language
English
Description
This special production of the play was produced to celebrate the Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s 40th anniversary. Director Richard Monette has set the play in the time of Mussolini, giving added pathos to the senseless hatred between the Montagues and the Capulets. Megan Porter Follows, known worldwide for her starring role in Anne of Green Gables, gives a stellar performance as Juliet. The production is produced and directed by Emmy Award-winner...
Language
English
Description
Understanding Greek tragedy, not through post-Ibsenist, post-modernist, post-Method eyes but in terms of what the ancient playwright may have intended, requires going beyond the text to the staging. For the staging defines the relationship between chorus and actors, between actors and audience, and between playwright and play. Using the theatre at Epidauros as an example-it was built a century after the heyday of Greek classical theatre but is well...
Language
English
Description
Can a king who killed most of his wives be rendered, in dramatic terms, as a human being? What kind of historical context should we apply to such a story? A group of gifted young British actors takes on those questions in this thrilling on-and-off-stage exploration of Act II, Scene 4, from Shakespeare's Henry VIII. Queen Catherine's desperate plea for reason and compassion from her recalcitrant husband and the cunning Wolsey takes shape through expertly...
Language
English
Description
Loyalty and betrayal-Shakespeare's massive body of work is shot through with both subjects, and Julius Caesar stands as a prime example. This program puts young British actors in the spotlight as they analyze and perform Act IV, Scene 3, from the play at London's Globe Theatre. Through their work, the Bard's description of the breakup of an alliance-namely, the murderous and doomed friendship between Brutus and Cassius-achieves a riveting, contemporary...
Language
English
Description
A journey into Hamlet the play and the man, through the experiences of the major actors and directors who have brought the play to life. Filmed at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-Upon-Avon, in London, Canada and Italy, featuring Christopher Plummer, Sir Trevor Nunn, Franco Zeffirelli, John Nettles, John Simm and David Tennant.
Language
English
Description
Filmed with rare behind-the-scenes access at Germany's renowned Stuttgart State Opera, this program uses director Calixto Bieito's staging of Wagner's Parsifal to explore the dazzling and complex universe of a major operatic production. The challenges of directing, conducting, rehearsing, and dialect coaching (baritone Gregg Baker, as Amfortas, speaks no German) are all shown in fascinating detail. Viewers also learn about the working lives of craftspeople...
Language
English
Description
The horror effects that Shakespeare intended to communicate through his play, Macbeth, pale into insignificance when we witness the truly awful acting of Trevor Kervis' amateur theater production. In this program, the roles of minor characters are explored in terms of their effects on the delivery of the themes of the play. Trevor's production is a tragedy in every sense.
Language
English
Description
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most beloved creations. The frolicking tale of lovesick young aristocrats, energetic but inept rustics, and mischievous woodland spirits is a staple of stage and screen. In the past, filmed adaptions have emphasized the play’s traditional, Elizabethan qualities. This production however is a fresh and stylish reinvention that takes an entirely different approach. The story takes place in present...
16) Othello
Language
English
Description
Ian McKellen gives an awe-inspiring portrayal of Iago in this unique production of Shakespeare's Othello. McKellen, opera singer Willard White in the title role, and the rest of the cast have all been cited for their sterling performances. Based on the Royal Shakespeare Company's stage performance in Stratford, the film was presented by the BBC. The quality of this production reveals why director Trevor Nunn, the theatre phenomenon whose resume includes...
Language
English
Description
This program presents two of Brecht's Practice Pieces for Actors: Romeo and Juliet translated by George Tabori and Hamlet translated by Michael Lebeck. (These pieces are virtually unknown to students and are never performed.) With such performers as Lotte Lenya, Micki Grant, David Rounds, Rudolph Weiss, Oliver Clark, Roscoe Lee Browne, the program shows these dramatic scenes that Brecht wrote and had his own actors rehearse as preparation for full-length...
Language
English
Description
Heart of the Wood, by composer Howard Goodall and lyricist Charles Hart, is a song from a musical based on A Midsummer Night's Dream. "Medieval March," by Debbie Wiseman, is the theme from a TV movie about Hans Christian Andersen. By deconstructing these two pieces, this program analyzes how music composed for the stage and screen performs its dramatic functions. Sound bites and video clips reveal how music can define the mood and the period of a...
Language
English
Description
On this episode of Camera Three, playwright Eric Bentley discusses his recent adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's A Man's a Man (Mann ist Mann). Olympia Dukakis, Clifford James, and James perform excerpts of the production, including The Song of Recruitment of the 20th Century, A Man's a Man, and The Song of the Ganges River.
Language
English
Description
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival's stunning production of Gilbert and Sullivan's classic comic opera was a blockbuster hit that went on to garner acclaim in Toronto, London, and New York. Cloaked in the guise of a Japanese musical drama, The Mikado is a spoof of Victorian English society. The plot involves the transformation of the dishonest Ko-Ko from lowly tailor and prisoner in a country jail to the rank of Lord High Executioner. While avoiding...