The Shakespeare Collection [DVD] [1978]

I recommend this collection highly to all Shakespeare lovers. Ever since I've received it, I've watched one play almost every night,and I've enjoyed very much the plays I've seen so far. It is great to have the entire collection, and not just a few plays, and even though there are edits and inevitable directorial interpretations, I feel these productions are more faithful to Shakespeare than some cinematic endeavours we've been used to, if only because the relative barrenness of the settings is more historically faithful to original practices and thus more attention is paid to Shakespeare's language. For in language, both spoken as well as body language, is where the power of Shakespeare's drama lies, and this is very evident in the BBC productions. Having said that, I will add that a lot of attention has been paid to settings and costumes. Casts of wonderful actors make the characters really come alive. Jane Lapotaire is wonderful as Cleopatra and as Lady Macbeth, Anthony Quayle is a memorable Falstaff in the two parts of Henry IV, Tim Piggott Smith captures Hotspur perfectly in the same, Jon Finch looks exactly as I've imagined the usurping Bolingbroke to look, the 14 year old Rebecca Saire is a superb Juliet, the plebeians in Julius Caesar resemble contemporary tradesmen and speak in a sort of delightful Cockney accent. These are just a few examples from the plays I've had time to watch so far. Crucially, I was delighted to see the actors do the roles in different ways than the cinematic productions often condition us to think about the characters. For instance, look out for Juliet's nanny in the BBC production as opposed to that in Zefirelli's film. It is also interesting to see some very well known British actors, a mix of Shakespeareans like John Gielgud and Derek Jacobi, along with more popularly known actors such as Bob Hoskins, Brenda Blethyn, Anthony Hopkins or Clive Swift. All 37 DVDs come in slim cases, there is also a little brochure with some stills from the productions, an introduction which I found quite interesting, and details about the date, director, and cast of each production. It all comes in a beautiful box, which is a joy to behold. Yes, the top flap on mine is also torn, it seems to have happened to everyone, and the top and bottom of the Antony and Cleopatra slim case was also broken, but I wouldn't exaggerate. It's hardly reason to fault the entire collection. The DVD's themselves are fine, and of excellent quality. In sum, the collection is very worth investing in, and I'm very glad I bought it. I dare say it is a must for any lover of Shakespeare and something that will stay with you for many years to come.

We watched a number of these when the Beeb originally showed them. It amazes me that (so far as I know) they haven't been repeated - unless on some pay channel? I found them in the library and rewatched a fair number, then bought 3, before deciding I shall have to buy this whole set (which have just done) as it's even better than I remembered and Shakespeare is, of course, the best. Wonderful to be reminded how many of my favourite actors are in these plays. Sir Robert Stephens so good in Winter's Tale, Michael Kitchen simply perfect as the look-alike but certainly not act-alike twins in the crazy Comedy of Errors and as the wicked Edmund in Lear - a play which I hadn't liked too much in the earlier version I'd seen many years ago but now find masterly. Robert Lindsay blows you away as the definitive Benedick - even better than the Branagh version which was pretty good. A simply beautiful production of Love's Labour's Lost which I'd been disappointed in when seeing it first of all as the Branagh musical movie but in the Beeb version it's one of my favourites now, Twelfth Night which is my all-time favourite of all the plays although this is not my favourite production of it - which is the Trevor Nunn movie - but it's a close run with my only disappointment a rather wet Orsino who was far better and more realistically presented I think by a more suitably Ducal and exciting Toby Stevens in the Nunn movie. Warren Mitchell an amazing Shylock in a play I'd never rated in my favourites but now I'm rethinking. What's his name who played Reggie Perrin is simply splendid as the devious King John which I certainly hadn't seen before, and oh my goodness John Cleese and an ideal actress whose name I forget both so well cast in Taming of the Shrew. Measure for Measure which was a revelation when we first saw it. Not to mention some plays I hadn't ever seen before even when originally broadcast - All's Well that Ends Well, a real find, and Pericles which is an exciting adventure. Hamlet and Richard II with brilliant performances by Derek Jacobi - two of my most favourites in the set. One reason I think I have so far liked all these performances without exception is the staging. They are as I feel Shakespeare should be presented. Not exactly as you'd see them on stage in his time in most cases but very much how they could have been if he'd had only a few more resources. These sets feel "authentic".

This massive box set contains all 36 of Shakespeare's plays on 37 discs (Richard III is split across two discs). As far as I can tell (though I'm no expert so might be wrong) the productions follow the original texts faithfully, and no cuts have been made. All the DVD's have English subtitles, which also have no cuts. The discs are presented in 36 slim line cases, contained in a sturdy and well decorated cardboard box. The hinge on the lid is the only let down, this seems to tear quite easily. The productions all date from the period 1978-1984. Set design is usually pretty basic and typical of stage productions, though there are some imaginative variations, notably the water garden/forest sets of Midsummer night's dream, and the playground setting for Henry VI parts 1,2 and 3 and Richard III. The series employs a wide range of actors, from notable Shakespeareans such as Gielgud and Jacobi to more unusual choices such as John Cleese (as a notable Petruchio in taming of the shrew) and Bob Hoskins (as a gangsterish Iago)Using this range of actors, not all of whom are familiar with Shakespearean acting, often provides a different characterisation than we're used to, and makes the plays quite accessible. There are a lot of plays here, so it's impossible to discuss all of them. The particular highlights for me were Richard III - we're all used to Olivier's pantomime villain, rabidly chewing whatever scenery comes to hand. Here we're presented with Ron Cook's very understated performance, the complete opposite of Olivier. This makes some of Richards deeds seem the more shocking, as he seems an ordinary person. John Cleese as Petruchio is a revelation. It would have been so easy for him to play it as Basil Fawlty, but here he makes Petruchio a considerate character, with whom we have much sympathy. Titus Andronicus, usually considered one of the 'difficult' plays is here made quite watchable by a superb Trevor Peacock, with Hugh Quarshie making a suitably slimy Aaron. The best plays though have to be Henry IV parts 1 and 2. For two reasons - Jon Finch's perfectly nuanced Henry IV, and Anthony Quayle as the greatest Falstaff I have ever seen. He nearly brought me to tears in the final scene with his reaction to Harry's devastating "I know thee not old man". Compare this to Richard Griffiths' Falstaff in Merry Wives Of Windsor - it's a good performance (and one of my favourite plays) but just not in the same class as Quayle. There are very few low points here. And those are due to the writer, not the productions. Two Gentlemen of Verona and Love Labours Lost are particularly difficult to get through, but that is true no matter who puts them on. At the price being asked this is an excellent way to get hold of all the Bard's plays on DVD, worth while for the casual fan (such as myself), and I would guess to teachers and scholars, due to the textual faithfulness and the interesting slant and different readings of some well known characters. Highly recommended.

The first thing that must be stressed is that, while there are many five star moments in this great undertaking, it would not be right to give five stars to the whole because there such is an enormous variation in the quality of these 37 productions. This is in large part because there is an enormous variation in the quality of the 37 plays themselves. Whisper it, but many of them would be all but forgotten today, and in some cases rightly, if they did not happen to be written by the man who also wrote Hamlet, etc. On top of that, there is a wide variation in the production values of this collection. This started out as a major prestige project by the BBC, complete with a wonderfully pompous score by Sir William Walton, expensive outside broadcast location work, and big name Shakespearean actors: the opening words of the whole project are spoken by Sir John Gielgud himself in Romeo and Juliet. However, by the end, the budgets had obviously become a lot tighter, the sets more stage-like or even studio-like, and the casts dominated by television regulars, albeit generally good ones. There is a feeling of "let's get this thing done" about a few of the later productions. In between came Dr Jonathan Miller's attempt to impose a Baroque house style on the project. At their best, his sumptuous visuals are an artistic treat in their own right, as well as serving to lift some of the weaker plays, like Cymbeline, but it cannot be denied that they can be an irritating distraction in those productions, notably King Lear with Sir Michael Hordern, which have the dramatic power to involve the viewer without the need for gimmicks. Indeed, taking the project as a whole, it is fair to say its greatest successes were some great productions of some of Shakespeare's lesser works, but its productions of the more famous plays fell short of the very greatest adaptations of them. That is only be expected, and is in itself no criticism, because the competition is so overwhelming: for example, there is nothing wrong with this BBC version of Henry V but with the Olivier and Branagh versions easily available why bother watching one with television production values? Yet those same television values have been turned to advantage in plays where the viewer might have lower expectations. The difficult Henry VI trilogy turned out to be one of the triumphs of the project, thanks to the inventive use of a single stage-like set and the employment of a strong team of actors in multiple roles - a concept Shakespeare would have recognised and enjoyed. A different approach, exploiting television's ability to use outside broadcast locations, lifted Henry VIII above its usual level as a Tudor propaganda piece - again, aided by a superb cast. Good casting is the underlying strength of the whole project. It coincided with both the Golden Age of British television and the end of the post-War Shakespearean revolution on the stage, and it used actors from both. It is also interesting to see young talents who have since made it on the big screen showing early promise. If there are a few obvious mistakes in the casting, they stand out only because the general quality is so good. The project is distinguished by having more than its fair share of bench-mark performances, which set, or should set, the standard by which subsequent performances may be judged, including, among others, Hordern's Lear, the future Dame Helen Mirren's Rosalind in As You Like It, Sir Anthony Quayle's Falstaff in Henry IV, the future Sir Derek Jacobi's Richard II, the future Sir Ben Kingsley's Ford in Merry Wives of Windsor, Keith Michell's Antony in Julius Caesar, Trevor Peacock's Talbot and Bernard Hill's York in Henry VI, Timothy West's Wolsey in Henry VIII, Joss Ackland's Menenius in Coriolanus, Norman Rodway's Apemantus in Timon of Athens, John Shrapnel's Hector and Charles Gray's Pandarus in Troilus and Cressida, Felicity Kendal`s Viola in Twelfth Night, Claire Bloom's Gertrude in Hamlet, Hugh Quarshie's Aaron and Edward Hardwicke's Marcus in Titus Andronicus, Bob Hoskins' Iago in Othello, Peter Jeffrey's Parolles in All's Well That Ends Well, Jeremy Kemp's Leontes and Margaret Tyzack's Paulina in The Winter's Tale, Jane Lapotaire's Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, Tony Doyle's Macduff in Macbeth, Cherie Lunghi`s Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing ...the list could go on. All stick in the memory. The casting of John Cleese as Petruchio in the Taming of the Shrew and Leonard Rossiter as King John, both considered daring in their day, stand the test of time very well. It is also good to be reminded that Sir Donald Sinden, Clive Swift, and Robert Lindsay, actors now best known for their sitcom work, are first class Shakespeareans. A number of actors, including Hordern, Mirren, and Lindsay, appear in several different plays, so that the project sometimes has a pleasant "repertory" feel to it: it is a shame that this aspect was not developed further. Watching the whole thing over the last thing over the last couple of months has given the best possible overview of Shakespeare - and it would have been life-changing to have had the opportunity to do so as a teenager, when they first came out but over a period of seven years. As it is, this beautifully boxed set would be the perfect gift for any young person with intellectual, literary, or dramatic inclinations. It is an education in itself and a significant contribution to recent British cultural history.

The quality of the BBC production varies from play to play, and many plays are disappointing, or to put it bluntly, long and boring. While I prefer conservative interpretations, the BBC renditions tend to be too conservative, too bland. There are some notable exceptions. Leonard Rossiter saves King John, Derek Jacobi makes an dandy Richard II, Roger Daltrey (from the Who) stumbles comically through "The Comedy of Errors", and John Cleese tames the shrew into an ex-shrew. I'm sure it's no accident that the best plays are by the biggest stars. Having more stature, they have the authority to get their own way, and they're doing this for fun. Also on the whole the Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 & 2, and Henry V series is pretty good. I haven't made it through all the plays yet, but I find the others I have seen (Pericles, Coriolanus, Titus Andronicus, Love's Labour Lost) lack "oomph". The lines are too often recited without wit. I expect even the tragedies should have more laughs or action-drama in them than these productions show us. But I suppose the actors are afraid of being accused of hamming it up. Too bad. Colourful interpretations should be "de rigueur". My two favourite performances are Derek Jacobi's Richard II and Leonard Rossiter's King John. Jacobi gives us a dandy and a fop too full of himself and too careless of the consequences of his acts. Rossiter's King John is wonderful because he spices up his performance with innuendoes and sly looks that match his kittish tones. Even though it falls far short of perfection, the breadth of the BBC project makes this a must have collection for any family's DVD shelf and will prove a good benchmark against which future renditions can be judged. Vincent Poirier, Dublin

This set embraces the complete plays of Shakespeare, as filmed by the BBC back in the late 70s-early 80s. A couple of the versions are pretty bad - notably Jane Howell's experimental approaches to "Titus Andronicus" and "The Winter's Tale", and a few seem rather static ("All's Well That Ends Well", in particular), but most range from good to great, and nowhere else will you find filmed versions of some of these plays. The acting is in most cases superb--Michael Hordern, Robert Lindsay, Anton Lesser, Cherie Lunghi, Pippa Guard--and there are a few delightful surprises for those who missed this series when it aired on television originally--the Who's Roger Daltry in "The Comedy of Errors", and Leonard Rossiter from "Rising Damp" and "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin." Rossiter in particular is a revelation as the title character in the intensely serious "King John." And for those of you who only know Ken Colley as Admiral Piett from the "Star Wars" series, you'll be utterly charmed with his Duke Vincentio in "Measure for Measure." (And for those of you who only know Ken Colley as Admiral Piett from the "Star Wars" series, shame on you -- go rent "Pennies From Heaven" immediately!) Highly recommended, and amazingly affordable - buy now, before they realize they're letting this amazing jewel go for a mere three dollars per play, including shipping to the USA! For Americans, if you don't already have a multi-region DVD-player, you can get one from amazon.com for about 100 dollars and still be saving money on this incredible series.

My mother bought me these as a reward for finishing my exams and needless to say I was chuffed. I'm a self confessed Shakespeare nerd and I thought it was great to have visual representations of the more obscure plays e.g. Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Henry VI, etc. So from an educational standpoint they're solid. The productions themselves range from the fantastic (Richard III, Henry VI to the good (Hamlet, Two Gents of Verona) and then to the sub-par (Romeo and Juliet, Midsummers) 9 times out of 10 the acting is brilliant. My favorites include Ron Cook, Trevor Peacock, Ian Charleston, Paul Jesson, Helen Mirren and so many more. . The productions are (generally) faithful to the text which made the purist in me very happy. The only downside to watching these productions is that the production values are low and the sets are dull and outdated. Furthermore I thought that some of the productions under Cedric Messina were boring. But this isn't to detract from the general outstanding quality of the series. It changed my relationship with Shakespeare. Indeed, if you want to get to know the Bard better or are seeking visual aids for study I'd recommend you buy this set. It's THAT good.

At £2 per Shakespear play I don't think anyone will question the value of this set. I dont understand the style of these, or the intent, but many of the plays come across very "shouty", and I find it tiresome. The loud presentation might be necessary for a stage play with a live standing audience, but such bawling is not nice in headphones at home. There are some amusing twiddly bits with words, but they are often spoken fast, and challenging to follow when the work is unfamiliar. If you like Shakespear and his playing with words from his thesaurus, and theatre style production, then maybe these are great ? but these productions are not helping me to understand or convincing me of any great value in Shakespear's plays. I struggle to see how they were regarded as entertaining in their time. I last watched Othello, and found that a little more calm and palatable (though still grim). I get a feeling that Shakespear might be like spitting images, and taking it out of context destroys all but the crudest of jokes and allusions. Subtlety that might have been plain enough in the day is just not recognisable in our context. The plots however are more like Eastenders and depressingly focussed on deceit. Maybe it is no fault of the production, and I must be reconciled to the conclusion that Tiggers don't like Shakespear.