Product Details

• Actors: Ian McKellen
• Directors: Kirk Browning
• Writers: Ian McKellen, William Shakespeare
• Producers: Andrew Susskind, David Susskind, Ricki Green
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: E1 Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: January 12, 2010
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002SF9YMU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,928 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Acting Shakespeare" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A masterful tour de force from “one of the most distinguished performers of his generation” (The New York Times).

Alone on stage, without props or costumes, Ian McKellen performs some of Shakespeare’s most striking monologues and offers his own personal anecdotes about life in the theater. From Henry VI to Macbeth, McKellen demonstrates the incredible universality of Shakespeare’s plays with wit and humor – skillfully revealing the actor behind the writer in this celebrated one-man show.

Produced by Andrew Susskind and presented at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City.

Also includes an 8-page booklet with reflections by Ian McKellen.

Product Description

Alone on stage, with no props or costumes, distinguished and celebrated actor Ian McKellen performs some of the most striking monologues from Shakespeare’s masterpieces. With wit and humor, McKellen continues this amazing one man show by discussing his relationship with theatre and offering a discourse on some of the greatest plays of all time.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Shakespeare, November 19, 2009

By 

Staci L. Gieber (California) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Acting Shakespeare (DVD)

I saw this video in my high school British Lit. class in 1986 and was mesmerized. I was not a particular fan of Shakespeare at the time, was in fact one of those kids who found Shakespeare mostly boring and irrelevant, but this turned me on to all that Shakespeare can be and why he has remained popular for so long. I have been a huge fan of Ian McKellan ever since; he is superb in this. I have been looking for this video for years, checking McKellan's website, ebay and everywhere I could think of, so I was so excited when I googled the title today, and found it on Amazon! I cannot recommend McKellan's _Acting Shakespeare_ highly enough. It remains, in my memory, the best theatre -- Shakespeare or otherwise -- that I have ever seen. It is just Ian McKellan on a bare stage, no props or costumes as far as I remember, performing monologues from several Shakespearian plays and commenting on the plays and characters and how he approaches them. The simplicity is perhaps part of what makes this so beautifully done. As it hasn't been released yet, I cannot comment on the technical quality of the sound or video. My hope is that the reason they took so long to release it is because they were picky about getting the audio and video quality right. Anyway, it is superb.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than remembered, February 15, 2010

By 

Cheryl Toliver "Cheryl Ann Toliver, author of... - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Acting Shakespeare (DVD)

I first saw Ian McKellen's 'Acting Shakespeare' on PBS some 24-25 years ago and loved it for how he made Shakespeare's words come alive with new meaning. I then saw him perform it live in San Francisco in 1987 and have longed to see it again ever since. Viewing this DVD brought back these memories, but was also surprising - the performance is even better than I remembered it and has awakened even more meaning in Shakespeare's words for me.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kings, Villians and Lovers: A Masterful One-Man Show, March 21, 2010

By 

Cat "hopeless-anglophile" (Southern California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Acting Shakespeare (DVD)

In many a theater class, I've often felt saddened when I would watch a well-delivered monologue or scene from fellow actors, knowing they would never been seen again. It's bitter-sweet to witness a moment of brilliance but never be able to describe it or ever see it duplicated. Actors are on an endless pursuit to understand the meaning of what they speak and to find the right actions for the words. Especially with Shakespeare's works, an actor may spend months with one monologue but after all his effort, still not understand how to speak the words. Even great actors like Ian McKellen have had to disect Shakespeare's text in order to understand what is going on in the scene. He was part of John Barton's "Playing Shakespeare" workshop that shows the actor at a very basic level, how to technically approach Shakespeare just by analysing the text. I'm of the opinion Sir McKellen was born great, but his understanding of Shakespeare took time and fortunately for us, the culmination of his years dedicated to mastering the words have been preserved. McKellen embarks on his one-man Shakespeare show by performing several monologues on a bare stage, weaving them together expertly, and peppered with anecdotes about Shakespeare's life. I'm rather fond of Richard III and his performance of the disfigured tyrant was an absolute gift. It's not necessary to have read any of the plays to fully appreciate this performance. McKellen has done the work; all we need to do is listen.