Customer Reviews

Acting Shakespeare

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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.

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.

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.

Re. the comments by Krupa concerning the 'Macbeth' section of 'Acting Shakespeare', it should be noted that McKellen's ACTUAL full stage performance of 'MacBeth' -- far superior to the excerpts in his mostly terrific one-man show -- is itself available on DVD through Amazon, and here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Macbeth-McKellen-Thames-Shakespeare-Collection/dp/B0002TVWYW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1276308261&sr=1-2

This is the great (1978) Royal Shakespeare Company production directed by Trevor Nunn, with a thrillingly brilliant performance by McKellen in the title role, and also featuring an unforgettable performance by Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth. It's as close as I've ever seen anyone come to a definitive production of the play. And, needless to say, I can't recommend it highly enough to any admirer of Shakespeare or Mr. McKellen (or Ms. Dench).

As an interesting side-note, Laurence Olivier did a legendary stage 'Macbeth' as well, but his by-all-accounts magnificent performance (listed by countless critics, theatre historians, and fellow actors as one of his very finest) is sadly lost to the ages because Olivier was unable raise the requisite funding to make a once-planned film version of it. Hard to believe, eh, with all the mediocre and mindless cinema that HAS been funded over the years?!

First, let me say that there's essentially nothing wrong with this DVD. It offers to the viewer dramatic work by a truly great actor doing something he does exceptionally well: acting Shakespeare. And in this, McKellen delivers splendidly. In soliloquy after soliloquy and character after character, he shows his true passion for Shakespeare's art, and in a way that justifies his solid reputation as a major classical actor of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

But...I gotta tell ya...I have a problem with this DVD, which affects my opinion of it in a very personal way.

So...take what I'm about to say with a healthy grain of salt, okay?

You see, I saw Sir Ian perform this show live in 1987 in Boston. And I can tell every reader that when he performed the "Macbeth" segments toward the end, it was nothing short of jaw-dropping, frightening. Almost unbelievable.

Here, in this taped 1982 broadcast, he does a masterful job, to be sure (I just watched it tonight). But for some years now I've been aware that this show had been taped in 1982, and I had searched the Internet for it. And for years I found that it was unavailable on DVD and VHS. And I hoped that it would someday be released on DVD. Because I hoped that the level of intensity he gave to those final minutes of "Macbeth" would have been in his performance here. I remember that, between speeches, his Macbeth rotated very slowly, clicking his shoes on the stage, in small and claustrophobic circles, the character gradually imploding, and moaning like a lost ghost. By the end of the great "tomorrow and tomorrow" speech, when he arrived at the line "a tale told by an idiot," the great actor was deliberately slurring the words a bit so as to sound idiotic. That may look humorous in print, but it was frightening to watch and to hear. By "signifying nothing" his sharp eyes were gaping, the pale skin of his face stretching, and he was nearly unintelligible. After the final word, he drew in two great, slow, tormented gasps of breath, as if to show Macbeth suffocating on his nihilism. And the man had every one of us audience members in the very palm of his hand. Utter silence...until the explosion of applause. It was the most electrifying moment of live theater I've ever experienced. I've never forgotten that singular piece of great acting, and it affected me deeply in my own pursuits as a young actor.

So when this DVD came out recently, I ordered it. And alas...his Macbeth fell short of the once-in-a-lifetime moment I experienced live. Great as it is on the DVD, it's just not at the same level. Sir Ian obviously enfleshed the performance with new and brilliant ideas in the five years between the 1982 broadcast and the US tour, perhaps in order to make it even more the piece de resistance, the climax to the show, at that time. The audience on the 1982 DVD applauds him appreciatively and enthusiastically. The 1987 Charles Playhouse audience that I was fortunate enough to be a part of almost blew the roof off the place.

So you can understand that, after patiently waiting -- FOR TWENTY-THREE YEARS!! -- to actually have a chance to experience again the magic moment that I found so special back then, to see it lacking the original fire was a major disappointment.

Wow...glad I got that out of my system. So...amidst all this self-absorbed complaining, what's my review?

Well, if you love Shakespeare or are interested in his work, or if you can say the same for Ian McKellen, DON'T LET MY ANNOYING WHINING DETER YOU! Do check this DVD out! For it does offer a veritable goldmine of wonderful McKellen interpretations of some of Shakespeare's greatest dramatic moments and characters: Richard III...Henry V...Falstaff...Romeo and Juliet...Hamlet...and much more! It delivers as advertised.

As for me...I'll try to be content that I saw this show in an another incarnation once upon a time...and that the best of the performance must remain gratefully in my memory, and I hope, in the memories of those who were there for that Sunday matinee.

In "Acting Shakespeare," Ian McKellen demonstrates not only why Shakespeare is still considered the greatest dramatist in the English language, but why he is one of the greatest Shakespearean actors. Not only does he command the material with humor and depth, but his rapport with the audience shows why live theatre has something special that other forms of entertainment lack. I especially enjoyed McKellen's analysis of Macbeth's "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...," which gives the viewer a glimpse into his approach to these great characters. I highly recommend this for fans of McKellen, Shakespeare, or theatre in general.

This will change the way you think about Shakespeare. Just can't praise it enough. Ian McKellen begins his excursion into the "meaning" of Shakespare by discussing his important interview for entry into Cambridge. How did he do it? By mouthing a monologue of King Henry V. Clearly, Shakespeare is very "personal" for him. As a Cambridge student, Ian McKellen acted in school plays with some other outstanding classmates devoted to theater - Trevor Nunn and Derek Jacoby, for example. Geniuses all.

But it is the intimate way in which McKellen presents Shakespeare that makes this one-person-play so memorable. In one moment, Ian McKellen talks seriously about the meaning of a sonnet, then he jokes about overacting a part, then he presents a biographical fact of the Bard, then he recites both the female and the male interchange of lines, then he collapses in a death scene, and so on. It's all so enthralling.

So...if all the world's a stage...this is theater personified.

I was fortunate enough to catch this production live, in 1983.

It changed my life.

Ripples from this performance have rocked Shakespeare, performances, the very language I speak and write. Seldom can one evening's theater do so much for a person's understanding and appreciation of life.

I have memories of seeing McKellen's "Acting Shakespeare" in its original incarnation, and they partially impelled me to purchase this DVD, for which I can only say "thank you, memories!". If you're a fan of Shakespeare or of Ian McKellen or - ideally - both, this is a don't miss purchase.

McKellen is bright, clever, insightful, entertaining as all get-out, and a wonderful interpreter - and teacher - of Shakespeare. In this one man tour de force, he performs snippets of roles ranging from Henry V to Richard III to both Romeo AND Juliet, as well as Falstaff, Macbeth, and his interviewer for Cambridge admissions (who is now immortalized).

Buy this - or at least rent it - and then, if you haven't already, pick up a copy of the TV adaptation of Trevor Nunn's production of Macbeth starring Mr. McKellen and Judi Dench to see what a pair of masterful performers can do with a great play.

I will not tell you the long struggle this has been to find on DVD.

I had an old just watchable copy on VHS that a kind librarian sent me many years ago after much searching of the Internets.

I saw this originally on PBS when it first aired.
I eventually saw it live when Ian McKellen toured North America with the production, shortly after it aired, in the early 80's.
I was even lucky enough to see one of the last performances when Sir Ian did some special benefit shows, to support AIDS funding, in LA in the mid 80's.

I loved it when I first saw it and still do today.

If you love Shakespeare and/or Ian McKellen you will enjoy this. He gives a non-scholarly and very entertaining insight on how to do that bard stuff.

I will be honest that the quality of picture is a little off and could have been cleaned up. But it is way better than the old VHS tape.

Is it worth it to own? I wish every high school drama class could have a copy. It might actually make High School students like Shakespeare!