Customer Reviews

Edward II

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mostly well-staged and well-acted version of Marlowe's Edward II sometimes hampered by technical limitations of 1969 studio recordings: color variations and ghosting not too bad, but unfortunately the sound boom operator often misses covering the actors--the variable sound quality isn't "drop out"--just the guy holding the pole not moving fast enough.
For some reason the "Three poor men" sequence with Gaveston is trimmed in the beginning (you'll note the bad cut a few minutes in)--yet the actors names appear in the credits.
A strange "Marlowe Coroner's Inquest" narrated by Patrick Stewart is an extra.
Performances mostly 5 & Technical aspects mostly 3 = 4 overall

Wow, have I been hoping against hope that this production would one day make it to DVD. I just gasped out loud when I saw it popup! I've had an old VHS tape that was taped off broadcast in 1975! Needless to say, it is very worn out by now.

If you are a fan of McKellen or great classical theater, you've got to have this. Now, if the BBC would only put out their great "Wars of the Roses" series from the 60s (those old VHS tapes are nearly worn out too!), I would be grateful forever! Thanks again, BBC! Your collections of Chekhov, Ibsen and Noel Coward were fantastic, and the fact that they are now putting out this Edward II is very admirable.

Christopher Marlowe's masterpiece, Edward II, is the first major English History play/tragedy in the renaissance canon, predating and providing a model for Shakespeare's Richard II and other plays of the genre (for that connection, see Charles R. Forker's magisterial introduction in the Manchester U Revels Plays edition). It's also an important work in the lgbtq literary canon, as the love affair between Piers Gaveston and his king is the first open and unabashed representation of gay characters on the English stage, and the poetry of that love affair is marvellous. The play also features a villainous cadre of Machiavellian lords and churchmen who despise Gaveston for his lower class beginnings, his and Edward's wasting of the nation's treasury, and for Gaveston's sexuality.

As a film, the play is already known to many through Derek Jarman's 1992 experimental version of it, featuring good performances by an angry, spiteful Gaveston (Andrew Tiernan)and Queen Isabella (a young Tilda Swinton). Its chief feature is a peculiar cutting and pasting of text and plotline, interlarding the play with a song performed by Annie Lennox and modern gay rights demonstrations and police brutality.

That said, the 1969 BBC Edward II starring a very young and gorgeous Ian McKellen in a filmed stage performance of the play is a wonderful surprise, a delight in every way. McKellen is more passionate, spontaneous, and utterly possessed by his role than I have ever seen him; he has obviously learned his chops, but there's a sense that this performance is 90% "going on nerves" in the best sense. James Laurenson's Gaveston is more nuanced than Tiernan's, and the film itself is less polemic than Jarman's: it focuses much more closely on the depth of their love. The supporting cast is uniformly excellent, and one should not be put off by the fact that this is a film of stage performance; the work is so good that one quickly overlooks the difficulties of transition. Costumes bring one a humorous reminder of the colorful sixties, but they aren't too intrusive, and the film quality is very good, given the fact that this is a product of that decade.

This is not a television adaptation, but a televised stage performance. This production of Marlowe's play premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1969 and toured for a few months in repertory with Richard II. It was Ian McKellen's breakthrough performance and it featured the first kiss between two men on British television.

Edward was said to be tall and well built, like his father, and something of an athlete. McKellen is rather slight in stature and plays the early scenes in an effete manner. So the transition to a warrior king bravely defending his realm is a difficult one for the actor to execute and the audience to credit, but McKellen proves (just) actor enough to do it.

Historically, we cannot be sure whether Gaveston and Despenser ('Spencer' in the play) were actually Edward's lovers or simply close companions that he favored too much. Most dramatic depictions have retained that ambiguity, but Marlowe goes all out for an openly homosexual interpretation and this production emphasizes that aspect. Edward and his companions kiss each other full on the lips.

The play is something of a sprint through the 20 years of Edward's reign. Edward and some other characters age rapidly from one scene to the next, with little or no break between scenes. These sudden continuity shifts will, I suspect, make some details of the plot confusing, if you are not familiar with the history itself. But the central story - a king more interested in his male lovers than in pleasing his wife or running the country, thus making more enemies than he can handle - is clear and simple enough.

The crucial thing, with Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, is to remain true to the language, to let the dialogue carry the play. This production does that, magnificently. This was the performance that made McKellen a star, and rightly so.

Robert Eddison won an award for his performance of Lightborn. He appears briefly but memorably, toward the end.

There is a technical problem with the sound, in that the initial dialogue of characters entering from backstage is often lost. Nonetheless, this is an essential production.
[PeterReeve]

King Edward II of England shocked Medieval England with his open bisexuality, and after he was deposed, he was murdered, some say by having a red-hot poker thrust up his anus. Nearly three hundred years later, famed playwright Christopher Marlowe adapted his story for the stage. Another 400 years later, the BBC took Marlowe's play and brought it to television.

This 1969 play is a very good adaptation of the play. Ian McKellen (who played Gandalf & Magneto!) brings a refinement to the role, such as you might expect from the great actor. Indeed, the entire cast does a great job - the BBC was probably at its height when it did this production. Now, speaking of production, this play does show its age, and it was not as well produced as it could have been in 1969. But, that said, this is a very enjoyable play, one that was good then, and is just as good today!

(Review of Edward II starring Ian McKellen and James Laurenson)

This is an excellent production by Toby Robertson and the Prospect Theatre Company (later the Old Vic Company)
Many good performances. A classic

I was suprised to find that there was a DVD of this play. I did it for my A levels forty years ago and saw the theatrical performance at the time. Excellent cast,performances and production values. If you are a fan of Jacobethan drama you will enjoy it.

Boring, not because of the story, but too theatrical or to say it in a different way is that the actors seem 'phony'.