Product Details

• Actors: John Barton, David Suchet, Alan Howard, Michael Pennington, Patrick Stewart
• Format: Box set, 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: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Athena
• DVD Release Date: June 2, 2009
• Run Time: 456 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001O7R75O
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,329 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #54 in Movies & TV > DVD > Performing Arts
• For more information about "Playing Shakespeare" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Royal Shakespeare Company founder John Barton holds a master class featuring…
JUDI DENCH
IAN MCKELLEN
PATRICK STEWART
BEN KINGSLEY
DAVID SUCHET

Sit in on nine intensive acting workshops conducted by the legendary John Barton of the Royal Shakespeare Company. How does this world-renowned troupe make classic plays accessible to modern audiences, without compromising the text’s integrity? How do actors search Shakespeare’s verse for hidden clues to their characters’ motivations? How do they balance intellect and passion to make theatre’s most famous soliloquies seem fresh?

The answers come from Barton and 21 of Britain’s finest actors, including Oscar® winners Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love, Iris), Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Schindler’s List), and Peggy Ashcroft (A Passage to India), Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings, Gods and Monsters), Patrick Stewart (X-Men, Star Trek: The Next Generation), and David Suchet (Agatha Christie’s Poirot).

Also starring Sinéad Cusack, Susan Fleetwood, Sheila Hancock, Alan Howard, Donald Sinden, Michael Williams, and more.

(SDH subtitles)

BONUS FEATURES

• 20-page viewer’s guide includes key points, discussion questions, avenues for further learning, a history of the RSC, and "Vocabulary of Verse and Stage."
• Actor biographies and RSC stage credits
• Exclusive web extras

Cofounder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, John Barton directed productions there for over 40 years. In 2001, he received the Sam Wanamaker Award from Shakespeare’s Globe for his pioneering contributions to Shakespearean performance.

View an Excerpt from the Guide Included with Playing Shakespeare

Playing Shakespeare

Product Description

PLAYING SHAKESPEARE - DVD Movie

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5-stars, or not 5-stars, that is the question. FIRST REVIEW OF THE ATHENA DVD RELEASE, May 22, 2009

By 

Harold Wolf "Doc" (Wells, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Playing Shakespeare (DVD)

The actual DVD set is being reviewed. I didn't see the book or TV in 1984.
This series of 9 episodes (Or should we call them "instructions" in Shakespeare acting?) seem like they were shot yesterday. They are timeless. What, if anything is staged? What is entirely impromptu? It's hard to say, nay, impossible. It's that well done. The wealth within this educational, academic experience is difficult to quickly review, but we'll give it a go.

"Playing SHAKESPEARE" is the DVD presentation of acting workshops, done like a play rehearsal underway, shot in 1982, led by John Barton, who is himself entertaining, plus an encyclopedia on Shakespearean acting. He directed over 50 plays by the (RSC) Royal Shakespeare Company. A Cambridge professor. His main interest in this series is teaching toward the marriage of the Elizabethan acting tradition and modern times or style. It is instruction dedicated to the actor--but it is of interest to so many more.

Through detailed Shakespeare direction, Barton has provided a series that will delight all lovers of the celebrated playwright. Additionally it will encourage the viewer who is newly attempting appreciation of Shakespeare and his works. Novice Shakespearean audiences will want for more, want for a complete play to view.

Much of the success of this series is the famous & talented actors being instructed. The top of the U.K. entertainers, both within the RSC and out. The BONUS FEATURES of this DVD set includes several of their bios and RSC credits. Some, not all as there are over 20, are:
Peggy Ashcorft, 1907-1991, having at some time performed near all Shakespeare's female roles.
Judi Dench, UK Superstar, fantastic in "As Time Goes By"
Ben Kingsley, "Gandhi" and "Schindler's List" to name but 2
Ian McKellan, "The Lord of the Rings" fans will remember
Patrick Stewart, would you believe "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
David Sachet, "Poirot", need more be said--yes--"The Way We Live Now"
Shakespeare wrote, "Our revels now are ended." Nay, Nay.

Here's the list of Episodes (Learning bits)
1 THE TWO TRADITIONS . . . . . . .2 USING THE VERSE
3 LANGUAGE AND CHARACTER . . . . .4 EXPLORING A CHARACTER
5 SET SPEECHES AND SOLILOQUIES . .6 IRONY AND AMBIGUITY
7 PASSION AND COOLNESS . . . . . .8 REHEARSING THE TEXT
9 POETRY AND HIDDEN POETRY
Each is a to-die-for opportunity for the student or the follower of Shakespeare. Not a full play or dramatic film, but an academic experience set in a working studio using excerpts.

In #3 language and words are discussed like Shakespeare's double syllable use of the word Ti-ime. And his often capitalization of the word, even when it's not the beginning word in the sentence. By watching another fine educational DVD series, "The Adventure of English", one can learn Shakespeare invented over 2000 words.
___Also in this segment, John Barton is coaxed into performing a bit of Shakespeare, which he does twice again during episode 9.
___#4 is outstanding when Shylock (The Merchant of Venice) is performed by Suchet (who is Jewish) and Stewart. Both have played the role in RSC under Barton's direction. The 3 demonstrate how Shakespeare characters can be played in different ways, all being good. Suchet also suggests to view this play, not as anti-Semitic, but without the 20th century Holocaust prejudice.

Other bonus extras include a trailer for "Slings & Arrows" and the much valuable SUBTITLES, recommended to be used by all, to catch the full value of the Shakespeare words.

This DVD set makes me thirst for a Shakespeare play--a Shakespearean Sundae.

If you are a William Shakespeare lover--BUY.
If you are an actor, or student of theatre--BUY.
If you are curious of those often talked about plays--BUY.

More elaboration on this would take as long as the 400+ minutes of the set. Instead, in Shakespeare's own words: "So to him we leave it."

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gift From the Gods!, May 9, 2009

By 

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

This review is from: Playing Shakespeare (DVD)

I read John Barton's 'Playing Shakespeare' when I was in college and was encouraged to watch the companion VHS tapes. Unfortunately, they were only available in our college library and were fought over by hundreds of actors. I'm thrilled that this magnificent collection is now available on DVD. It's such a treat to see young, highly trained actors (McKellen, Dench, Stewart) from the RSC participating in Barton's Shakespeare instructional course. Barton discusses the most basic techniques on how to find clues within Shakespeare's text in order to perform it well. It is truly amazing that by simply approaching Shakespeare in a technical way; finding antithesis, lists, irony, and contrast-helps the actor figure out what is happening in a scene or monologue. Reading Barton's book makes sense and is a good reference, but the power behind this course is hearing the text and the technical adjustments the actors make with their voice. Don't be put off by the price; this instruction is rare.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To be or not to be the owner of this collection is NOT the question, June 1, 2009

By 

Alan W. Petrucelli (THE ENTERTAINMENT REPORT (ALAN W. PETRUCELLI)) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Playing Shakespeare (DVD)

More than seven hours of company co-founder John Barton's classes in playing Shakespeare may sound dull, but it's actually incredibly moving, exciting, and, well, a heck of a lot of fun. The works are divided neatly into nine lessons, covering tradition, imagery, text, character, poetry, and other aspects that directly concern an actor's job in presenting Shakespeare's text to a modern audience with clarity and understanding. It's long been suggested that people who have to read Shakespeare hate him. And rightly so. "Playing" is the operative word here, and to see the excitement and joy the actors discover playing Shakespeare is simply wonderful. Let's pause to mention the actors here for their classes---perhaps we might remember Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, Patrick Stewart, Ben Kingsley, Peggy Ashcroft, Roger Rees and Richard Pasco?